Marie Wilson (American actress)

Although Wilson was afraid of the microphone used in radio,[2] she played scatterbrained Irma Peterson in the radio comedy My Friend Irma from April 11, 1947 to August 23, 1954.[3]

Wilson began her career in Hollywood in the 1934 film Down to Their Last Yacht as a ship passenger,[4] and then appeared in Babes in Toyland as Mary Quite Contrary.[5] [6] Wilson appeared in Ladies Crave Excitement (1935),[7] The Girl Friend (1935),[8] Stars Over Broadway (1935),[9] Miss Pacific Fleet (1935),[10] The Big Noise (1936),[11][12] Melody for Two (1937),[13] Boy Meets Girl (1938),[14][15] Sweepstakes Winner (1939),[16] Virginia (1941),[17] She's in the Army (1942),[18][19][20] You Can't Ration Love (1944),[21] Young Widow (1946),[22] and Never Wave at a WAC (1952).[23]

In 1936, she played Miss Murgatroyd in Satan Met a Lady,[24] a loose adaptation of the 1929 novel The Maltese Falcon¹ by Dashiell Hammett.[25] She was in The Great Garrick as Nicolle in 1937.[26] Wilson was in Fools for Scandal as Myrtle in 1938.[27] She was in Waterfront in 1939 as Ruby Waters.[28]

In 1949, she played Irma Peterson in the film My Friend Irma,[29] reprising her role from the radio series. In 1950, she again played Irma in My Friend Irma Goes West.[29] In 1952, she played Jane Sweet in A Girl in Every Port,[30] based on the short story They Sell Sailors Elephants by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan.[31] In 1957, she played Marie Antoinette in The Story of Mankind, loosely based on the nonfiction book The Story of Mankind (1921) by Hendrik Willem van Loon.[32] Wilson's last film was 1962's Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation,[33] based on the novel by Edward Streeter.[34]

Wilson also had roles in short films, including Bum Voyage (1934),[35] Slide, Nellie, Slide (1936),[36] Vitaphone Pictorial Revue (Series 2 No. 6) (1938),[37] and Vitaphone Pictorial Revue (Series 2 No. 12).[37]

Wilson first appeared on television in the series My Friend Irma from 1952 to 1954. She was in two episodes of Burke's Law. Wilson was in the short-lived television series Where's Huddles?. Her last role was in 1972 as Margaret Cooperman in Love, American Style. Wilson was a guest on The Ed Sullivan Show on four occasions.

Wilson's talents have been recognized with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame:[1] for radio at 6301 Hollywood Boulevard, for television at 6765 Hollywood Boulevard and for movies at 6601 Hollywood Boulevard.[38]

Wilson's left leg was the model for a 35-foot (sometimes referred to as 34-foot), two-ton sculpture outside the Theme Hosiery (later Sanderson Hoisery) plant on Olympic and Barrington in West Los Angeles. The DuPont Co. commissioned the plaster leg, which was painted as if to be wearing nylons, to promote its new nylons product. Wilson was hoisted thigh-level at the sculpture's unveiling August 6, 1949.[39][40]