Mae Questel

Mae Questel (September 13, 1908 – January 4, 1998) was an American actress and voice artist.

Born in New York, New York, Questel won a talent contest at the age of 17, and began performing on vaudeville. She was seen by Max Fleischer who was looking for an actress to provide the voice for his Betty Boop character. Questel's "Boop-boop-a-doop" routine, done in a style similar to that of the song's originator, Helen Kane, was exactly what Fleischer had been looking for. From 1930 until 1939 Questel provided the voice of Betty Boop in more than 150 animated shorts. During the 1930s she released a recording of "On The Good Ship Lollypop" which sold more than 2 million copies.

From the mid 1930s Questel also provided the voice for Olive Oyl in the Popeye animated shorts. She based Olive's nasal vocal style on that of the actress ZaSu Pitts, ultimately playing the role for more than twenty years.

She made her first on-screen appearance in the 1960s, and was widely seen as one of Fanny Brice's card-playing friends in Funny Girl (1968), and also appeared in Zelig, New York Stories (1985) and her final film appearance in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989). She provided the voice for her old character Betty Boop who made a cameo appearance in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988). She also appeared in TV commercials for various household products, becoming famous as "Aunt Bluebell", pitching ScotTowels.

Questel died from Alzheimer's Disease.