History
Olive Oyl is named after olive oil, used commonly in cooking or in salads. Segar's newspaper strips also featured a number of her relatives named after other oils, including her brother, Castor Oyl, their mother, Nana Oyl (after "banana oil," a mild slang phrase of the time used in the same way as horsefeathers, i.e. "nonsense"), their father, Cole Oyl, and Castor's estranged wife, Cylinda Oyl; more recently, Olive's nieces Diesel Oyl & Violet Oyl have appeared in the cartoons. Also among Olive's family are her two uncles, Otto Oyl and intrepid explorer Lubry Kent Oyl. Lubry Kent's gift to Castor and Olive, a lucky Whiffle Hen, led them into the adventure where they met Popeye. When Bobby London took over the strip from 1986 to 1992, he added the sultry blonde Sutra Oyl, Olive's cousin.
The first two Popeye cartoons, Popeye The Sailor (1933) and I Yam What I Yam (1933), featured Bonnie Poe as the voice of Olive Oyl. She was thereafter voiced by character actress Mae Questel (who also voiced Betty Boop and other characters). Questel styled Olive's voice and delivery after that of actress ZaSu Pitts.
In 1938, Margie Hines took over as the voice of Olive Oyl, starting with the cartoon Bulldozing the Bull. Questel returned as her voice in 1944, starting with the cartoon The Anvil Chorus Girl. Questel would remain so until after the King Features Syndicate made-for-TV Popeye shorts in 1960.
Marilyn Schreffler replaced Mae Questel as Olive when Hanna-Barbera obtained the rights to produce new made-for-TV Popeye cartoons for The All-New Popeye Hour in 1978.
In the musical live-action feature film Popeye (1980), Olive is portrayed by Shelley Duvall.
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