title: Kevin Magnussen

text: He finished the season 9th in the championship with 56 points, his best ever finish and 19 points clear of teammate Grosjean.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Magnussen continued to drive for Haas for the 2019 season alongside Grosjean. The Haas VF-19 proved uncompetitive and became more so as the season went on. The car often performed well during qualifying but suffered during the race. At the first race in Australia, Magnussen finished 6th in what would later turn out to be his best finish of the season. He finished 13th at the next three races, despite having qualified in the top ten in two of them. He recorded another points finish in Spain, finishing 7th.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Poor finishes followed at the next five races. In Austria, Magnussen showed the strong qualifying pace of the VF-19 by qualifying in 5th, before a gearbox penalty dropped him to 10th on the grid. During the race he was found to have over-stepped his grid line at the start, receiving a drive-through penalty and eventually finishing the race in 19th place. In Britain, Magnussen and teammate Grosjean made contact on the first lap, causing race-ending damage for both drivers. Both were blamed and criticised for the incident, at a race in which Grosjean was testing the old spec of the VF-19 so that the team could understand their recent lack of pace.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Magnussen next scored points at the rain-affected German Grand Prix, finishing 10th before being promoted to 8th after the Alfa Romeo drivers were penalised post-race for the use of driver aids. He retired in Italy with a hydraulics issue, before setting the fastest lap at the next race in Singapore, a feat he had achieved at the same race in 2018. He was not awarded a point for this as he finished in 17th place—a driver must finish in the top ten to be awarded a fastest lap point. A 9th-place finish in Russia would be his fourth and final points finish of the season. His third retirement of the season came in the United States when he suffered a brake failure on the penultimate lap.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Magnussen finished the season in 16th place in the championship with 20 points, 12 points ahead of teammate Grosjean.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Magnussen continued driving for Haas in , again partnering with Grosjean. The opening two rounds of the championship at the Red Bull Ring proved to be difficult for Magnussen and Haas, as the Haas VF-20 was off the pace. In the early stages of the , Magnussen was running third, thanks to a strategy decision at the beginning of the race. Whilst he ultimately fell back throughout the race, he managed to cross the finish line in ninth. After the race, it was determined that Haas had broken rules regarding team radio in telling both drivers to pit at the end of the formation lap, and Magnussen was given a ten-second penalty. This demoted him to tenth, and Magnussen claimed his and Haas' first point of the year. Magnussen suffered a power unit failure at the and was rear-ended in a multi-car accident at the , his fifth retirement in nine races.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Magnussen and teammate Grosjean departed the team at the end of the 2020 season, to be replaced with Formula 2 champion Mick Schumacher, as well as Nikita Mazepin for the 2021 World Championship.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Haas terminated its contract with their driver Nikita Mazepin. Magnussen returned to the team as his replacement on a multi-year deal, partnering existing driver Mick Schumacher for the 2022 season. In his return for Haas at Bahrain, Magnussen managed to start 7th and finish 5th, scoring one of only five top five finishes in Haas's history up to that point. In the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, he made it into Q3 and qualified tenth. He later turned that into a ninth-place finish, securing Haas consecutive points for the first time since 2019. Magnussen finished 10th at Silverstone with his teammate Mick Schumacher finishing eighth giving Haas a first double-point finish since Germany 2019, and the pair would continue this run by scoring points again in the following round in Austria, despite the Dane experiencing engine issues during the race. At the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix, Magnussen took his and Haas’ first pole position in Formula One. Magnussen qualified first after George Russell spun at turn 4, bringing out a red flag during which track conditions deteriorated meaning no driver could set a faster time than before the crash. Magnussen became just the second driver in F1 history to set a pole for a non-Ferrari team using a Ferrari engine, 14 years after Sebastian Vettel did so for Toro Rosso at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. He would ultimately finish the sprint race in 8th position, and would retire from the Grand Prix on the opening lap following a collision with Daniel Ricciardo.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Magnussen tested for Porsche in a Porsche 919 Hybrid in November 2015, on Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. No contract was made since Magnussen continued in Formula One for Renault in 2016.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Magnussen competed in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2021, driving the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing DPi car alongside Dutch driver Renger van der Zande. On 12 June, he won his first race at the Detroit Grand Prix. Magnussen ended the season 7th.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: On 23 April, it was announced that Magnussen would drive the No. 49 High Class Racing LMP2 car with his father Jan Magnussen and Anders Fjordbach in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans. He classified 29th in the overall standings and 17th in the LMP2 class.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: On 8 February 2021, it was announced that Magnussen would be a part of the driver line-up for Peugeot Sport in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship season.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Magnussen competed in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2022, as third driver in the No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing DPi car alongside Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn, but was released from his contracts with Peugeot and Chip Ganassi Racing after returning to Formula One with Haas in 2022.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Magnussen was confirmed to compete alongside his father in the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona in a new Porsche 911 GT3 R, run by MDK Motorsports, the same team that ran his Ferrari in the Gulf 12 Hours.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: In June 2021, Magnussen was drafted in by Arrow McLaren SP to fill in for the injured Felix Rosenqvist at the Grand Prix of Road America. He qualified 21st and retired with mechanical issues during the race.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Magnussen lived in Woking, Surrey, near the McLaren Technology Centre whilst racing for McLaren. He currently lives in Copenhagen, Denmark with his family.


title: Kevin Magnussen

text: Between participating in Formula Ford in 2008 and unexpectedly securing sponsorship for Formula Renault in 2009, Magnussen was forced to abandon his racing career and work as a factory welder due to lack of funding.


title: Labia

text: The labia are part of the female genitalia; they are the major externally visible portions of the vulva. In humans, there are two pairs of labia: the "labia majora" (or the outer labia) are larger and thicker, while the "labia minora" are folds of skin between the outer labia. The labia surround and protect the clitoris and the openings of the vagina and the urethra.


title: Labia

text: "Labium" (plural "labia") is a Latin-derived term meaning "lip". "Labium" and its derivatives (including labial, labrum) are used to describe any lip-like structure, but in the English language, "labium" often specifically refers to parts of the vulva.


title: Labia

text: The labia majora, also commonly called outer labia or outer lips, are lip-like structures consisting mostly of skin and adipose (fatty) tissue, which extend on either side of the vulva to form the pudendal cleft through the middle. The labia majora often have a plump appearance, and are thicker towards the anterior. The anterior junction of the labia majora is called the anterior commissure, which is below the mons pubis and above the clitoris. To the posterior, the labia majora join at the posterior commissure, which is above the perineum and below the frenulum of the labia minora. The grooves between the labia majora and labia minora are known as the interlabial sulci or interlabial folds.


title: Labia

text: The labia minora (obsolete: nymphae), also called inner labia or inner lips, are two soft folds of fat-free, hairless skin between the labia majora. They enclose and protect the vulvar vestibule, urethra and vagina. The upper portion of each labium minora splits to join with both the clitoral glans, and the clitoral hood. The labia minora meet posterially at the frenulum of the labia minora (also known as the fourchette), which is a fold of skin below the vaginal orifice. The fourchette is more prominent in younger women, and often recedes after sexual activity and childbirth.


title: Labia

text: When standing or with the legs together, the labia majora usually entirely or partially cover the moist, sensitive inner surfaces of the vulva, which indirectly protects the vagina and urethra, much like the lips protect the mouth. The outer surface of the labia majora is pigmented skin, and develops pubic hair during puberty. The inner surface of the labia majora is smooth, hairless skin, which resembles a mucous membrane, and is only visible when the labia majora and labia minora are drawn apart.


title: Labia

text: Both the inner and outer surfaces of the labia majora contain sebaceous glands (oil glands), apocrine sweat glands, and eccrine sweat glands. The labia majora have fewer superficial nerve endings than the rest of the vulva, but the skin is highly vascularized. The internal surface of the labia minora is a thin moist skin, with the appearance of a mucous membrane. They contain many sebaceous glands, and occasionally have eccrine sweat glands. The labia minora have many sensory nerve endings, and have a core of erectile tissue.


title: Labia

text: The color, size, length and shape of the inner labia can vary extensively from woman to woman. In some women the "labia minora" are almost non-existent, and in others they can be fleshy and protuberant. They can range in color from a light pink to brownish black, and texturally can vary between smooth and very rugose.


title: Labia

text: The biological sex of an individual is determined at conception, which is the moment a sperm fertilizes an ovum, creating a zygote. The chromosome type contained in the sperm determines the sex of the zygote. A Y chromosome results in a male, and an X chromosome results in a female. A male zygote will later grow into an embryo and form testes, which produce androgens (primarily male hormones), usually causing male genitals to be formed. Female genitals will usually be formed in the absence of significant androgen exposure.


title: Labia

text: The genitals begin to develop after approximately 4 to 6 weeks of gestation. Initially, the external genitals develop the same way regardless of the sex of the embryo, and this period of development is called the "sexually indifferent" stage. The embryo develops three distinct external genital structures: a genital tubercle; two urogenital folds, one on either side of the tubercle; and two labioscrotal swellings, each bounding one of the urogenital folds.


title: Labia

text: Sexual differentiation starts on the internal sex organs at about 5 weeks of gestation, resulting in the formation of either testes in males, or ovaries in females. If testes are formed, they begin to secrete androgens that affect the external genital development at about week 8 or 9 of gestation. The urogenital folds form the labia minora in females, or penile shaft in males. The labioscrotal swellings become the labia majora in females, or they fuse to become the scrotum in males. Because the male and female parts develop from the same tissues, this makes them homologous (different versions of the same structure). Sexual differentiation is complete at around 12 weeks of gestation.


title: Labia

text: The genital tissues are greatly influenced by natural fluctuations in hormone levels, which lead to changes in labia size, appearance, and elasticity at various life stages. At birth, the labia minora are well-developed, and the labia majora appear plump due to being exposed to maternal hormones in the womb. The labia majora have the same color as the surrounding skin. Labial adhesions can occur between the ages of 3 months and 2 years, and may make the vulva look flat. These adhesions are not usually a cause for concern, and usually disappear without treatment. Treatment options may include estrogen cream, manual separation with local anesthesia, or surgical separation under sedation.


title: Labia

text: During early childhood, the labia majora look flat and smooth because of decreasing levels of body fat, and the diminished effects of maternal hormones. The labia minora become less prominent.


title: Labia

text: During puberty, increased hormone levels often significantly change the appearance of the labia. The labia minora become more elastic, prominent, and wrinkled. The labia majora regain fat, and begin growing pubic hair close to the pudendal cleft. Hair is initially sparse and straight, but gradually becomes darker, denser, and curlier as growth spreads outward and upward toward the thighs and mons pubis. At the end of puberty, pubic hair will be coarse, curly, and fairly thick. The patch of pubic hair covering the genitals will eventually often form a triangle shape.


title: Labia

text: By adulthood, the outer surface of the labia majora may be darker than the surrounding skin, and may have wrinkles similar to those on a male's scrotum. During the reproductive years, if a woman delivers a child, the fourchette will flatten. Pregnancy may cause the labia minora to darken in color.


title: Labia

text: Later in life, the labia majora once again gradually lose fat, becoming flatter and more wrinkled, and pubic hair turns grey. Following menopause, falling hormone levels cause further changes to the labia. The labia minora atrophy, making them become less elastic, and pubic hair on the labia majora becomes more sparse.


title: Labia

text: The labia are one of a woman's erogenous zones. The labia minora are sexually responsive, and sensitivity varies greatly between women. In some women, they are so sensitive that anything other than light touch may be uncomfortable, whereas stimulation may elicit no sexual response in others. The labia may be sexually stimulated as part of masturbation or with a sex partner, such as by fingering or oral sex. Moving the labia minora can also stimulate the extremely sensitive clitoris.


title: Labia

text: During sexual arousal, the labia majora swell due to increased blood flow to the region, and draw back, opening the vulva slightly. The labia minora become engorged with blood, causing them to expand in diameter by two to three times, and darken or redden in color. Because pregnancy and childbirth increase genital vascularity, the inner and outer labia will engorge faster in women who have had children.


title: Labia

text: After a period of sexual stimulation, the labia minora will become further engorged with blood approximately 30 seconds to 3 minutes before orgasm, causing them to redden further. In women who have had children, the labia majora may also swell significantly during this period, becoming dark red. Continued stimulation can result in an orgasm, and the orgasmic contractions help remove blood trapped in the inner and outer labia, as well as the clitoris and other parts of the vulva, which causes pleasurable orgasmic sensations.


title: Labia

text: Following orgasm or when a woman is no longer sexually aroused, the labia gradually return to their unaroused state. The labia minora return to their original color within 2 minutes, and engorgement dissipates in about 5 to 10 minutes. The labia majora return to their pre-arousal state in approximately 1 hour.


title: Labia

text: In many cultures and locations all over the world, the labia, as part of the genitalia, are considered private, or intimate parts, whose exposure (especially in public) is governed by fairly strict socio-cultural mores. In many cases, public exposure is limited, and often prohibited by law.


title: Labia

text: Views on pubic hair differ between people and between cultures. Some women prefer the look or feel of pubic hair, while others may choose to remove some or all of it. Temporary methods of removal include shaving, trimming, waxing, sugaring and depilatory products while permanent hair removal can be accomplished using electrolysis or laser hair removal. In Korea, pubic hair is considered a sign of fertility, leading some women to have pubic hair transplants.


title: Labia

text: Some women are self-conscious about the size, color or asymmetry of their labia. Viewing pornography may influence a woman's view of her genitals. Models in pornography frequently have small or non-existent labia minora, and images are often airbrushed, so pornographic images do not depict the full range of natural variations of the vulva. This can lead viewers of pornography to have unrealistic expectations about how the labia should look. Similar to how some women develop self-esteem issues from comparing their faces and bodies to airbrushed models in magazines, women who compare their vulvas to idealized pornographic images may believe their own labia are abnormal. This can have a negative impact on a woman's life, since genital self-consciousness makes it more difficult to enjoy sexual activity, see a gynecologist, or perform a genital self-examination. Developing an awareness for how much the labia truly differ between individuals may help to overcome this self-consciousness.


title: Labia

text: In several countries in Africa and Asia, the external female genitals are routinely altered or removed for reasons related to ideas about tradition, purity, hygiene and aesthetics. Known as female genital mutilation, the procedures include clitoridectomy and so-called "pharaonic circumcision," whereby the inner and outer labia are removed and the vulva is sewn shut. FGM is mostly outlawed around the world, even in countries where the practice is widespread.


title: Labia

text: Labiaplasty is a controversial plastic surgery procedure that involves the creation or reshaping of the labia. Labia piercing is a cosmetic piercing, usually with a special needle under sterile conditions, of the inner or outer labia. Jewelry is worn in the resulting opening.


title: Markov chain

text: A Markov chain or Markov process is a stochastic model describing a sequence of possible events in which the probability of each event depends only on the state attained in the previous event. Informally, this may be thought of as, "What happens next depends only on the state of affairs "now"." A countably infinite sequence, in which the chain moves state at discrete time steps, gives a discrete-time Markov chain (DTMC). A continuous-time process is called a continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC). It is named after the Russian mathematician Andrey Markov.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov chains have many applications as statistical models of real-world processes, such as studying cruise control systems in motor vehicles, queues or lines of customers arriving at an airport, currency exchange rates and animal population dynamics.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov processes are the basis for general stochastic simulation methods known as Markov chain Monte Carlo, which are used for simulating sampling from complex probability distributions, and have found application in Bayesian statistics, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, physics, chemistry, economics, finance, signal processing, information theory and speech processing.


title: Markov chain

text: The adjectives "Markovian" and "Markov" are used to describe something that is related to a Markov process.


title: Markov chain

text: A Markov process is a stochastic process that satisfies the Markov property (sometimes characterized as "memorylessness"). In simpler terms, it is a process for which predictions can be made regarding future outcomes based solely on its present state and—most importantly—such predictions are just as good as the ones that could be made knowing the process's full history. In other words, conditional on the present state of the system, its future and past states are independent.


title: Markov chain

text: A Markov chain is a type of Markov process that has either a discrete state space or a discrete index set (often representing time), but the precise definition of a Markov chain varies. For example, it is common to define a Markov chain as a Markov process in either discrete or continuous time with a countable state space (thus regardless of the nature of time), but it is also common to define a Markov chain as having discrete time in either countable or continuous state space (thus regardless of the state space).


title: Markov chain

text: The system's state space and time parameter index need to be specified. The following table gives an overview of the different instances of Markov processes for different levels of state space generality and for discrete time v. continuous time:


title: Markov chain

text: Note that there is no definitive agreement in the literature on the use of some of the terms that signify special cases of Markov processes. Usually the term "Markov chain" is reserved for a process with a discrete set of times, that is, a discrete-time Markov chain (DTMC), but a few authors use the term "Markov process" to refer to a continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC) without explicit mention. In addition, there are other extensions of Markov processes that are referred to as such but do not necessarily fall within any of these four categories (see Markov model). Moreover, the time index need not necessarily be real-valued; like with the state space, there are conceivable processes that move through index sets with other mathematical constructs. Notice that the general state space continuous-time Markov chain is general to such a degree that it has no designated term.


title: Markov chain

text: While the time parameter is usually discrete, the state space of a Markov chain does not have any generally agreed-on restrictions: the term may refer to a process on an arbitrary state space. However, many applications of Markov chains employ finite or countably infinite state spaces, which have a more straightforward statistical analysis. Besides time-index and state-space parameters, there are many other variations, extensions and generalizations (see Variations). For simplicity, most of this article concentrates on the discrete-time, discrete state-space case, unless mentioned otherwise.


title: Markov chain

text: The changes of state of the system are called transitions. The probabilities associated with various state changes are called transition probabilities. The process is characterized by a state space, a transition matrix describing the probabilities of particular transitions, and an initial state (or initial distribution) across the state space. By convention, we assume all possible states and transitions have been included in the definition of the process, so there is always a next state, and the process does not terminate.


title: Markov chain

text: A discrete-time random process involves a system which is in a certain state at each step, with the state changing randomly between steps. The steps are often thought of as moments in time, but they can equally well refer to physical distance or any other discrete measurement. Formally, the steps are the integers or natural numbers, and the random process is a mapping of these to states. The Markov property states that the conditional probability distribution for the system at the next step (and in fact at all future steps) depends only on the current state of the system, and not additionally on the state of the system at previous steps.


title: Markov chain

text: Since the system changes randomly, it is generally impossible to predict with certainty the state of a Markov chain at a given point in the future. However, the statistical properties of the system's future can be predicted. In many applications, it is these statistical properties that are important.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov studied Markov processes in the early 20th century, publishing his first paper on the topic in 1906. Markov processes in continuous time were discovered long before Andrey Markov's work in the early 20th century in the form of the Poisson process. Markov was interested in studying an extension of independent random sequences, motivated by a disagreement with Pavel Nekrasov who claimed independence was necessary for the weak law of large numbers to hold. In his first paper on Markov chains, published in 1906, Markov showed that under certain conditions the average outcomes of the Markov chain would converge to a fixed vector of values, so proving a weak law of large numbers without the independence assumption, which had been commonly regarded as a requirement for such mathematical laws to hold. Markov later used Markov chains to study the distribution of vowels in Eugene Onegin, written by Alexander Pushkin, and proved a central limit theorem for such chains.


title: Markov chain

text: In 1912 Henri Poincaré studied Markov chains on finite groups with an aim to study card shuffling. Other early uses of Markov chains include a diffusion model, introduced by Paul and Tatyana Ehrenfest in 1907, and a branching process, introduced by Francis Galton and Henry William Watson in 1873, preceding the work of Markov. After the work of Galton and Watson, it was later revealed that their branching process had been independently discovered and studied around three decades earlier by Irénée-Jules Bienaymé. Starting in 1928, Maurice Fréchet became interested in Markov chains, eventually resulting in him publishing in 1938 a detailed study on Markov chains.


title: Markov chain

text: Andrey Kolmogorov developed in a 1931 paper a large part of the early theory of continuous-time Markov processes. Kolmogorov was partly inspired by Louis Bachelier's 1900 work on fluctuations in the stock market as well as Norbert Wiener's work on Einstein's model of Brownian movement. He introduced and studied a particular set of Markov processes known as diffusion processes, where he derived a set of differential equations describing the processes. Independent of Kolmogorov's work, Sydney Chapman derived in a 1928 paper an equation, now called the Chapman–Kolmogorov equation, in a less mathematically rigorous way than Kolmogorov, while studying Brownian movement. The differential equations are now called the Kolmogorov equations or the Kolmogorov–Chapman equations. Other mathematicians who contributed significantly to the foundations of Markov processes include William Feller, starting in 1930s, and then later Eugene Dynkin, starting in the 1950s.


title: Markov chain

text: Suppose that there is a coin purse containing five quarters (each worth 25¢), five dimes (each worth 10¢), and five nickels (each worth 5¢), and one by one, coins are randomly drawn from the purse and are set on a table. If formula_1 represents the total value of the coins set on the table after draws, with formula_2, then the sequence formula_3 is "not" a Markov process.


title: Markov chain

text: To see why this is the case, suppose that in the first six draws, all five nickels and a quarter are drawn. Thus formula_4. If we know not just formula_5, but the earlier values as well, then we can determine which coins have been drawn, and we know that the next coin will not be a nickel; so we can determine that formula_6 with probability 1. But if we do not know the earlier values, then based only on the value formula_5 we might guess that we had drawn four dimes and two nickels, in which case it would certainly be possible to draw another nickel next. Thus, our guesses about formula_8 are impacted by our knowledge of values prior to formula_5.


title: Markov chain

text: However, it is possible to model this scenario as a Markov process. Instead of defining formula_1 to represent the "total value" of the coins on the table, we could define formula_1 to represent the "count" of the various coin types on the table. For instance, formula_12 could be defined to represent the state where there is one quarter, zero dimes, and five nickels on the table after 6 one-by-one draws. This new model could be represented by formula_13 possible states, where each state represents the number of coins of each type (from 0 to 5) that are on the table. (Not all of these states are reachable within 6 draws.) Suppose that the first draw results in state formula_14. The probability of achieving formula_15 now depends on formula_16; for example, the state formula_17 is not possible. After the second draw, the third draw depends on which coins have so far been drawn, but no longer only on the coins that were drawn for the first state (since probabilistically important information has since been added to the scenario). In this way, the likelihood of the formula_18 state depends exclusively on the outcome of the formula_19 state.


title: Markov chain

text: A discrete-time Markov chain is a sequence of random variables "X", "X", "X", ... with the Markov property, namely that the probability of moving to the next state depends only on the present state and not on the previous states:


title: Markov chain

text: A continuous-time Markov chain ("X") is defined by a finite or countable state space "S", a transition rate matrix "Q" with dimensions equal to that of the state space and initial probability distribution defined on the state space. For "i" ≠ "j", the elements "q" are non-negative and describe the rate of the process transitions from state "i" to state "j". The elements "q" are chosen such that each row of the transition rate matrix sums to zero, while the row-sums of a probability transition matrix in a (discrete) Markov chain are all equal to one.


title: Markov chain

text: Let formula_29 be the random variable describing the state of the process at time "t", and assume the process is in a state "i" at time "t".


title: Markov chain

text: Then, knowing formula_30, formula_31 is independent of previous values formula_32, and as "h" → 0 for all "j" and for all "t",


title: Markov chain

text: Define a discrete-time Markov chain "Y" to describe the "n"th jump of the process and variables "S", "S", "S", ... to describe holding times in each of the states where "S" follows the exponential distribution with rate parameter −"q".


title: Markov chain

text: For any value "n" = 0, 1, 2, 3, ... and times indexed up to this value of "n": "t", "t", "t", ... and all states recorded at these times "i", "i", "i", "i", ... it holds that


title: Markov chain

text: If the state space is finite, the transition probability distribution can be represented by a matrix, called the transition matrix, with the ("i", "j")th element of P equal to


title: Markov chain

text: A stationary distribution is a (row) vector, whose entries are non-negative and sum to 1, is unchanged by the operation of transition matrix P on it and so is defined by


title: Markov chain

text: By comparing this definition with that of an eigenvector we see that the two concepts are related and that


title: Markov chain

text: is a normalized (formula_41) multiple of a left eigenvector e of the transition matrix P with an eigenvalue of 1. If there is more than one unit eigenvector then a weighted sum of the corresponding stationary states is also a stationary state. But for a Markov chain one is usually more interested in a stationary state that is the limit of the sequence of distributions for some initial distribution.


title: Markov chain

text: The values of a stationary distribution formula_42 are associated with the state space of P and its eigenvectors have their relative proportions preserved. Since the components of π are positive and the constraint that their sum is unity can be rewritten as formula_43 we see that the dot product of π with a vector whose components are all 1 is unity and that π lies on a simplex.


title: Markov chain

text: If the Markov chain is time-homogeneous, then the transition matrix P is the same after each step, so the "k"-step transition probability can be computed as the "k"-th power of the transition matrix, P.


title: Markov chain

text: If the Markov chain is irreducible and aperiodic, then there is a unique stationary distribution . Additionally, in this case P converges to a rank-one matrix in which each row is the stationary distribution :


title: Markov chain

text: where 1 is the column vector with all entries equal to 1. This is stated by the Perron–Frobenius theorem. If, by whatever means, formula_45 is found, then the stationary distribution of the Markov chain in question can be easily determined for any starting distribution, as will be explained below.


title: Markov chain

text: For some stochastic matrices P, the limit formula_45 does not exist while the stationary distribution does, as shown by this example:


title: Markov chain

text: Because there are a number of different special cases to consider, the process of finding this limit if it exists can be a lengthy task. However, there are many techniques that can assist in finding this limit. Let P be an "n"×"n" matrix, and define formula_49


title: Markov chain

text: where I is the identity matrix of size "n", and 0 is the zero matrix of size "n"×"n". Multiplying together stochastic matrices always yields another stochastic matrix, so Q must be a stochastic matrix (see the definition above). It is sometimes sufficient to use the matrix equation above and the fact that Q is a stochastic matrix to solve for Q. Including the fact that the sum of each the rows in P is 1, there are "n+1" equations for determining "n" unknowns, so it is computationally easier if on the one hand one selects one row in Q and substitutes each of its elements by one, and on the other one substitutes the corresponding element (the one in the same column) in the vector 0, and next left-multiplies this latter vector by the inverse of transformed former matrix to find Q.


title: Markov chain

text: Here is one method for doing so: first, define the function "f"(A) to return the matrix A with its right-most column replaced with all 1's. If ["f"(P − I)] exists then


title: Markov chain

text: One thing to notice is that if P has an element P on its main diagonal that is equal to 1 and the "i"th row or column is otherwise filled with 0's, then that row or column will remain unchanged in all of the subsequent powers P. Hence, the "i"th row or column of Q will have the 1 and the 0's in the same positions as in P.


title: Markov chain

text: As stated earlier, from the equation formula_53 (if exists) the stationary (or steady state) distribution is a left eigenvector of row stochastic matrix P. Then assuming that P is diagonalizable or equivalently that P has "n" linearly independent eigenvectors, speed of convergence is elaborated as follows. (For non-diagonalizable, that is, defective matrices, one may start with the Jordan normal form of P and proceed with a bit more involved set of arguments in a similar way.


title: Markov chain

text: Let U be the matrix of eigenvectors (each normalized to having an L2 norm equal to 1) where each column is a left eigenvector of P and let Σ be the diagonal matrix of left eigenvalues of P, that is, Σ = diag("λ","λ","λ"...,"λ"). Then by eigendecomposition


title: Markov chain

text: Since P is a row stochastic matrix, its largest left eigenvalue is 1. If there is a unique stationary distribution, then the largest eigenvalue and the corresponding eigenvector is unique too (because there is no other which solves the stationary distribution equation above). Let u be the "i"-th column of U matrix, that is, u is the left eigenvector of P corresponding to λ. Also let x be a length "n" row vector that represents a valid probability distribution; since the eigenvectors u span formula_56 we can write


title: Markov chain

text: If we multiply x with P from right and continue this operation with the results, in the end we get the stationary distribution '. In other words, ' = u ← xPP...P = xP as "k" → ∞. That means


title: Markov chain

text: Since ' = u, ' approaches to ' as "k" → ∞ with a speed in the order of "λ"/"λ" exponentially. This follows because formula_59 hence "λ"/"λ" is the dominant term. The smaller the ratio is, the faster the convergence is. Random noise in the state distribution ' can also speed up this convergence to the stationary distribution.


title: Markov chain

text: Many results for Markov chains with finite state space can be generalized to chains with uncountable state space through Harris chains.


title: Markov chain

text: The use of Markov chains in Markov chain Monte Carlo methods covers cases where the process follows a continuous state space.


title: Markov chain

text: Considering a collection of Markov chains whose evolution takes in account the state of other Markov chains, is related to the notion of locally interacting Markov chains. This corresponds to the situation when the state space has a (Cartesian-) product form.


title: Markov chain

text: Two states are said to "communicate" with each other if both are reachable from one another by a sequence of transitions that have positive probability. This is an equivalence relation which yields a set of communicating classes. A class is "closed" if the probability of leaving the class is zero. A Markov chain is "irreducible" if there is one communicating class, the state space.


title: Markov chain

text: A state "i" has period "k" if "k" is the greatest common divisor of the number of transitions by which "i" can be reached, starting from "i". That is:


title: Markov chain

text: A state "i" is said to be "transient" if, starting from "i", there is a non-zero probability that the chain will never return to "i". It is called "recurrent" (or "persistent") otherwise. For a recurrent state "i", the mean "hitting time" is defined as:


title: Markov chain

text: State "i" is "positive recurrent" if formula_62 is finite and "null recurrent" otherwise. Periodicity, transience, recurrence and positive and null recurrence are class properties — that is, if one state has the property then all states in its communicating class have the property.


title: Markov chain

text: A state "i" is said to be "ergodic" if it is aperiodic and positive recurrent. In other words, a state "i" is ergodic if it is recurrent, has a period of 1, and has finite mean recurrence time. If all states in an irreducible Markov chain are ergodic, then the chain is said to be ergodic. Some authors call any irreducible, positive recurrent Markov chains ergodic, even periodic ones.


title: Markov chain

text: It can be shown that a finite state irreducible Markov chain is ergodic if it has an aperiodic state. More generally, a Markov chain is ergodic if there is a number "N" such that any state can be reached from any other state in any number of steps less or equal to a number "N". In case of a fully connected transition matrix, where all transitions have a non-zero probability, this condition is fulfilled with "N" = 1.


title: Markov chain

text: A Markov chain with more than one state and just one out-going transition per state is either not irreducible or not aperiodic, hence cannot be ergodic.


title: Markov chain

text: In some cases, apparently non-Markovian processes may still have Markovian representations, constructed by expanding the concept of the "current" and "future" states. For example, let "X" be a non-Markovian process. Then define a process "Y", such that each state of "Y" represents a time-interval of states of "X". Mathematically, this takes the form:


title: Markov chain

text: An example of a non-Markovian process with a Markovian representation is an autoregressive time series of order greater than one.


title: Markov chain

text: The "hitting time" is the time, starting in a given set of states until the chain arrives in a given state or set of states. The distribution of such a time period has a phase type distribution. The simplest such distribution is that of a single exponentially distributed transition.


title: Markov chain

text: For a subset of states "A" ⊆ "S", the vector "k" of hitting times (where element formula_64 represents the expected value, starting in state "i" that the chain enters one of the states in the set "A") is the minimal non-negative solution to


title: Markov chain

text: For a CTMC "X", the time-reversed process is defined to be formula_66. By Kelly's lemma this process has the same stationary distribution as the forward process.


title: Markov chain

text: A chain is said to be "reversible" if the reversed process is the same as the forward process. Kolmogorov's criterion states that the necessary and sufficient condition for a process to be reversible is that the product of transition rates around a closed loop must be the same in both directions.


title: Markov chain

text: One method of finding the stationary probability distribution, , of an ergodic continuous-time Markov chain, "Q", is by first finding its embedded Markov chain (EMC). Strictly speaking, the EMC is a regular discrete-time Markov chain, sometimes referred to as a jump process. Each element of the one-step transition probability matrix of the EMC, "S", is denoted by "s", and represents the conditional probability of transitioning from state "i" into state "j". These conditional probabilities may be found by


title: Markov chain

text: where "I" is the identity matrix and diag("Q") is the diagonal matrix formed by selecting the main diagonal from the matrix "Q" and setting all other elements to zero.


title: Markov chain

text: with formula_69 being a row vector, such that all elements in formula_69 are greater than 0 and formula_73 = 1. From this, may be found as


title: Markov chain

text: Another discrete-time process that may be derived from a continuous-time Markov chain is a δ-skeleton—the (discrete-time) Markov chain formed by observing "X"("t") at intervals of δ units of time. The random variables "X"(0), "X"(δ), "X"(2δ), ... give the sequence of states visited by the δ-skeleton.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov models are used to model changing systems. There are 4 main types of models, that generalize Markov chains depending on whether every sequential state is observable or not, and whether the system is to be adjusted on the basis of observations made:


title: Markov chain

text: A Bernoulli scheme is a special case of a Markov chain where the transition probability matrix has identical rows, which means that the next state is independent of even the current state (in addition to being independent of the past states). A Bernoulli scheme with only two possible states is known as a Bernoulli process.


title: Markov chain

text: Note, however, by the Ornstein isomorphism theorem, that every aperiodic and irreducible Markov chain is isomorphic to a Bernoulli scheme; thus, one might equally claim that Markov chains are a "special case" of Bernoulli schemes. The isomorphism generally requires a complicated recoding. The isomorphism theorem is even a bit stronger: it states that "any" stationary stochastic process is isomorphic to a Bernoulli scheme; the Markov chain is just one such example.


title: Markov chain

text: When the Markov matrix is replaced by the adjacency matrix of a finite graph, the resulting shift is termed a topological Markov chain or a subshift of finite type. A Markov matrix that is compatible with the adjacency matrix can then provide a measure on the subshift. Many chaotic dynamical systems are isomorphic to topological Markov chains; examples include diffeomorphisms of closed manifolds, the Prouhet–Thue–Morse system, the Chacon system, sofic systems, context-free systems and block-coding systems.


title: Markov chain

text: Research has reported the application and usefulness of Markov chains in a wide range of topics such as physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, music, game theory and sports.


title: Markov chain

text: Markovian systems appear extensively in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, whenever probabilities are used to represent unknown or unmodelled details of the system, if it can be assumed that the dynamics are time-invariant, and that no relevant history need be considered which is not already included in the state description. For example, a thermodynamic state operates under a probability distribution that is difficult or expensive to acquire. Therefore, Markov Chain Monte Carlo method can be used to draw samples randomly from a black-box to approximate the probability distribution of attributes over a range of objects.


title: Markov chain

text: A reaction network is a chemical system involving multiple reactions and chemical species. The simplest stochastic models of such networks treat the system as a continuous time Markov chain with the state being the number of molecules of each species and with reactions modeled as possible transitions of the chain. Markov chains and continuous-time Markov processes are useful in chemistry when physical systems closely approximate the Markov property. For example, imagine a large number "n" of molecules in solution in state A, each of which can undergo a chemical reaction to state B with a certain average rate. Perhaps the molecule is an enzyme, and the states refer to how it is folded. The state of any single enzyme follows a Markov chain, and since the molecules are essentially independent of each other, the number of molecules in state A or B at a time is "n" times the probability a given molecule is in that state.


title: Markov chain

text: The classical model of enzyme activity, Michaelis–Menten kinetics, can be viewed as a Markov chain, where at each time step the reaction proceeds in some direction. While Michaelis-Menten is fairly straightforward, far more complicated reaction networks can also be modeled with Markov chains.


title: Markov chain

text: An algorithm based on a Markov chain was also used to focus the fragment-based growth of chemicals in silico towards a desired class of compounds such as drugs or natural products. As a molecule is grown, a fragment is selected from the nascent molecule as the "current" state. It is not aware of its past (that is, it is not aware of what is already bonded to it). It then transitions to the next state when a fragment is attached to it. The transition probabilities are trained on databases of authentic classes of compounds.


title: Markov chain

text: Also, the growth (and composition) of copolymers may be modeled using Markov chains. Based on the reactivity ratios of the monomers that make up the growing polymer chain, the chain's composition may be calculated (for example, whether monomers tend to add in alternating fashion or in long runs of the same monomer). Due to steric effects, second-order Markov effects may also play a role in the growth of some polymer chains.


title: Markov chain

text: Similarly, it has been suggested that the crystallization and growth of some epitaxial superlattice oxide materials can be accurately described by Markov chains.


title: Markov chain

text: Several theorists have proposed the idea of the Markov chain statistical test (MCST), a method of conjoining Markov chains to form a "Markov blanket", arranging these chains in several recursive layers ("wafering") and producing more efficient test sets—samples—as a replacement for exhaustive testing. MCSTs also have uses in temporal state-based networks; Chilukuri et al.'s paper entitled "Temporal Uncertainty Reasoning Networks for Evidence Fusion with Applications to Object Detection and Tracking" (ScienceDirect) gives a background and case study for applying MCSTs to a wider range of applications.


title: Markov chain

text: Solar irradiance variability assessments are useful for solar power applications. Solar irradiance variability at any location over time is mainly a consequence of the deterministic variability of the sun's path across the sky dome and the variability in cloudiness. The variability of accessible solar irradiance on Earth's surface has been modeled using Markov chains, also including modeling the two states of clear and cloudiness as a two-state Markov chain.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov chains are used throughout information processing. Claude Shannon's famous 1948 paper "A Mathematical Theory of Communication", which in a single step created the field of information theory, opens by introducing the concept of entropy through Markov modeling of the English language. Such idealized models can capture many of the statistical regularities of systems. Even without describing the full structure of the system perfectly, such signal models can make possible very effective data compression through entropy encoding techniques such as arithmetic coding. They also allow effective state estimation and pattern recognition. Markov chains also play an important role in reinforcement learning.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov chains are also the basis for hidden Markov models, which are an important tool in such diverse fields as telephone networks (which use the Viterbi algorithm for error correction), speech recognition and bioinformatics (such as in rearrangements detection).


title: Markov chain

text: The LZMA lossless data compression algorithm combines Markov chains with Lempel-Ziv compression to achieve very high compression ratios.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov chains are the basis for the analytical treatment of queues (queueing theory). Agner Krarup Erlang initiated the subject in 1917. This makes them critical for optimizing the performance of telecommunications networks, where messages must often compete for limited resources (such as bandwidth).


title: Markov chain

text: Numerous queueing models use continuous-time Markov chains. For example, an M/M/1 queue is a CTMC on the non-negative integers where upward transitions from "i" to "i" + 1 occur at rate "λ" according to a Poisson process and describe job arrivals, while transitions from "i" to "i" – 1 (for "i" > 1) occur at rate "μ" (job service times are exponentially distributed) and describe completed services (departures) from the queue.


title: Markov chain

text: The PageRank of a webpage as used by Google is defined by a Markov chain. It is the probability to be at page formula_75 in the stationary distribution on the following Markov chain on all (known) webpages. If formula_76 is the number of known webpages, and a page formula_75 has formula_78 links to it then it has transition probability formula_79 for all pages that are linked to and formula_80 for all pages that are not linked to. The parameter formula_81 is taken to be about 0.15.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov models have also been used to analyze web navigation behavior of users. A user's web link transition on a particular website can be modeled using first- or second-order Markov models and can be used to make predictions regarding future navigation and to personalize the web page for an individual user.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov chain methods have also become very important for generating sequences of random numbers to accurately reflect very complicated desired probability distributions, via a process called Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). In recent years this has revolutionized the practicability of Bayesian inference methods, allowing a wide range of posterior distributions to be simulated and their parameters found numerically.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov chains are used in finance and economics to model a variety of different phenomena, including the distribution of income, the size distribution of firms, asset prices and market crashes. D. G. Champernowne built a Markov chain model of the distribution of income in 1953. Herbert A. Simon and co-author Charles Bonini used a Markov chain model to derive a stationary Yule distribution of firm sizes. Louis Bachelier was the first to observe that stock prices followed a random walk. The random walk was later seen as evidence in favor of the efficient-market hypothesis and random walk models were popular in the literature of the 1960s. Regime-switching models of business cycles were popularized by James D. Hamilton (1989),who used a Markov chain to model switches between periods high and low GDP growth (or alternatively, economic expansions and recessions). A more recent example is the Markov switching multifractal model of Laurent E. Calvet and Adlai J. Fisher, which builds upon the convenience of earlier regime-switching models. It uses an arbitrarily large Markov chain to drive the level of volatility of asset returns.


title: Markov chain

text: Dynamic macroeconomics makes heavy use of Markov chains. An example is using Markov chains to exogenously model prices of equity (stock) in a general equilibrium setting.


title: Markov chain

text: Credit rating agencies produce annual tables of the transition probabilities for bonds of different credit ratings.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov chains are generally used in describing path-dependent arguments, where current structural configurations condition future outcomes. An example is the reformulation of the idea, originally due to Karl Marx's "Das Kapital", tying economic development to the rise of capitalism. In current research, it is common to use a Markov chain to model how once a country reaches a specific level of economic development, the configuration of structural factors, such as size of the middle class, the ratio of urban to rural residence, the rate of political mobilization, etc., will generate a higher probability of transitioning from authoritarian to democratic regime.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov chains can be used to model many games of chance. The children's games Snakes and Ladders and "Hi Ho! Cherry-O", for example, are represented exactly by Markov chains. At each turn, the player starts in a given state (on a given square) and from there has fixed odds of moving to certain other states (squares).


title: Markov chain

text: Markov chains are employed in algorithmic music composition, particularly in software such as Csound, Max, and SuperCollider. In a first-order chain, the states of the system become note or pitch values, and a probability vector for each note is constructed, completing a transition probability matrix (see below). An algorithm is constructed to produce output note values based on the transition matrix weightings, which could be MIDI note values, frequency (Hz), or any other desirable metric.


title: Markov chain

text: A second-order Markov chain can be introduced by considering the current state "and" also the previous state, as indicated in the second table. Higher, "n"th-order chains tend to "group" particular notes together, while 'breaking off' into other patterns and sequences occasionally. These higher-order chains tend to generate results with a sense of phrasal structure, rather than the 'aimless wandering' produced by a first-order system.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov chains can be used structurally, as in Xenakis's Analogique A and B. Markov chains are also used in systems which use a Markov model to react interactively to music input.


title: Markov chain

text: Usually musical systems need to enforce specific control constraints on the finite-length sequences they generate, but control constraints are not compatible with Markov models, since they induce long-range dependencies that violate the Markov hypothesis of limited memory. In order to overcome this limitation, a new approach has been proposed.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov chain models have been used in advanced baseball analysis since 1960, although their use is still rare. Each half-inning of a baseball game fits the Markov chain state when the number of runners and outs are considered. During any at-bat, there are 24 possible combinations of number of outs and position of the runners. Mark Pankin shows that Markov chain models can be used to evaluate runs created for both individual players as well as a team.


title: Markov chain

text: He also discusses various kinds of strategies and play conditions: how Markov chain models have been used to analyze statistics for game situations such as bunting and base stealing and differences when playing on grass vs. AstroTurf.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov processes can also be used to generate superficially real-looking text given a sample document. Markov processes are used in a variety of recreational "parody generator" software (see dissociated press, Jeff Harrison, Mark V. Shaney, and Academias Neutronium). Several open-source text generation libraries using Markov chains exist, including The RiTa Toolkit.


title: Markov chain

text: Markov chains have been used for forecasting in several areas: for example, price trends, wind power, and solar irradiance. The Markov chain forecasting models utilize a variety of settings, from discretizing the time series, to hidden Markov models combined with wavelets, and the Markov chain mixture distribution model (MCM).


title: Anna Camp

text: Anna Ragsdale Camp (born September 27, 1982) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as the villainous Sarah Newlin in the HBO vampire drama "True Blood" (2009, 2013–2014) and Aubrey Posen in the musical comedy "Pitch Perfect" film series (2012–2017).


title: Anna Camp

text: Camp had recurring roles in the television series "Mad Men" (2010), "The Good Wife" (2011–2016), "The Mindy Project" (2012–2013), and "Vegas" (2013). She also played Jane Hollander, a researcher for the fictitious "News of the Week" magazine, in the Amazon Prime series "Good Girls Revolt" (2016), and had minor roles in the drama "The Help" (2011) and the Woody Allen film "Café Society" (2016).


title: Anna Camp

text: Camp made her Broadway debut in the 2008 production of "The Country Girl" and played Jill Mason in the 2008 Broadway revival of Peter Shaffer's "Equus". In 2012, she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance in the Off-Broadway play "All New People".


title: Anna Camp

text: Camp was born in Aiken, South Carolina. Her mother, Dee (née Kornegay), is a Democratic Party volunteer, and her father, Thomas Sewell Camp, is a bank executive. She has an older sister, Saluda.


title: Anna Camp

text: Camp is of British (English, Scottish, and Welsh), Dutch, French and Swedish descent, and grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. She attended Meadowfield Elementary School and was cast in a Drug Abuse Resistance Education production in the second grade, introducing her to acting. She graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2004. She moved to New York City shortly thereafter.


title: Anna Camp

text: Camp played the role of Perfect in "columbinus" in 2005. In 2007, she was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for her performance in the off-Broadway play "The Scene". She played Jill Mason in the 2008 Broadway revival of "Equus" at the Broadhurst Theatre, which starred Daniel Radcliffe as Alan Strang. Speaking about the role, Camp said, "I had a lot of thought; I didn't even know if I was going to do "Equus" because of the nudity and because of the high profile [aspect] of it. But you only live once and you have to take those risks because you'll only be a better person or actor because of it."


title: Anna Camp

text: She appeared in "Reinventing the Wheelers", a 2007 television pilot which was not ordered to series by ABC. In 2008, she had a role in the pilot of the ABC television dramedy "Cashmere Mafia". She had a starring role as Sarah Newlin in the second season of the HBO supernatural drama series "True Blood", which earned her a nomination for a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series; Camp had earlier auditioned for the role of Sookie Stackhouse.


title: Anna Camp

text: Camp has made guest appearances on "The Office" (2009), "Glee" (2009), "Numbers" (2010), and "Covert Affairs" (2010). She has had recurring roles in the fourth season of the AMC drama series "Mad Men" (2010) and the third season of the CBS legal drama series "The Good Wife" (2011–2012) and "How I Met Your Mother" (2013).


title: Anna Camp

text: In 2011, Camp starred in the premiere of "All New People", a play written by Zach Braff and staged at Second Stage Theatre; the production was directed by Peter Dubois and also starred Justin Bartha, David Wilson Barnes and Krysten Ritter.


title: Anna Camp

text: Camp was a member of the main cast in the first season of Fox sitcom "The Mindy Project", and played Aubrey Posen in the 2012 musical comedy film "Pitch Perfect", later reprising her role in the sequels "Pitch Perfect 2" and "Pitch Perfect 3".


title: Anna Camp

text: She had a recurring role in Netflix's "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" as Deirdre Robespierre and starred with Nasim Pedrad in "Desperados".


title: Anna Camp

text: Camp was engaged to actor Michael Mosley by September 2008; they married in 2010 and filed for divorce in 2013. Camp began dating "Pitch Perfect" co-star Skylar Astin in 2013. The couple were reported to be engaged in January 2016. They married on September 10, 2016. On April 19, 2019, the couple announced that they were filing for divorce. As of late-August that year, the divorce was finalized.


title: Ben Stiller filmography

text: Ben Stiller is an American actor, comedian, director, producer and screenwriter. The following is his complete filmography. He has mostly appeared in comedy films. Stiller is an Emmy Award winner for his directed, produced and written television show "The Ben Stiller Show".


title: Mae West

text: Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy sexual independence, and her lighthearted bawdy double entendres, often delivered in a husky contralto voice. She was active in vaudeville and on stage in New York City before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry.


title: Mae West

text: West was one of the most controversial movie stars of her day; she encountered problems especially with censorship. She once quipped, "I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it." She bucked the system by making comedy out of conventional mores, and the Depression-era audience admired her for it. When her film career ended, she wrote books and plays, and continued to perform in Las Vegas and the United Kingdom, on radio and television, and recorded rock 'n roll albums. In 1999, the American Film Institute posthumously voted West the 15th greatest female screen legend of classic American cinema.


title: Mae West

text: Mary Jane West was born on August 17, 1893, in Brooklyn (either Greenpoint or Bushwick, before New York City was consolidated in 1898). She was delivered at home by an aunt who was a midwife. She was the eldest surviving child of John Patrick West and Mathilde "Tillie" (later Matilda) Delker (originally Doelger; later Americanized to "Delker" or "Dilker"). Tillie and her five siblings had emigrated with their parents, Jakob and Christiana (née Brüning) Doelger from Bavaria in 1886. West's parents married on January 18, 1889, in Brooklyn, to the pleasure of the groom's parents and the displeasure of the bride's, and raised their children as Protestants.


title: Mae West

text: West's father was a prizefighter known as "Battlin' Jack West" who later worked as a "special policeman" and later had his own private investigations agency. Her mother was a former corset and fashion model. Her paternal grandmother, Mary Jane (née Copley), for whom she was named, was a Catholic of Irish descent and West's paternal grandfather, John Edwin West, was of English–Scots descent and a ship's rigger.


title: Mae West

text: Her eldest sibling, Katie, died in infancy. Her other siblings were Mildred Katherine West, later known as Beverly, and John Edwin West II (sometimes inaccurately called "John Edwin West, Jr."). During her childhood, West's family moved to various parts of Woodhaven, as well as the Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods of Brooklyn. In Woodhaven, at Neir's Social Hall (which opened in 1829 and is still extant), West supposedly first performed professionally.


title: Mae West

text: West was five when she first entertained a crowd at a church social, and she started appearing in amateur shows at the age of seven. She often won prizes at local talent contests. She began performing professionally in vaudeville in the Hal Clarendon Stock Company in 1907 at the age of 14. West first performed under the stage name "Baby Mae", and tried various personas, including a male impersonator.


title: Mae West

text: She used the alias "Jane Mast" early in her career. Her trademark walk was said to have been inspired or influenced by female impersonators Bert Savoy and Julian Eltinge, who were famous during the Pansy Craze. Her first appearance in a Broadway show, at age 18, was in a 1911 revue "A La Broadway" put on by her former dancing teacher, Ned Wayburn. The show folded after eight performances, but West was discovered and singled out for praise by a "New York Times" reviewer, who wrote that a "girl named Mae West, hitherto unknown, pleased by her grotesquerie and snappy way of singing and dancing". West next appeared in a show called "Vera Violetta", whose cast featured Al Jolson. In 1912, she appeared in the opening performance of "A Winsome Widow" as a "baby vamp" named La Petite Daffy.


title: Mae West

text: She was encouraged as a performer by her mother, who, according to West, always thought that anything Mae did was fantastic. Other family members were less encouraging, including an aunt and her paternal grandmother. They are all reported as having disapproved of her career and her choices. In 1918, after exiting several high-profile revues, West finally got her break in the Shubert Brothers revue "Sometime", opposite Ed Wynn. Her character Mayme danced the shimmy and her photograph appeared on an edition of the sheet music for the popular number "Ev'rybody Shimmies Now".


title: Mae West

text: Eventually, West began writing her own risqué plays using the pen name Jane Mast. Her first starring role on Broadway was in a 1926 play entitled "Sex", which she wrote, produced, and directed. Although conservative critics panned the show, ticket sales were strong. The production did not go over well with city officials, who had received complaints from some religious groups, and the theater was raided, with West arrested along with the cast. She was taken to the Jefferson Market Court House, (now Jefferson Market Library), where she was prosecuted on morals charges, and on April 19, 1927, was sentenced to 10 days for "corrupting the morals of youth". Though West could have paid a fine and been let off, she chose the jail sentence for the publicity it would garner. While incarcerated on Welfare Island (now known as Roosevelt Island), she dined with the warden and his wife; she told reporters that she had worn her silk panties while serving time, in lieu of the "burlap" the other girls had to wear. West got great mileage from this jail stint. She served eight days with two days off for "good behavior". Media attention surrounding the incident enhanced her career, by crowning her the darling "bad girl" who "had climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong".


title: Mae West

text: Her next play, "The Drag", dealt with homosexuality, and was what West called one of her "comedy-dramas of life". After a series of try-outs in Connecticut and New Jersey, West announced she would open the play in New York. However, "The Drag" never opened on Broadway, owing to efforts by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice to ban any attempt by West to stage it. West explained, "The city fathers begged me not to bring the show to New York because they were not equipped to handle the commotion it would cause." West was an early supporter of the women's liberation movement, but said she was not a "burn your bra" type of feminist. Since the 1920s, she was also an early supporter of gay rights, and publicly declared against police brutality that gay men experienced. She adopted a then "modern" psychological explanation that gay men were women's souls in men's bodies, and hitting a gay man was akin to hitting a woman. In her 1959 autobiography "Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It", a memoir compiled by ghostwriter Stephen Longstreet, West strongly objects to hypocrisy while also disparaging homosexuality: This perspective, never elaborated upon by West in other books or interviews, seems inconsistent with the Mae West persona, for in her 1975 book "Mae West: Sex, Health, and ESP", she writes, "I believe that the world owes male and female homosexuals more understanding than we've given them. Live and let live is my philosophy on the subject, and I believe everybody has the right to do his or her own thing or somebody else'sas long as they do it all in private!"


title: Mae West

text: Between the late 1920s and early 1930s, West continued to write plays, including "The Wicked Age", "Pleasure Man", and "The Constant Sinner". Her productions predictably aroused controversy, which ensured that she stayed in the news and often resulted in packed houses at her performances. Her 1928 play "Diamond Lil", a story about a racy, easygoing, and ultimately very smart lady of the 1890s, became a Broadway hit and cemented West's image in the public's eye. This show had an enduring popularity and West successfully revived it many times throughout the course of her career.


title: Mae West

text: Three years after the initial success of "Diamond Lil", West portrayed another sexually charged character, Babe Gordon, in "The Constant Sinner", which opened on Broadway at the Royale Theatre on September 14, 1931. The influential drama critic for "The New York Times", J. Brooks Atkinson, was among many reviewers at the time who bashed the play's storyline as well as West's performance. Atkinson's "scathing" assessment of her three-act production was published in "The Times" the day after the dramedy's premiere:


title: Mae West

text: Other prominent reviewers in 1931, like Atkinson, roundly criticized the stage production, calling it a "'clumsy drama'", "'deliberately outlandish'", and labeling West herself as an "'atrocious playwright'". Ultimately, the elaborate play closed on Broadway after just eight weeks and 64 performances. When compared to "Diamond Lil", which had run for nine months with 323 performances, "The Constant Sinner" was critically, financially, and personally a disappointment for West. Nevertheless, its notoriety and even its negative reviews further enhanced her public image as a daring, sensational performer and brought her additional widespread media attention. During that time, in the months after the play closed, West decided to put her stage career on hold and to accept a short-term but lucrative contract offer from Paramount Pictures to perform in a feature film in Hollywood.


title: Mae West

text: In June 1932, after signing a two-month contract with Paramount that provided her a weekly salary of $5,000 ($ today), West left New York by train for California. The veteran stage performer was by then nearly 40 years old, an unusually late age to begin a film career, especially for women, although Paramount certainly never had the slightest intention of casting her as an ingénue. She nonetheless managed to keep her age ambiguous for some time. She made her film debut in the role of Maudie Triplett in "Night After Night" (1932) starring George Raft, who had suggested West for the part. At first she did not like her small supporting role in the drama, but was appeased when she was allowed to rewrite portions of her character's dialogue. One of several revisions she made is in her first scene in "Night After Night", when a hat-check girl exclaims, "Goodness, what beautiful diamonds", and West replies, "Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie." Reflecting on the overall result of her rewritten scenes, Raft is reported to have said, "She stole everything but the cameras."


title: Mae West

text: For her next role for Paramount, West brought her "Diamond Lil" character, now renamed "Lady Lou", to the screen in "She Done Him Wrong" (1933). The film was one of Cary Grant's early major roles, which boosted his career. West claimed she spotted Grant at the studio and insisted that he be cast as the male lead. She claimed to have told a Paramount director, "If he can talk, I'll take him!" The film was a box office hit and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. The success of the film saved Paramount from bankruptcy, grossing over $2 million, the equivalent of $140 million today. Paramount recognizes that debt of gratitude today, with a building on the lot named after West.


title: Mae West

text: Her next release, "I'm No Angel" (1933), teamed her again with Grant. The film was also a box-office hit and was the most successful of her entire screen career. In the months after its release, references to West could be found almost everywhere, from the song lyrics of Cole Porter, to a Works Progress Administration (WPA) mural of San Francisco's newly built Coit Tower, to "She Done Him Right", a Betty Boop cartoon, to "My Dress Hangs There", a painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Kahlo's husband, Diego Rivera, paid his own tribute: "West is the most wonderful machine for living I have ever knownunfortunately on the screen only." To F. Scott Fitzgerald, West was especially unique: "The only Hollywood actress with both an ironic edge and a comic spark." As "Variety" put it, "Mae West's films have made her the biggest conversation-provoker, free-space grabber, and all-around box office bet in the country. She's as hot an issue as Hitler."


title: Mae West

text: By 1933, West was one of the largest box-office draws in the United States and, by 1935, she was also the highest paid woman and the second-highest paid person in the United States (after William Randolph Hearst). Hearst invited West to Hearst Castle, his massive estate in San Simeon, California, where Hollywood celebrities and prominent political and business figures frequently gathered to socialize. "I could'a married him," West later commented, "but I got no time for parties. I don't like those big crowds." On July 1, 1934, the censorship guidelines of the film industry's Production Code began to be meticulously enforced. As a result, West's scripts were subjected to more editing. She, in turn, would often intentionally place extremely risqué lines in her scripts, knowing they would be cut by the censors. She hoped they would then not object as much to her other less suggestive lines. Her next film was "Belle of the Nineties" (1934). The original title, "It Ain't No Sin", was changed because of censors' objections. Despite Paramount's early objections regarding costs, West insisted the studio hire Duke Ellington and his orchestra to accompany her in the film's musical numbers. Their collaboration was a success; the classic "My Old Flame" (recorded by Duke Ellington) was introduced in this film. Her next film, "Goin' to Town" (1935), received mixed reviews, as censorship continued to take its toll by preventing West from including her best lines.


title: Mae West

text: Her following effort, "Klondike Annie" (1936) dealt, as best it could given the heavy censorship, with religion and hypocrisy. Some critics called the film her magnum opus, but not everyone agreed. Press baron and film mogul William Randolph Hearst, ostensibly offended by an off-handed remark West made about his mistress, Marion Davies, sent a private memo to all his editors stating, "That Mae West picture "Klondike Annie" is a filthy picture... We should have editorials roasting that picture, Mae West, and Paramount... DO NOT ACCEPT ANY ADVERTISING OF THIS PICTURE." At one point, Hearst asked aloud, "Isn't it time Congress did something about the Mae West menace?" Paramount executives felt they had to tone down the West characterization or face further recrimination. "I was the first liberated woman, you know. No guy was going to get the best of me. That's what I wrote all my scripts about."


title: Mae West

text: Around the same time, West played opposite Randolph Scott in "Go West, Young Man" (1936). In this film, she adapted Lawrence Riley's Broadway hit "Personal Appearance" into a screenplay. Directed by Henry Hathaway, "Go West, Young Man" is considered one of West's weaker films of the era, because of the censor's cuts.


title: Mae West

text: West next starred in "Every Day's a Holiday" (1937) for Paramount before their association came to an end. The film performed below its goal. Censorship had made West's sexually suggestive brand of humor impossible for the studios to distribute. West, along with other stellar performers, was put on a list of actors called "Box Office Poison" by Harry Brandt on behalf of the Independent Theatre Owners Association. Others on the list were Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Fred Astaire, Dolores del Río, Katharine Hepburn and Kay Francis. The attack was published as a paid advertisement in "The Hollywood Reporter", and was taken seriously by the fearful studio executives. The association argued that these stars' high salaries and extreme public popularity did not affect their ticket sales, thus hurt the exhibitors. This did not stop producer David O. Selznick, who next offered West the role of the sage madam Belle Watling, the only woman ever to truly understand Rhett Butler, in "Gone with the Wind", after Tallulah Bankhead rejected the role. West also turned down the part, claiming it was too small for an established star and that she would need to rewrite her lines to suit her own persona. The role eventually went to Ona Munson.


title: Mae West

text: In 1939, Universal Studios approached West to star in a film opposite W. C. Fields. The studio was eager to duplicate the success of "Destry Rides Again" starring Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart, with a comic vehicle starring West and Fields. Having left Paramount 18 months earlier and looking for a new film, West accepted the role of Flower Belle Lee in the film "My Little Chickadee" (1940). Despite the stars' intense mutual dislike, Fields's very real drinking problems and fights over the screenplay, "My Little Chickadee" was a box office hit, outgrossing Fields's previous film, "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man" (1939) and the later "The Bank Dick" (1940). Despite this, religious leaders condemned West as a negative role model, taking offense at lines such as "When I'm caught between two evils, I generally like to take the one I never tried".


title: Mae West

text: West's next film was Columbia Pictures' "The Heat's On" (1943). Initially, she did not want to do the film, but after actor, director and friend Gregory Ratoff (producer Max Fabian in "All About Eve)" pleaded with her and claimed he would go bankrupt if she could not help, West relented as a personal favor. Censors curtailed the sexual burlesque of the West characterization. The studio had orders to raise the neck lines and clean up the double entendres. This was the only film for which West was virtually not allowed to write her own dialogue and, as a result, the film suffered.


title: Mae West

text: Perhaps the most critical, ongoing challenge facing West in her career was censorship of her dialogue. As on Broadway a decade before, by the mid-1930s her risqué and ribald dialogue could no longer be allowed to pass. "The Heat's On" opened to poor reviews and weak performance at the box office. West was so distraught after the experience and by her years of struggling with the strict Hays Code censorship office, that she would not attempt another film role for the next quarter-century. Instead, West pursued a successful and record-breaking career in top nightclubs, Las Vegas, nationally in theater and on Broadway, where she was allowed, even welcomed, to be herself.


title: Mae West

text: On December 12, 1937, West appeared in two separate sketches on ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's radio show "The Chase and Sanborn Hour". By the second half of the 1930s, West's popularity was affected by her dialogue being severely censored. She went on the show eager to promote "Every Day's a Holiday". Appearing as herself, West flirted with Charlie McCarthy, Bergen's dummy, using her usual brand of wit and risqué sexual references. West referred to Charlie as "all wood and a yard long" and commented, "Charles, I remember our last date, and have the splinters to prove it!" West was on the verge of being banned from radio.


title: Mae West

text: More outrageous still was an NBC sketch written by Arch Oboler, starring Don Ameche and West as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. She tells Ameche to "get me a big one... I feel like doin' a big apple!" This ostensible reference to the then-current dance craze was one of the many double entendres in the dialogue. Days after the broadcast, the studio received letters calling the show "immoral" and "obscene". Several conservative women's clubs and religious groups admonished the show's sponsor, Chase & Sanborn Coffee Company, for "prostituting" their services for allowing "impurity [to] invade the air".


title: Mae West

text: Under pressure, the Federal Communications Commission later deemed the broadcast "vulgar and indecent" and "far below even the minimum standard which should control in the selection and production of broadcast programs". Some debate existed regarding the reaction to the skit. Conservative religious groups took umbrage far more swiftly than the mainstream. These groups found it easy to make West their target. They took exception to her outspoken use of sexuality and sexual imagery, which she had employed in her career since at least the pre-Code films of the early 1930s and for decades before on Broadway, but which was now being broadcast into American living rooms on a popular family-friendly radio program. The groups reportedly warned the sponsor of the program they would protest her appearance.


title: Mae West

text: NBC Radio scapegoated West for the incident and banned her (and the mention of her name) from their stations. They claimed it was not the content of the skit, but West's tonal inflections that gave it the controversial context, acting as though they had hired West knowing nothing of her previous work, nor had any idea of how she would deliver the lines written for her by Oboler. West would not perform in radio for a dozen years, until January 1950, in an episode of "The Chesterfield Supper Club", which was hosted by Perry Como. Ameche's career did not suffer any serious repercussions, however, as he was playing the "straight" guy. Nonetheless, Mae West went on to enjoy a record-breaking success in Las Vegas, swank nightclubs such as Lou Walters's The Latin Quarter, Broadway, and London.


title: Mae West

text: After appearing in "The Heat's On" in 1943, West returned to a very active career on stage and in clubs. Among her popular new stage performances was the title role in "Catherine Was Great" (1944) on Broadway, in which she penned a spoof on the story of Catherine the Great of Russia, surrounding herself with an "imperial guard" of tall, muscular young actors. The play was produced by theater and film impresario Mike Todd ("Around The World in 80 Days") and ran for 191 performances and then went on tour.


title: Mae West

text: When Mae West revived her 1928 play "Diamond Lil", bringing it back to Broadway in 1949, "The New York Times" labeled her an "American Institution—as beloved and indestructible as Donald Duck. Like Chinatown, and Grant's Tomb, Mae West should be seen at least once." In the 1950s, West starred in her own Las Vegas stage show at the newly opened Sahara Hotel, singing while surrounded by bodybuilders. The show stood Las Vegas on its head. "Men come to see me, but I also give the women something to see: wall to wall men!" West explained. Jayne Mansfield met and later married one of West's muscle men, former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay.


title: Mae West

text: When casting about for the role of Norma Desmond for the 1950 film "Sunset Boulevard", Billy Wilder offered West the role. Still smarting from the censorship debacle of "The Heat's On", and the constraints placed on her characterization, she declined. The theme of the Wilder film, she noted, was pure pathos, while her brand of comedy was always "about uplifting the audience". Mae West had a unique comic character that was timeless, in the same way Charlie Chaplin did. After Mary Pickford also declined the role, Gloria Swanson was cast.


title: Mae West

text: In subsequent years, West was offered the role of Vera Simpson, opposite Frank Sinatra, in the 1957 film adaptation of "Pal Joey", which she turned down, with the role going to Rita Hayworth. In 1964, West was offered a leading role in "Roustabout", starring Elvis Presley. She turned the role down, and Barbara Stanwyck was cast in her place. West was also approached for roles in Frederico Fellini's "Juliet of the Spirits" and "Satyricon", but rejected both offers.


title: Mae West

text: On March 26, 1958, West appeared at the live televised Academy Awards and performed the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Rock Hudson, which received a standing ovation. In 1959, she released an autobiography, "Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It", which became a best seller and was reprinted with a new chapter in 1970. West guest-starred on television, including "The Dean Martin Variety Show" in 1959 and "The Red Skelton Show" in 1960, to promote her autobiography, and a lengthy interview on "Person to Person" with Charles Collingwood in 1959, which never aired. CBS executives felt members of the television audience were not ready to see a nude marble statue of West, which rested on her piano. In 1964, she made a guest appearance on the sitcom "Mister Ed". Much later, in 1976, she was interviewed by Dick Cavett and sang two songs on his "Back Lot U.S.A." special on CBS.


title: Mae West

text: West's recording career started in the early 1930s with releases of her film songs on shellac 78 rpm records. Most of her film songs were released as 78s, as well as sheet music. In 1955, she recorded her first album, "The Fabulous Mae West". In 1965, she recorded two songs, "Am I Too Young" and "He's Good For Me", for a 45 rpm record released by Plaza Records. She recorded several tongue-in-cheek songs, including "Santa, Come Up to See Me", on the album "Wild Christmas", which was released in 1966 and reissued as "Mae in December" in 1980. Demonstrating her willingness to keep in touch with the contemporary scene, in 1966 she recorded "Way Out West", the first of her two rock-and-roll albums. The second, released in 1972 on MGM Records and titled "Great Balls of Fire", covered songs by The Doors, among others, and had songs written for West by English songwriter-producer Ian Whitcomb.


title: Mae West

text: After a 27-year absence from motion pictures, West appeared as Leticia Van Allen in Gore Vidal's "Myra Breckinridge" (1970) with Raquel Welch, Rex Reed, Farrah Fawcett, and Tom Selleck in a small part. The movie was intended to be deliberately campy sex change comedy, but had serious production problems, resulting in a botched film that was both a box-office and critical failure. Author Vidal, at great odds with inexperienced and self-styled "art film" director Michael Sarne, later called the film "an awful joke". Though Mae West was given star billing to attract ticket buyers, her scenes were truncated by the inexperienced film editor, and her songs were filmed as though they were merely side acts. Mae West's counterculture appeal (she was dubbed "the queen of camp"), included the young and hip, and by 1971, the student body of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) voted Mae West "Woman of the Century" in honor of her relevance as a pioneering advocate of sexual frankness and courageous crusader against censorship.


title: Mae West

text: In 1975, West released her book "Sex, Health, and ESP" (William Allen & Sons, publisher), and "Pleasure Man" (Dell publishers) based on her 1928 play of the same name. Her autobiography, "Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It", was also updated and republished in the 1970s.


title: Mae West

text: Mae West was a shrewd investor, produced her own stage acts, and invested her money in large tracts of land in Van Nuys, a thriving suburb of Los Angeles. With her considerable fortune, she could afford to do as she liked. In 1976, she appeared on "Back Lot U.S.A." on CBS, where she was interviewed by Dick Cavett and sang "Frankie and Johnny" along with "After You've Gone." That same year, she began work on her final film, "Sextette" (1978). Adapted from a 1959 script written by West, the film's daily revisions and production disagreements hampered production from the beginning. Because of the near-endless last-minute script changes and tiring production schedule, West agreed to have her lines signaled to her through a speaker concealed in her hair piece. Despite the daily problems, West was, according to "Sextette" director Ken Hughes, determined to see the film through. At 84, her now-failing eyesight made navigating around the set difficult, but she made it through the filming, a tribute to her self-confidence, remarkable endurance, and stature as a self-created star 67 years after her Broadway debut in 1911 at the age of 18. "Time" magazine wrote an article on the indomitable star entitled "At 84, Mae West Is Still Mae West".


title: Mae West

text: Upon its release, "Sextette" was not a critical or commercial success, but has a diverse cast. The cast included some of West's first co-stars such as George Raft ("Night After Night", 1932), silver screen stars such as Walter Pidgeon and Tony Curtis, and more contemporary pop stars such as The Beatles' Ringo Starr and Alice Cooper, and television favorites such as Dom DeLuise and gossip queen Rona Barrett. It also included cameos of some of the musclemen from her 1950s Las Vegas show, such as the still remarkably fit Reg Lewis. "Sextette" also reunited Mae West with Edith Head, her costume designer from 1933 in "She Done Him Wrong".


title: Mae West

text: For her contribution to the film industry, Mae West has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street in Hollywood. For her contributions as a stage actor in the theater world, she has been inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.


title: Mae West

text: West's was among that of hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.


title: Mae West

text: Mae West was noted for her "voluptuous figure". The Mae West look has been described as "a figure-hugging floor-length gown with a very low neckline and the figure to fill it." Noted features were the fishtail train and feather trim.


title: Mae West

text: West was married on April 11, 1911, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Frank Szatkus (1892–1966), whose stage name was Frank Wallace, a fellow vaudevillian whom she met in 1909. She was 17. She kept the marriage a secret, but a filing clerk discovered the marriage certificate in 1935 and alerted the press. The clerk also uncovered an affidavit in which she had declared herself married, made during the "Sex" trial in 1927. At first, West denied ever marrying Wallace, but she finally admitted it in July 1937, in reply to a legal interrogatory. The couple never lived together as husband and wife. She insisted that they had separate bedrooms, and she soon sent him away in a show of his own to get rid of him. She obtained a legal divorce on July 21, 1942, during which Wallace withdrew his request for separate maintenance, and West testified that Wallace and she had lived together for only "several weeks". The final divorce decree was granted on May 7, 1943.


title: Mae West

text: In August 1913, she met Guido Deiro (1886–1950), an Italian-born vaudeville headliner and piano-accordion star. Her affair, and possible 1914 marriage to him, as alleged by Deiro's son Guido Roberto Deiro in his 2019 book "Mae West and The Count", went "very deep, hittin' on all the emotions". According to the "American Masters" documentary "Mae West: Dirty Blonde", West aborted Deiro's child on the advice of her mother, the procedure nearly killing her and leaving her infertile. The younger Deiro said that his father was devastated when he learned about the abortion and ended the relationship. West later said, "Marriage is a great institution. I'm not ready for an institution."


title: Mae West

text: In 1916, when she was a vaudeville actress, West had a relationship with James Timony (1884–1954), an attorney nine years her senior. Timony was also her manager. By the time that she was an established movie actress in the mid-1930s, they were no longer a couple. West and Timony remained extremely close, living in the same building, working together, and providing support for each other until Timony's death in 1954.


title: Mae West

text: West remained close to her family throughout her life and was devastated by her mother's death in 1930. In 1930, she moved to Hollywood and into the penthouse at The Ravenswood apartment building where she lived until her death in 1980. Her sister, brother, and father followed her to Hollywood where she provided them with nearby homes, jobs, and sometimes financial support. Among her boyfriends was boxing champion William Jones, nicknamed Gorilla Jones (1906–1982). The management at her Ravenswood apartment building barred the African American boxer from entering the premises; West solved the problem by buying the building and lifting the ban.


title: Mae West

text: She became romantically involved at age 61 with Chester Rybinski (1923–1999), one of the muscle men in her Las Vegas stage show—a wrestler, former Mr. California, and former merchant sailor. He was 30 years younger than her, and later changed his name to Paul Novak. He moved in with her, and their romance continued until her death in 1980 at age 87. Novak once commented, "I believe I was put on this Earth to take care of Mae West." West was a Presbyterian.


title: Mae West

text: In August 1980, West tripped while getting out of bed. After the fall, she was unable to speak, and was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, where tests revealed that she had suffered a stroke. She died on November 22, 1980, at the age of 87.


title: Mae West

text: A private service was held at the church in Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, on November 25, 1980. Bishop Andre Penachio, a friend, officiated at the entombment in the family mausoleum at Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, purchased in 1930 when her mother died. Her father and brother were also entombed there before her, and her younger sister, Beverly, was laid to rest in the last of the five crypts less than 18 months after West's death.


title: Mahaan (2022 film)

text: Mahaan () is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj and produced by S. S. Lalit Kumar under the banner of Seven Screen Studio. The film stars Vikram, Simran, Dhruv Vikram, Bobby Simha, while Sananth, Vettai Muthukumar, Deepak Paramesh and Aadukalam Naren in supporting roles. The plot revolves around the journey of a commerce teacher named Gandhi Mahaan and his son Dadabhai Naoroji, as the former turns into a liquor baron and lives a life of his own after being abandoned by his family and the latter, an extremist Gandhian wovs revenge on his father who violated Gandhian principles and abandoned his family.


title: Mahaan (2022 film)

text: The film's music is composed by Santhosh Narayanan, with cinematography handled by Shreyaas Krishna and editing done by Vivek Harshan. Principal Photography of the film began on 10 March 2021. After some days the filming was stopped due to COVID-19 restrictions and then was resumed on 6 July. The shooting of the film was completed on 14 August. Owing to the delays of the film, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a few incomplete scenes were cut from the final runtime of 3 hours, which were later released on the 100th day of release. The film was released on 10 February 2022 on Amazon Prime Video and received critical acclaim from critics and audience, praising the cast's performances (particularly Vikram and Dhruv), action sequences, soundtrack, cinematography, direction and production values.


title: Mahaan (2022 film)

text: 1968: Mohandoss is a middle-aged liquor-ban activist whose son Gandhi Mahaan is the exact opposite of him, and is addicted to gambling and drinking. Sathyavan Soosaiyappan is his friend, who gambles against Gnanodhayam. Gandhi is a prodigy in gambling and always helps Sathya win matches. One time, Sathya keeps on losing and confronts Gandhi, who tells that he has no choice but to make him lose because Gnanam kidnapped his dog, Joker. Everyone fights over it, and their parents had to interfere in it. Mohandoss makes Gandhi promise that he will lead the liquor ban movement and live as a "Mahaan".


title: Mahaan (2022 film)

text: 1996: Gandhi is a 40-year-old commerce teacher at the local government school. He is married to Nachi and has a son Dada. On his birthday, Gandhi leaves for a temple where he meets a beggar, who tells that Gandhi leads a life like 95% of people with morals or principals, but cannot lead a life like 5% of people, who do not follow morals or principles in life. At night, Gandhi remembers the beggar's words where Nachi tells Gandhi that she and her friends are going on a trip to Tirupati. Gandhi uses this as an opportunity to live life to the fullest and goes to a bar, where he meets one of his old students, Rakesh Christopher alias Rocky, who decides to help Gandhi fulfill his dreams.