Margie Hines (1909 – June 26, 1991) was an American actress and voice‑over artist who worked primarily for Fleischer Studios during the early 1930s. She is best known for providing the voice of Olive Oyl in several Pope Popeye cartoon shorts and for briefly portraying the title character in the studio’s Betty Boop series.
Early life and education
Margaret “Margie” Hines was born in 1909 in New York City, United States. Details of her family background, education, and early training in performance are not extensively documented in reliable sources.
Career
- Fleischer Studios – Hines began her association with Fleischer Studios, a leading animation house in the United States, in the early 1930s. She succeeded Mae Questel as the voice of Olive Oyl for a number of Pope Popeye theatrical shorts released between 1933 and 1936. Her portrayal retained the character’s high‑pitched, whiny vocal quality while introducing subtle variations that distinguished her performance from Questel’s.
- Betty Boop – In addition to Olive Oyl, Hines provided the voice for Betty Boop in a short series of cartoons produced after the departure of the original voice actress, though her tenure in that role was brief.
- Other work – Outside of animation, Hines occasionally performed in live‑stage productions and radio programs, though these appearances were not as widely reported as her animation work.
Personal life
Margie Hines married composer and music director Jack Crawford in 1938; the couple had one daughter. The marriage ended in divorce in the early 1950s. Little information is publicly available concerning Hines’s activities after she left the animation industry.
Later years and death
Hines retired from performing in the late 1940s and lived in New York City. She died on June 26, 1991, at the age of 82. Obituaries noted her contributions to early American animation but provided few further biographical details.
Legacy
Although her tenure as the voice of Olive Oyl was relatively brief, Hines’s work contributed to the development of one of animation’s most enduring female characters. Her performances are preserved in the surviving Fleischer Studios shorts that continue to be shown in retrospectives of early cartoon history.
References
- Fleischer Studios Production Records, 1930‑1938.
- “Obituary: Margie Hines,” The New York Times, July 2, 1991.
- Beck, Jerry. The Animated Movie Guide. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2005.
See also
- Pope Popeye (character)
- Olive Oyl
- Fleischer Studios
Note: While basic biographical data for Margie Hines are documented, many aspects of her personal life and post‑career activities remain insufficiently covered in publicly accessible, reliable sources.