Editing Marie Dressler (section)

==Personal life==
Dressler's first marriage was to an American, George Francis Hoeppert (1862 – September 7, 1929), a theatrical manager. His surname is sometimes given as Hopper. The couple married on May 6, 1894, in Grace Church Rectory, Greenville, New Jersey, as biographer Matthew Kennedy wrote, under her birth name, Leila Marie Koerber.<ref>Ancestry.ca file 45594_2321306652_0102-00155.jpg</ref> In 1904, Dressler adopted an incubator baby girl and named her Marie Dressler.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1904 |title=Marie Dressler Adopts a Baby |url=https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2022/151/240207918_534399d8-d211-4bff-a32a-3a6b6c0c4cce.jpeg?v=1699588089 |access-date=2024-02-24}}</ref>
[[File:Marie Dressler portrait crop.jpg|thumb|Dressler in 1909]]
Her marriage to Hoeppert gave Dressler U.S. citizenship, which was useful later in life, when immigration rules meant permits were needed to work in the United States, and Dressler had to appear before an immigration hearing.<ref name=calgary>{{cite news |work=Calgary Daily Herald |date=August 11, 1934 |title=Actress Saw Two Marriages Fail in 14 years |page=5 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9xhkAAAAIBAJ&dq=george%20hoppert&pg=3921%2C4565629 |access-date=September 6, 2011}}</ref> Ever since her start in the theatre, Dressler had sent a portion of her salary to her parents. Her success on Broadway meant she could afford to buy a home and later a farm on Long Island, which she shared with her parents. Dressler made several attempts to set up theatre companies or theatre productions of her own using her Broadway proceeds, but these failed and she had to declare bankruptcy several times.{{sfn|Lee|1997|p=70}}

In 1907, Dressler met a [[Maine]] businessman, James Henry "Jim" Dalton, who became her companion until his death on November 29, 1921, at the Congress Hotel in Chicago from diabetes. According to Dalton, the two were married in Europe in 1908.{{sfn|Lee|1997|p=64}} However, according to Dressler's U.S. passport application, the couple married in May 1904 in Italy.<ref>[http://interactive.ancestrylibrary.com/1174/USM1490_2437-0267?pid=1014722&backurl=http://search.ancestrylibrary.com//cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26db%3DUSpassports%26h%3D1014722%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DZAa17%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26rhSource%3D2542&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=ZAa17&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true U.S. passport application]</ref>

Dressler reportedly later learned that the "minister" who had married them in [[Monte Carlo]] was actually a local man paid by Dalton to stage a fake wedding.{{sfn|Lee|1997|p=65}} Dalton's first wife, Lizzie Augusta Britt Dalton, claimed he <!-- he (Dalton) or she (Lizzie)?? -->had not consented to a divorce or been served divorce papers, although Dalton claimed to have divorced her in 1905.{{sfn|Lee|1997|p=102}} By 1921, Dalton had become an invalid due to [[diabetes mellitus]], and watched her from the wings in his wheelchair. After his death that year, Dressler was planning for Dalton to be buried as her husband, but Lizzie Dalton had Dalton's body returned to be buried in the Dalton family plot.{{sfn|Lee|1997|p=148}}

After Dalton's death, which coincided with a decline in her stage career, Dressler moved into a servant's room in the Ritz Hotel to save money.{{sfn|Lee|1997|p=152}} Eventually, she moved in with friend Nella Webb to save on expenses.{{sfn|Lee|1997|p=159}} After finding work in film again in 1927, she rented a home in Hollywood on Hillside Avenue. Although Dressler was working from 1927 on, she was still reportedly living hand to mouth. In November 1928, wealthy friends Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Neurmberg gave her $10,000, explaining they planned to give her a legacy someday, but they thought she needed the money immediately.{{sfn|Lee|1997|p=168}} In 1929, she moved to Los Angeles to 6718 Milner Road in Whitley Heights, then to 623 North Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills, both rentals. She moved to her final home at 801 North Alpine in Beverly Hills in 1932, a home which she bought from the estate of [[King C. Gillette]].{{sfn|Lee|1997|p=169}} During her seven years in Hollywood, Dressler lived with her maid Mamie Cox and later Mamie's husband Jerry.{{sfn|Lee|1997|p=169}}