Olive Oyl Biography

Animator Max Fleischer brought Olive Oyl to the big screen in 1933, when he developed a cartoon from E.C. Slegar’s popular comic strip Popeye, The Sailor Man. Olive is Popeye’s love interest, a toothpick of a gal with dowdy clothes and big feet. Occasionally her affections stray toward that of Bluto, an abusive hulk who woos Olive with he-man muscularity (or kidnaps her outright). When Olive’s flirtations with Bluto turn ugly, Popeye gives him a drubbing while Olive cheers from the sidelines. Often portrayed as flighty, flirty and fickle, Olive is Popeye’s one true love. In later animated versions, Olive and Popeye appear as man and wife.