Olive Oyl

▪ cartoon character

      American comic-strip and cartoon character, the longtime love interest of the sailor Popeye.

      Tall, gangly, big-footed Olive Oyl, whose black hair was almost always tied back in a bun, first co-starred with her brother, Castor Oyl, in 1919 in the newspaper comic strip Thimble Theatre. For the strip's first 10 years, she was the girlfriend of Castor's layabout pal, Ham Gravy, and her jealousy over his wandering eye fueled many comedic episodes. However, soon after the introduction of Popeye in 1929, Ham was written out of the strip as Olive found true love with the salty sailor. In this coupling, she was the more fickle character, as from time to time she became drawn to suitors with more education and refinement than the scrappy, wisecracking Popeye, though he always won her back. Popeye rescued Olive Oyl hundreds of times from the nefarious bully Bluto.

      Olive Oyl was the only member of the original Thimble Theatre cast created by cartoonist Elzie Segar (Segar, Elzie) to survive the strip's eventual transformation into a starring vehicle for Popeye, and she appeared as the leading lady in all subsequent media adaptations. In a long-running series of animated short films produced by the Fleischer brothers in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, her trademark squeaky voice was created by Betty Boop voice actress Mae Questel. Olive Oyl also appeared in scores of animated television episodes produced in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. In the 1980 live-action Popeye film, Olive Oyl was portrayed by actress Shelley Duvall.

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