When Mae West agreed to star in the 1970 film Myra Breckinridge, she hadn't made a film in almost 30 years. She chose to leave Hollywood behind after her bawdy humor was declared off limits under the Hayes Code. Having amassed a huge fortune and being a shrewd investor, she didn't really need to work. When Fox approached her with the sordid Myra Breckinridge script she had to be convinced to take the role. While she enjoyed the idea of returning to form in a risqué project, she didn't need the cash. (She was sitting on a $75 Million fortune.)
Her requirements were actually quite tame. She insisted that her character be named Leticia Van Allen instead of Letitia Van Allen "for obvious reasons," (could the bawdy Mae West have balked at the letters 'tit' being in the name?) she required that only her character wear the colors white and black, (which caused an uproar with her co-star Raquel Welch) that she be allowed to write in some smutty double entendres and that her character be allowed to attend the film's orgy scene. All of these requests were honored, though Miss West eventually regretted starring in the film. She wouldn't make another film until 1978.
