Olive Oyl

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Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar for his comic strip Thimble Theater.

Thimble Theater later became Popeye after the sailor character who became the most popular member of the comic strip's cast. Olive Oyl was a character in the strip for years before the first appearance of Popeye.

The version of Olive Oyl most widely familiar is the version from the theatrical animated cartoons, first created by Fleischer Studios, and then produced by Paramount Pictures. Unlike most modern damsels in distress, Olive Oyl has short hair, is tall, skinny and not particularly attractive. In the films and later television cartoons, Olive Oyl is Popeye's girlfriend. She constantly gets kidnapped by Bluto (aka Brutus) who is Popeye's rival for her affections but Popeye always rescues her.

In the cartoons, she has a baby named Swee'Pea; it is not made clear if Swee'Pea is Olive Oyl's own son or an adopted foundling. In the comics, Swee'Pea is a foundling under Popeye's care.

The voice for Olive Oyl was created by character actress Mae Questel (who also voiced Betty Boop and other characters); Questel styled Olive Oyl's voice after that of actress ZaSu Pitts.

Olive Oyl is named after olive oil, a common cooking ingredient in Italian and Mediterranean dishes. Segar's newspaper strips also featured a number of her relatives named after other oils, including her brother Castor Oyl, their mother Nana Oyl (after "banana oil", a mild slang phrase of the time used in the same way as "horsefeathers", i.e. "nonsense" [1]) and their father, Cole Oyl.