Margaret Dumont
Acting
Born: 1882-10-19 in Brooklyn, New York, USA
Biography
Margaret Dumont would probably consider it a tragedy that she is best-known for her performances as the ultimate straight woman in seven of the Marx Brothers' films (including most of their best). By all accounts she never understood their jokes (offscreen and on), which is of course a major reason why she's so funny. Apart from a small role in a 1917 Dickens adaptation, she spent her early career on the stage, ending up with the Marxes in the late 1920s in the stage versions of The Cocoanuts (1929) and Animal Crackers (1930), and was given a Paramount contract at the same time they were. She played similar roles alongside other great comedians, including W.C. Fields, Laurel & Hardy and Jack Benny and also played straight dramatic parts (her chief love), but few of them made much impact - it is as Groucho Marx's foil that she ranks among the immortals, and she died shortly after being reunited with him on "The Hollywood Palace" (1964).
Known For
The Donna Reed Show
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Self
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self
Racket Squad
Bathing Beauty
Mrs. Allenwood
Auntie Mame
Noblewoman in Play (uncredited)
Duck Soup
Gloria Teasdale
About Face
Mrs. Culpepper
What a Way to Go!
Mrs. Foster
A Night at the Opera
Mrs. Claypool
At the Circus
Mrs. Suzanna Dukesbury
A Day at the Races
Emily Upjohn
Animal Crackers
Mrs. Rittenhouse
The Cocoanuts
Mrs. Potter
Little Giant
Mrs. Hendrickson
Wise Girl
Mrs. Bell-Rivington
The Big Store
Martha Phelps
That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
Reckless
Woman in Audience Yelling 'Get Off the Stage' (uncredited)
Up in Arms
Mrs. Willoughby
Tales of Manhattan
Mme. Langehanke (uncredited)
Anything Goes
Mrs. Wentworth
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
The Girl Habit
Blanche Ledyard
The Horn Blows at Midnight
Mme. Traviata / Miss Rodholder
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Self (archive footage)
Born to Sing
Mrs. E. V. Lawson
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Mrs. Hemogloben
Song and Dance Man
Mrs. Whitney
Gridiron Flash
Mrs. Fields
Kentucky Kernels
Mrs. Baxter
Rendezvous
Mrs. Hendricks (uncredited)
High Flyers
Martha Arlington
A Tale of Two Cities
Aristocrat (uncredited)
Around the World with Nellie Bly
Dowager #1
Diamond Horseshoe
Mrs. Standish
The Life of the Party
Mrs. Penner
Susie Steps Out
Mrs. Starr
After Office Hours
Mrs. Murchison (uncredited)
For Beauty's Sake
Mrs. Franklin Evans