Margaret Dumont
Margaret Dumont
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).
Acted Movies
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Writers: Betty Comden,
Cast: Dean Martin, Dick Van Dyke, Gene Kelly, Lou Nova, Margaret Dumont, Paul Newman, Reginald Gardiner, Robert Cummings, Robert Mitchum, Shirley MacLaine,
Director: Charles Reisner
Writers: Sid Kuller,
Cast: Chico Marx, Douglass Dumbrille, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Margaret Dumont, Marion Martin, Tony Martin, Virginia Grey, Virginia O'Brien, William Tannen,
Director: Sam Wood
Writers: Robert Pirosh,
Cast: Allan Jones, Chico Marx, Douglass Dumbrille, Esther Muir, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Leonard Ceeley, Margaret Dumont, Maureen O'Sullivan, Sig Ruman,
Director: Sam Wood
Writers: George S. Kaufman,
Cast: Allan Jones, Chico Marx, Edward Keane, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Kitty Carlisle, Margaret Dumont, Robert Emmett O'Connor, Sig Ruman, Walter Woolf King,
Director: Victor Heerman
Writers: George S. Kaufman,
Cast: Chico Marx, Groucho Marx, Hal Thompson, Harpo Marx, Kathryn Reece, Lillian Roth, Louis Sorin, Margaret Dumont, Margaret Irving, Zeppo Marx,