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).
Photos
Films (57)
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
1999 · (archive footage)
The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell
1982 · (archive footage)
The Hollywood Clowns
1979 · (archive footage)
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976 · (archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975 · Self (archive footage)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
1972 · Self (archive footage)
What a Way to Go!
1964 · Mrs. Foster
Zotz!
1962 · Persephone Updike
Around the World with Nellie Bly
1960 · Dowager #1
Auntie Mame
1958 · Noblewoman in Play (uncredited)
Shake, Rattle and Rock!
1956 · Georgianna Fitzdingle
Stop, You're Killing Me
1952 · Mrs. Whitelaw
Three for Bedroom C
1952 · Mrs. Agnes Hawthorne
Susie Steps Out
1946 · Mrs. Starr
Little Giant
1946 · Mrs. Hendrickson
Sunset in El Dorado
1945 · Aunt Dolly / Aunt Arabella
Diamond Horseshoe
1945 · Mrs. Standish
The Horn Blows at Midnight
1945 · Mme. Traviata / Miss Rodholder
Bathing Beauty
1944 · Mrs. Allenwood
Seven Days Ashore
1944 · Mrs. Croxton-Lynch
Up in Arms
1944 · Mrs. Willoughby
The Dancing Masters
1943 · Louise Harlan
Rhythm Parade
1942 · Ophelia MacDougal
Tales of Manhattan
1942 · Mme. Langehanke (uncredited)
About Face
1942 · Mrs. Culpepper
Sing Your Worries Away
1942 · Flo Faulkner - Landlady
Born to Sing
1942 · Mrs. E. V. Lawson
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
1941 · Mrs. Hemogloben
The Big Store
1941 · Martha Phelps
For Beauty's Sake
1941 · Mrs. Franklin Evans
At the Circus
1939 · Mrs. Suzanna Dukesbury
Dramatic School
1938 · Pantomime Teacher
Wise Girl
1937 · Mrs. Bell-Rivington
High Flyers
1937 · Martha Arlington
Youth on Parole
1937 · Mrs. Abernathy
The Life of the Party
1937 · Mrs. Penner
A Day at the Races
1937 · Emily Upjohn
Arbor Day
1936 · Woman Outside (uncredited)
Song and Dance Man
1936 · Mrs. Whitney
Anything Goes
1936 · Mrs. Wentworth
A Night at the Opera
1935 · Mrs. Claypool
Rendezvous
1935 · Mrs. Hendricks (uncredited)
Reckless
1935 · Woman in Audience Yelling 'Get Off the Stage' (uncredited)
Gypsy Sweetheart
1935 · Mrs. Van Updyke
After Office Hours
1935 · Mrs. Murchison (uncredited)
Kentucky Kernels
1934 · Mrs. Baxter
Gridiron Flash
1934 · Mrs. Fields
Fifteen Wives
1934 · Sybilla Crum
Duck Soup
1933 · Gloria Teasdale
Storm at Daybreak
1933 · Duchess Sophie (uncredited)
Wonderland of California
1933 · Self
Here, Prince
1932 · The Queen of Deleria (uncredited)
The Girl Habit
1931 · Blanche Ledyard
Animal Crackers
1930 · Mrs. Rittenhouse
The Cocoanuts
1929 · Mrs. Potter
Enemies of Women
1923 · French Beauty
A Tale of Two Cities
1917 · Aristocrat (uncredited)
