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
A Night at the Opera
Mrs. Claypool
What a Way to Go!
Mrs. Foster
About Face
Mrs. Culpepper
A Day at the Races
Emily Upjohn
At the Circus
Mrs. Suzanna Dukesbury
The Cocoanuts
Mrs. Potter
That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
Animal Crackers
Mrs. Rittenhouse
Wise Girl
Mrs. Bell-Rivington
The Big Store
Martha Phelps
Tales of Manhattan
Mme. Langehanke (uncredited)
Anything Goes
Mrs. Wentworth
Reckless
Woman in Audience Yelling 'Get Off the Stage' (uncredited)
Little Giant
Mrs. Hendrickson
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
Up in Arms
Mrs. Willoughby
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Self (archive footage)
The Horn Blows at Midnight
Mme. Traviata / Miss Rodholder
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Mrs. Hemogloben
Around the World with Nellie Bly
Dowager #1
Susie Steps Out
Mrs. Starr
A Tale of Two Cities
Aristocrat (uncredited)
Song and Dance Man
Mrs. Whitney
Gridiron Flash
Mrs. Fields
Diamond Horseshoe
Mrs. Standish
Storm at Daybreak
Duchess Sophie (uncredited)
High Flyers
Martha Arlington
Rendezvous
Mrs. Hendricks (uncredited)
Youth on Parole
Mrs. Abernathy
Shake, Rattle and Rock!
Georgianna Fitzdingle
Sunset in El Dorado
Aunt Dolly / Aunt Arabella
The Dancing Masters
Louise Harlan
The Life of the Party
Mrs. Penner