Margaret Dumont
Born: 1882-10-19 in Brooklyn, New York, USA
Died: 1965-03-06
Known For: Acting
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).
Filmography
1999
- Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults as (archive footage)
1982
- The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell as (archive footage)
1979
- The Hollywood Clowns as (archive footage)
1976
- That's Entertainment, Part II as (archive footage)
1975
- Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? as Self (archive footage)
1972
- Hollywood: The Dream Factory as Self (archive footage)
1964
- What a Way to Go! as Mrs. Foster
1962
- Zotz! as Persephone Updike
1960
- Around the World with Nellie Bly as Dowager #1
1958
- The Donna Reed Show
- Auntie Mame as Noblewoman in Play (uncredited)
1956
- The Dinah Shore Chevy Show as Self
- Shake, Rattle and Rock! as Georgianna Fitzdingle
1952
- Three for Bedroom C as Mrs. Agnes Hawthorne
- Stop, You're Killing Me as Mrs. Whitelaw
1951
1950
- The Colgate Comedy Hour as Self
1946
- Little Giant as Mrs. Hendrickson
1945
- Diamond Horseshoe as Mrs. Standish
- Sunset in El Dorado as Aunt Dolly / Aunt Arabella
- The Horn Blows at Midnight as Mme. Traviata / Miss Rodholder
1944
- Bathing Beauty as Mrs. Allenwood
- Up in Arms as Mrs. Willoughby
- Seven Days Ashore as Mrs. Croxton-Lynch
1943
- The Dancing Masters as Louise Harlan
1942
- Rhythm Parade as Ophelia MacDougal
- About Face as Mrs. Culpepper
- Sing Your Worries Away as Flo Faulkner - Landlady
- Tales of Manhattan as Mme. Langehanke (uncredited)
- Born to Sing as Mrs. E. V. Lawson
1941
- The Big Store as Martha Phelps
- For Beauty's Sake as Mrs. Franklin Evans
- Never Give a Sucker an Even Break as Mrs. Hemogloben
1939
- At the Circus as Mrs. Suzanna Dukesbury
1938
- Dramatic School as Pantomime Teacher
1937
- A Day at the Races as Emily Upjohn
- The Life of the Party as Mrs. Penner
- Youth on Parole as Mrs. Abernathy
- Wise Girl as Mrs. Bell-Rivington
- High Flyers as Martha Arlington
1936
- Arbor Day as Woman Outside (uncredited)
- Anything Goes as Mrs. Wentworth
- Song and Dance Man as Mrs. Whitney
1935
- Reckless as Woman in Audience Yelling 'Get Off the Stage' (uncredited)
- Rendezvous as Mrs. Hendricks (uncredited)
- A Night at the Opera as Mrs. Claypool
- After Office Hours as Mrs. Murchison (uncredited)
- Gypsy Sweetheart as Mrs. Van Updyke
1934
- Kentucky Kernels as Mrs. Baxter
- Fifteen Wives as Sybilla Crum
- Gridiron Flash as Mrs. Fields
1933
- Duck Soup as Gloria Teasdale
- Storm at Daybreak as Duchess Sophie (uncredited)
- Wonderland of California as Self
1932
- Here, Prince as The Queen of Deleria (uncredited)
1931
- The Girl Habit as Blanche Ledyard
1930
- Animal Crackers as Mrs. Rittenhouse
1929
- The Cocoanuts as Mrs. Potter
1923
- Enemies of Women as French Beauty
1917
- A Tale of Two Cities as Aristocrat (uncredited)