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
Duck Soup
Gloria Teasdale
A Night at the Opera
Mrs. Claypool
Animal Crackers
Mrs. Rittenhouse
A Day at the Races
Emily Upjohn
Auntie Mame
Noblewoman in Play (uncredited)
The Cocoanuts
Mrs. Potter
What a Way to Go!
Mrs. Foster
At the Circus
Mrs. Suzanna Dukesbury
The Big Store
Martha Phelps
That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Mrs. Hemogloben
Tales of Manhattan
Mme. Langehanke (uncredited)
The Dancing Masters
Louise Harlan
Bathing Beauty
Mrs. Allenwood
Little Giant
Mrs. Hendrickson
The Horn Blows at Midnight
Mme. Traviata / Miss Rodholder
Zotz!
Persephone Updike
The Donna Reed Show
Reckless
Woman in Audience Yelling 'Get Off the Stage' (uncredited)
After Office Hours
Mrs. Murchison (uncredited)
Rendezvous
Mrs. Hendricks (uncredited)
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Self
Up in Arms
Mrs. Willoughby
Anything Goes
Mrs. Wentworth
Kentucky Kernels
Mrs. Baxter
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
Wise Girl
Mrs. Bell-Rivington
Dramatic School
Pantomime Teacher
Youth on Parole
Mrs. Abernathy
A Tale of Two Cities
Aristocrat (uncredited)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Self (archive footage)
About Face
Mrs. Culpepper
Seven Days Ashore
Mrs. Croxton-Lynch
The Life of the Party
Mrs. Penner
Born to Sing
Mrs. E. V. Lawson
Storm at Daybreak
Duchess Sophie (uncredited)
Shake, Rattle and Rock!
Georgianna Fitzdingle
Sunset in El Dorado
Aunt Dolly / Aunt Arabella
Arbor Day
Woman Outside (uncredited)
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self