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