Marjorie Main
Known for: Acting
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Marjorie Main (born Mary Tomlinson, February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975) was an American actress, best known as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player and for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies. Main worked in vaudeville on the Orpheum circuit and in Chautauqua presentations, and debuted on Broadway in 1916. Her first film was A House Divided in 1931. Main began playing upper class dowagers, but ultimately was typecast in abrasive, domineering, salty roles, for which her distinctive voice was well suited. She repeated her stage role in Dead End in the 1937 film version, and was subsequently cast repeatedly as the mother of gangsters. She again transferred a strong stage performance, as a dude-ranch operator in The Women, to film in 1939. At this time, she guest-starred on radio programs such as Columbia Presents Corwin and The Goldbergs. Main was signed to a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract in 1940 and stayed with the studio until the mid-1950s. She made six films with Wallace Beery in the 1940s, including Barnacle Bill (1941), Jackass Mail (1942), and Bad Bascomb (1946). She played Sonora Cassidy, the chief cook, in The Harvey Girls (1946). The director George Sidney remarked in the commentary for the film that Miss Main was a "great lady" as well as a great actress who donated most of her paychecks over the years to the support of a school. Perhaps her most famous role is that of Ma Kettle, which she first played in The Egg and I in 1947 opposite Percy Kilbride as Pa Kettle. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the part and portrayed the character in nine more Ma and Pa Kettle films. By the early 1950s, she had appeared in several MGM musicals, including, Meet Me in St. Louis and The Belle of New York. She played Mrs. Wrenley in the studio's all-star film It's a Big Country (1951). In 1954, Marjorie Main played her last roles for the studio: Mrs. Hittaway in The Long, Long Trailer and Jane Dunstock in Rose Marie. In 1956, Main's performance as the widow Hudspeth in the hit film Friendly Persuasion was well-received, earning her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 1958, Main appeared twice as rugged frontierswoman Cassie Tanner in the episodes "The Cassie Tanner Story" and "The Sacramento Story" on NBC's television series Wagon Train. In the first segment, she joins the wagon train, casts her romantic interest on Ward Bond as Major Adams, and helps the train locate needed horses despite a Paiute threat.
Filmography
Series
Wagon Train
Cassie Tanner
1957
Series
December Bride
1954
Film
Friendly Persuasion
The Widow Hudspeth
1956
Film
Meet Me in St. Louis
Katie
1944
Film
Summer Stock
Esmé
1950
Film
The Women
Lucy
1939
Film
A Woman's Face
Emma Kristiansdotter
1941
Film
Honky Tonk
Mrs. Varner
1941
Film
The Harvey Girls
Sonora Cassidy
1946
Film
Undercurrent
Lucy
1946
Film
Dark Command
Mrs. Cantrell / Mrs. Adams
1940
Film
Dead End
Mrs. Martin
1937
Film
Another Thin Man
Mrs. Dolley
1939
Film
Stella Dallas
Mrs. Martin
1937
Film
The Long, Long Trailer
Mrs. Hittaway
1954
Film
Heaven Can Wait
Mrs. Strabel
1943
Film
The Egg and I
Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle
1947
Film
The Shepherd of the Hills
Granny Becky
1941
Film
Three Comrades
Old woman by phone (uncredited)
1938
Film
Test Pilot
Landlady
1938
Film
Girls' School
Miss Armstrong
1938
Film
Too Hot to Handle
Miss Wayne
1938
Film
Mr. Imperium
Mrs. Cabot
1951
Film
It's a Big Country
Mrs. Wrenley
1951
Film
City Girl
Mrs. Ward (uncredited)
1938
Film
Broken Lullaby
Frau Schmidt - Townswoman (uncredited)
1932
Film
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap
Widow Hawkins
1947
Film
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki
Ma' Kettle
1955
Film
They Shall Have Music
Mrs. Miller
1939
Film
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
Ma Kettle
1952
Film
Susan and God
Mary
1940
Film
Ma and Pa Kettle
Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle
1949
Film
The Kettles in the Ozarks
Ma Kettle
1956
Film
The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm
Ma Kettle
1957
Film
Hot Saturday
Gossip in Window (uncredited)
1932
Film
Jackass Mail
Clementine 'Tina' Tucker
1942
Film
Big Jack
Flapjack Kate
1949
Film
Women Without Names
Mrs. Lowery
1940
Film
Angels Wash Their Faces
Mrs. Arkelian
1939
Film
The Law and the Lady
Julia Wortin
1951
Film
Rose Marie
Lady Jane Dunstock
1954
Film
The Affairs of Martha
Mrs. McKissick
1942
Film
Turnabout
Nora, the Cook
1940
Film
Gentle Annie
Annie Goss
1944
Film
The Shadow
Hannah Gillespie
1937
Film
Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'
Maribel Mathews
1948
Film
We Were Dancing
Judge Hawkes
1942
Film
Murder, He Says
Mamie Fleagle Smithers Johnson
1945
Film
A House Divided
Townswoman at Wedding (uncredited)
1931
Film
The Belle of New York
Mrs Phineas Hill
1952
Film
Wyoming
Mehitabel
1940
Film
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
Ma Kettle
1950
Film
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
Harriet O'Malley
1950
Film
There Goes My Heart
Fireless Cooker Customer (uncredited)
1938
Film
The Wrong Road
Martha Foster
1937
Film
I Take This Woman
Gertie
1940
Film
Tennessee Johnson
Mrs. Maude Fisher
1942
Film
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Self
1936
Film
Prison Farm
Matron Brand
1938
Film
The Wild Man of Borneo
Irma, the Cook
1941
Film
Tish
Miss Letitia 'Tish' Carberry
1942
Film
King of the Newsboys
Mrs. Stephens (uncredited)
1938
Film
Ma and Pa Kettle at Home
Ma Kettle
1954
Film
Crime Without Passion
Backstage Wardrobe Woman (uncredited)
1934
Film
Fast Company
Ma Parkson
1953
Film
Bad Bascomb
Abbey Hanks
1946
Film
Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm
Ma Kettle
1951
Film
Ricochet Romance
Pansy Jones
1954
Film
Lucky Night
Mrs. Briggs
1939
Film
Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation
Ma Kettle
1952
Film
Johnny Come Lately
'Gashouse' Mary
1943
Film
The Trial of Mary Dugan
Mrs. Collins
1941
Film
Penitentiary
Miss Katie Mathews
1938
Film
The Man Who Cried Wolf
Amelia Bradley
1937
Film
Two Thoroughbreds
Hildegarde 'Hildy' Carey
1939
Film
Music in the Air
Anna (Uncredited)
1934
Film
Love in a Bungalow
Miss Emma Bisbee
1937
Film
Art Trouble
Woman Who Sits on Painting
1934
Film
Boy of the Streets
Mrs. Mary Brennan
1938
Film
Romance of the Limberlost
Nora
1938
Film
The Captain is a Lady
Sarah May Willett
1940
Film
Little Tough Guy
Mrs. Boylan
1938
Film
The Show-Off
Mrs. Fisher
1946
Film
The Bugle Sounds
Susie 'Suz'
1942
Film
The World of Abbott and Costello
Widow Hawkins in The Wistful Widow Of Wagon Gap
1965
Film
Close Relations
Woman in Depot (uncredited)
1933
Film
Summer Stock: Get Happy!
Esme (archive footage) (uncredited)
2006
Film
Barnacle Bill
Marge Cavendish
1941
Film
Under the Big Top
Sara Post
1938
Film
Rationing
Iris Tuttle
1944
Film
New Deal Rhythm
Arizona Representative
1933
Film
Harry Fox and His Six American Beauties
Statler Hotel Beauty
1929