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).
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).
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0241669
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q254571
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Filmography (Movies)
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:20/07/1999
The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:02/01/1982
The Hollywood Clowns
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:23/03/1979
That's Entertainment, Part II
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:16/05/1976
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:06/08/1975
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:10/01/1972
What a Way to Go!
Character:Mrs. Foster
Release Date:02/07/1964
Zotz!
Character:Persephone Updike
Release Date:03/10/1962
Around the World with Nellie Bly
Character:Dowager #1
Release Date:03/01/1960
Auntie Mame
Character:Noblewoman in Play (uncredited)
Release Date:04/12/1958
Shake, Rattle and Rock!
Character:Georgianna Fitzdingle
Release Date:01/11/1956
Stop, You're Killing Me
Character:Mrs. Whitelaw
Release Date:10/12/1952
Three for Bedroom C
Character:Mrs. Agnes Hawthorne
Release Date:26/06/1952
Little Giant
Character:Mrs. Hendrickson
Release Date:22/02/1946
Sunset in El Dorado
Character:Aunt Dolly / Aunt Arabella
Release Date:29/09/1945
Diamond Horseshoe
Character:Mrs. Standish
Release Date:02/05/1945
The Horn Blows at Midnight
Character:Mme. Traviata / Miss Rodholder
Release Date:28/04/1945
Bathing Beauty
Character:Mrs. Allenwood
Release Date:27/06/1944
Seven Days Ashore
Character:Mrs. Croxton-Lynch
Release Date:25/04/1944
Up in Arms
Character:Mrs. Willoughby
Release Date:17/02/1944
The Dancing Masters
Character:Louise Harlan
Release Date:19/11/1943
Rhythm Parade
Character:Ophelia MacDougal
Release Date:11/12/1942
Tales of Manhattan
Character:Mme. Langehanke (uncredited)
Release Date:05/08/1942
About Face
Character:Mrs. Culpepper
Release Date:16/04/1942
Sing Your Worries Away
Character:Flo Faulkner - Landlady
Release Date:06/03/1942
Born to Sing
Character:Mrs. E. V. Lawson
Release Date:18/02/1942
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Character:Mrs. Hemogloben
Release Date:10/10/1941
The Big Store
Character:Martha Phelps
Release Date:20/06/1941
For Beauty's Sake
Character:Mrs. Franklin Evans
Release Date:06/06/1941
At the Circus
Character:Mrs. Suzanna Dukesbury
Release Date:20/10/1939
Dramatic School
Character:Pantomime Teacher
Release Date:09/12/1938
Wise Girl
Character:Mrs. Bell-Rivington
Release Date:31/12/1937
High Flyers
Character:Martha Arlington
Release Date:07/11/1937
Youth on Parole
Character:Mrs. Abernathy
Release Date:04/10/1937
The Life of the Party
Character:Mrs. Penner
Release Date:03/09/1937
A Day at the Races
Character:Emily Upjohn
Release Date:11/06/1937
Arbor Day
Character:Woman Outside (uncredited)
Release Date:02/05/1936
Song and Dance Man
Character:Mrs. Whitney
Release Date:11/03/1936
Anything Goes
Character:Mrs. Wentworth
Release Date:24/01/1936
A Night at the Opera
Character:Mrs. Claypool
Release Date:15/11/1935
Rendezvous
Character:Mrs. Hendricks (uncredited)
Release Date:25/10/1935
Reckless
Character:Woman in Audience Yelling 'Get Off the Stage' (uncredited)
Release Date:19/04/1935
Gypsy Sweetheart
Character:Mrs. Van Updyke
Release Date:30/03/1935
After Office Hours
Character:Mrs. Murchison (uncredited)
Release Date:22/02/1935
Kentucky Kernels
Character:Mrs. Baxter
Release Date:02/11/1934
Gridiron Flash
Character:Mrs. Fields
Release Date:06/10/1934
Fifteen Wives
Character:Sybilla Crum
Release Date:15/07/1934
Duck Soup
Character:Gloria Teasdale
Release Date:12/11/1933
Storm at Daybreak
Character:Duchess Sophie (uncredited)
Release Date:14/06/1933
Wonderland of California
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1933
Here, Prince
Character:The Queen of Deleria (uncredited)
Release Date:01/10/1932
The Girl Habit
Character:Blanche Ledyard
Release Date:27/06/1931
Animal Crackers
Character:Mrs. Rittenhouse
Release Date:08/08/1930
The Cocoanuts
Character:Mrs. Potter
Release Date:23/05/1929
Enemies of Women
Character:French Beauty
Release Date:15/04/1923
A Tale of Two Cities
Character:Aristocrat (uncredited)
Release Date:10/03/1917
Television Appearances
Images
