From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0537685
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q445018
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Filmography (Movies)
Summer Stock: Get Happy!
Character:Esme (archive footage) (uncredited)
Release Date:25/04/2006
The World of Abbott and Costello
Character:Widow Hawkins in The Wistful Widow Of Wagon Gap
Release Date:01/04/1965
The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm
Character:Ma Kettle
Release Date:10/05/1957
Friendly Persuasion
Character:The Widow Hudspeth
Release Date:30/10/1956
The Kettles in the Ozarks
Character:Ma Kettle
Release Date:01/04/1956
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki
Character:Ma' Kettle
Release Date:01/04/1955
Ricochet Romance
Character:Pansy Jones
Release Date:01/11/1954
Ma and Pa Kettle at Home
Character:Ma Kettle
Release Date:10/03/1954
Rose Marie
Character:Lady Jane Dunstock
Release Date:03/03/1954
The Long, Long Trailer
Character:Mrs. Hittaway
Release Date:19/02/1954
Fast Company
Character:Ma Parkson
Release Date:21/05/1953
Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation
Character:Ma Kettle
Release Date:27/10/1952
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
Character:Ma Kettle
Release Date:11/07/1952
The Belle of New York
Character:Mrs Phineas Hill
Release Date:22/02/1952
It's a Big Country
Character:Mrs. Wrenley
Release Date:20/11/1951
The Law and the Lady
Character:Julia Wortin
Release Date:20/07/1951
Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm
Character:Ma Kettle
Release Date:10/05/1951
Mr. Imperium
Character:Mrs. Cabot
Release Date:02/03/1951
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
Character:Harriet O'Malley
Release Date:08/12/1950
Summer Stock
Character:Esme
Release Date:31/08/1950
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
Character:Ma Kettle
Release Date:01/04/1950
Big Jack
Character:Flapjack Kate
Release Date:12/04/1949
Ma and Pa Kettle
Character:Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle
Release Date:01/04/1949
Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'
Character:Maribel Mathews
Release Date:01/06/1948
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap
Character:Widow Hawkins
Release Date:08/10/1947
The Egg and I
Character:Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle
Release Date:01/05/1947
The Show-Off
Character:Mrs. Fisher
Release Date:01/12/1946
Undercurrent
Character:Lucy
Release Date:11/11/1946
Bad Bascomb
Character:Abbey Hanks
Release Date:26/05/1946
The Harvey Girls
Character:Sonora Cassidy
Release Date:18/01/1946
Murder, He Says
Character:Mamie Fleagle Smithers Johnson
Release Date:23/06/1945
Gentle Annie
Character:Annie Goss
Release Date:05/12/1944
Meet Me in St. Louis
Character:Katie
Release Date:28/11/1944
Rationing
Character:Iris Tuttle
Release Date:24/03/1944
Johnny Come Lately
Character:'Gashouse' Mary
Release Date:03/09/1943
Heaven Can Wait
Character:Mrs. Strabel
Release Date:05/08/1943
Tennessee Johnson
Character:Mrs. Maude Fisher
Release Date:01/12/1942
Tish
Character:Miss Letitia 'Tish' Carberry
Release Date:17/09/1942
Jackass Mail
Character:Clementine 'Tina' Tucker
Release Date:01/07/1942
The Affairs of Martha
Character:Mrs. McKissick
Release Date:21/06/1942
We Were Dancing
Character:Judge Hawkes
Release Date:30/04/1942
The Bugle Sounds
Character:Susie 'Suz'
Release Date:30/01/1942
Honky Tonk
Character:Mrs. Varner
Release Date:01/10/1941
The Shepherd of the Hills
Character:Granny Becky
Release Date:18/07/1941
A Woman's Face
Character:Emma Kristiansdotter
Release Date:09/05/1941
Barnacle Bill
Character:Marge Cavendish
Release Date:07/04/1941
The Trial of Mary Dugan
Character:Mrs. Collins
Release Date:14/02/1941
The Wild Man of Borneo
Character:Irma, the Cook
Release Date:24/01/1941
Wyoming
Character:Mehitabel
Release Date:13/09/1940
The Captain Is a Lady
Character:Sarah May Willett
Release Date:21/06/1940
Susan and God
Character:Mary
Release Date:07/06/1940
Turnabout
Character:Nora, the Cook
Release Date:17/05/1940
Dark Command
Character:Mrs. Cantrell / Mrs. Adams
Release Date:15/04/1940
Women Without Names
Character:Mrs. Lowery
Release Date:14/03/1940
I Take This Woman
Character:Gertie
Release Date:02/02/1940
Two Thoroughbreds
Character:Hildegarde 'Hildy' Carey
Release Date:08/12/1939
Another Thin Man
Character:Mrs. Dolley (uncredited)
Release Date:17/11/1939
The Women
Character:Lucy
Release Date:01/09/1939
Angels Wash Their Faces
Character:Mrs. Arkelian
Release Date:26/08/1939
They Shall Have Music
Character:Mrs. Miller
Release Date:18/08/1939
Lucky Night
Character:Mrs. Briggs
Release Date:05/05/1939
There Goes My Heart
Character:Fireless Cooker Customer (uncredited)
Release Date:14/10/1938
Girls' School
Character:Miss Armstrong
Release Date:30/09/1938
Too Hot to Handle
Character:Miss Wayne
Release Date:16/09/1938
Under the Big Top
Character:Sara Post
Release Date:31/08/1938
Little Tough Guy
Character:Mrs. Boylan
Release Date:22/07/1938
Prison Farm
Character:Matron Brand
Release Date:17/06/1938
Romance of the Limberlost
Character:Nora
Release Date:16/06/1938
Three Comrades
Character:Old woman by phone (uncredited)
Release Date:02/06/1938
Test Pilot
Character:Landlady
Release Date:16/04/1938
King of the Newsboys
Character:Mrs. Stephens (uncredited)
Release Date:18/03/1938
Penitentiary
Character:Miss Katie Mathews
Release Date:05/02/1938
Boy of the Streets
Character:Mrs. Mary Brennan
Release Date:08/01/1938
The Shadow
Character:Hannah Gillespie
Release Date:22/12/1937
The Wrong Road
Character:Martha Foster
Release Date:11/10/1937
The Man Who Cried Wolf
Character:Amelia Bradley
Release Date:29/08/1937
Dead End
Character:Mrs. Martin
Release Date:27/08/1937
Stella Dallas
Character:Mrs. Martin
Release Date:06/08/1937
Love in a Bungalow
Character:Miss Emma Bisbee
Release Date:27/06/1937
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Character:Self
Release Date:11/09/1936
Music in the Air
Character:Anna (Uncredited)
Release Date:13/12/1934
Crime Without Passion
Character:Backstage Wardrobe Woman (uncredited)
Release Date:30/08/1934
Art Trouble
Character:Woman Who Sits on Painting
Release Date:23/06/1934
Close Relations
Character:Woman in Depot (uncredited)
Release Date:30/09/1933
New Deal Rhythm
Character:Arizona Representative
Release Date:13/04/1933
Hot Saturday
Character:Gossip in Window (uncredited)
Release Date:28/10/1932
Broken Lullaby
Character:Frau Schmidt - Townswoman (uncredited)
Release Date:24/01/1932
A House Divided
Character:Townswoman at Wedding (uncredited)
Release Date:05/12/1931
Harry Fox and His Six American Beauties
Character:Statler Hotel Beauty
Release Date:21/07/1929
Television Appearances
Images
