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Margaret Dumont

Acting Born Oct 19, 1882 Brooklyn, New York, USA 24 credits

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).

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Known for

The Donna Reed Show

1958

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger

as Noblewoman in Play (uncredited)
Film

A Night at the Opera

as Mrs. Claypool

Full filmography

  • The Donna Reed Show (1958)
  • The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950) as Self
  • The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956) as Self
  • Racket Squad (1951)
  • Auntie Mame (1958) as Noblewoman in Play (uncredited)
  • Duck Soup (1933) as Gloria Teasdale
  • A Night at the Opera (1935) as Mrs. Claypool
  • At the Circus (1939) as Mrs. Suzanna Dukesbury
  • Bathing Beauty (1944) as Mrs. Allenwood
  • The Cocoanuts (1929) as Mrs. Potter
  • Animal Crackers (1930) as Mrs. Rittenhouse
  • A Day at the Races (1937) as Emily Upjohn
  • What a Way to Go! (1964) as Mrs. Foster
  • The Big Store (1941) as Martha Phelps
  • Wise Girl (1937) as Mrs. Bell-Rivington
  • That's Entertainment, Part II (1976) as (archive footage)
  • Reckless (1935) as Woman in Audience Yelling 'Get Off the Stage' (uncredited)
  • Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1975) as Self (archive footage)
  • Up in Arms (1944) as Mrs. Willoughby
  • Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972) as Self (archive footage)
  • Tales of Manhattan (1942) as Mme. Langehanke (uncredited)
  • A Tale of Two Cities (1917) as Aristocrat (uncredited)
  • Rendezvous (1935) as Mrs. Hendricks (uncredited)
  • Dramatic School (1938) as Pantomime Teacher