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