Marjorie Main

Acting · 0.9 popularity

Age

136

Movies

Born: February 22, 1890 – April 10, 1975
From: Acton, Indiana, USA

Biography

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.

Works

90 films

The Women

19397.2

Meet Me in St. Louis

19447.0

Friendly Persuasion

19566.6

Undercurrent

19465.9

Dead End

19377.1

Summer Stock

19506.7

Honky Tonk

19416.4

Another Thin Man

19397.1

The Kettles in the Ozarks

19566.4

Dark Command

19406.4

Heaven Can Wait

19436.9

The Egg and I

19477.1

The Wild Man of Borneo

19416.7

A Woman's Face

19416.8

Ma and Pa Kettle

19497.3

The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm

19576.4

The Long, Long Trailer

19547.0

The Harvey Girls

19466.6

Too Hot to Handle

19386.0

The Shepherd of the Hills

19416.6

Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair

19526.6

Stella Dallas

19376.8

Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town

19506.6

Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki

19556.8

Ma and Pa Kettle at Home

19546.6

Girls' School

19386.5

The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap

19476.3

Test Pilot

19386.1

Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation

19527.1

Big Jack

19497.3

It's a Big Country

19515.9

Broken Lullaby

19327.5

Three Comrades

19387.3

Susan and God

19406.5

Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm

19516.7

Mr. Imperium

19515.1

Women Without Names

19404.7

Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)

19366.0

Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone

19507.0

The Law and the Lady

19516.4

King of the Newsboys

19384.8

The Belle of New York

19525.7

The Bugle Sounds

19426.8

The Shadow

19377.0

Prison Farm

19386.8

Murder, He Says

19456.8

There Goes My Heart

19387.3

The Trial of Mary Dugan

19416.5

A House Divided

19315.6

Hot Saturday

19326.6

City Girl

19386.5

The Affairs of Martha

19426.6

Angels Wash Their Faces

19396.7

Bad Bascomb

19467.3

Gentle Annie

19445.7

Rose Marie

19544.5

Summer Stock: Get Happy!

2006

Jackass Mail

19427.5

Tennessee Johnson

19426.4

Ricochet Romance

19548.0

They Shall Have Music

19396.5

The Captain is a Lady

19407.5

Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'

19487.3

Two Thoroughbreds

19395.0

Wyoming

19406.7

I Take This Woman

19405.8

Turnabout

19406.0

Music in the Air

19345.6

Tish

19426.5

The Wrong Road

19374.8

The Show-Off

19467.0

Lucky Night

19396.8

The World of Abbott and Costello

19656.8

Boy of the Streets

19386.0

Art Trouble

19346.8

Crime Without Passion

19345.9

We Were Dancing

19424.3

Johnny Come Lately

19437.0

Penitentiary

19387.0

Barnacle Bill

19417.8

Little Tough Guy

19385.7

The Man Who Cried Wolf

19377.0

Rationing

19444.0

Fast Company

19537.5

Under the Big Top

19386.7

Romance of the Limberlost

19386.5

Close Relations

19337.0

Love in a Bungalow

193710.0

New Deal Rhythm

19336.7

Harry Fox and His Six American Beauties

19295.0