Margaret Dumont
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).
Acting
Movie
Duck Soup
as Gloria Teasdale
1933
Movie
A Night at the Opera
as Mrs. Claypool
1935
Movie
Animal Crackers
as Mrs. Rittenhouse
1930
Movie
A Day at the Races
as Emily Upjohn
1937
Movie
The Cocoanuts
as Mrs. Potter
1929
Movie
Auntie Mame
as Noblewoman in Play (uncredited)
1958
Movie
What a Way to Go!
as Mrs. Foster
1964
Movie
At the Circus
as Mrs. Suzanna Dukesbury
1939
Movie
The Big Store
as Martha Phelps
1941
Movie
That's Entertainment, Part II
as (archive footage)
1976
Movie
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
as Mrs. Hemogloben
1941
Movie
Tales of Manhattan
as Mme. Langehanke (uncredited)
1942
Movie
Bathing Beauty
as Mrs. Allenwood
1944
Movie
The Dancing Masters
as Louise Harlan
1943
Movie
Little Giant
as Mrs. Hendrickson
1946
Movie
The Horn Blows at Midnight
as Mme. Traviata / Miss Rodholder
1945
Movie
Zotz!
as Persephone Updike
1962
TV
The Donna Reed Show
1958
Movie
Reckless
as Woman in Audience Yelling 'Get Off the Stage' (uncredited)
1935
Movie
After Office Hours
as Mrs. Murchison (uncredited)
1935
TV
The Colgate Comedy Hour
as Self
1950
Movie
Rendezvous
as Mrs. Hendricks (uncredited)
1935
Movie
Up in Arms
as Mrs. Willoughby
1944
Movie
Anything Goes
as Mrs. Wentworth
1936