1890-02-22 Acton, Indiana, USA
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.
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The World of Abbott and Costello | Widow Hawkins in The Wistful Widow Of Wagon Gap | 1965-04-01 |
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The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm | Ma Kettle | 1957-05-10 |
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The Kettles in the Ozarks | Ma Kettle | 1956-04-01 |
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Friendly Persuasion | The Widow Hudspeth | 1956-11-25 |
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Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki | Ma' Kettle | 1955-04-01 |
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Ma and Pa Kettle at Home | Ma Kettle | 1954-03-10 |
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Rose Marie | Lady Jane Dunstock | 1954-03-03 |
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Ricochet Romance | Pansy Jones | 1954-11-01 |
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The Long, Long Trailer | Mrs. Hittaway | 1954-02-19 |
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Fast Company | Ma Parkson | 1953-05-21 |
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The Belle of New York | Mrs Phineas Hill | 1952-02-22 |
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Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation | Ma Kettle | 1952-10-27 |
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Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair | Ma Kettle | 1952-07-11 |
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Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm | Ma Kettle | 1951-05-10 |
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It's a Big Country | Mrs. Wrenley | 1951-11-20 |
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Mr. Imperium | Mrs. Cabot | 1951-03-02 |
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The Law and the Lady | Julia Wortin | 1951-07-20 |
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Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone | Harriet O'Malley | 1950-12-08 |
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Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town | Ma Kettle | 1950-04-01 |
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Summer Stock | Esme | 1950-08-31 |
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Big Jack | Flapjack Kate | 1949-04-12 |
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Ma and Pa Kettle | Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle | 1949-04-01 |
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Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' | Maribel Mathews | 1948-06-01 |
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The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap | Widow Hawkins | 1947-10-08 |
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The Egg and I | Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle | 1947-05-01 |
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The Harvey Girls | Sonora Cassidy | 1946-01-18 |
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Bad Bascomb | Abbey Hanks | 1946-05-26 |
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Undercurrent | Lucy | 1946-11-11 |
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The Show-Off | Mrs. Fisher | 1946-12-01 |
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Murder, He Says | Mamie Fleagle Smithers Johnson | 1945-06-23 |
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Meet Me in St. Louis | Katie | 1944-11-28 |
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Gentle Annie | Annie Goss | 1944-12-05 |
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Rationing | Iris Tuttle | 1944-03-24 |
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Johnny Come Lately | 'Gashouse' Mary | 1943-09-03 |
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Heaven Can Wait | Mrs. Strabel | 1943-08-05 |
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Jackass Mail | Clementine 'Tina' Tucker | 1942-07-01 |
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We Were Dancing | Judge Hawkes | 1942-04-30 |
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The Affairs of Martha | Mrs. McKissick | 1942-06-21 |
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The Bugle Sounds | Susie 'Suz' | 1942-01-30 |
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Tennessee Johnson | Mrs. Maude Fisher | 1942-12-01 |
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Tish | Miss Letitia 'Tish' Carberry | 1942-09-17 |
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Barnacle Bill | Marge Cavendish | 1941-04-07 |
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A Woman's Face | Emma Kristiansdotter | 1941-05-09 |
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The Wild Man of Borneo | Irma, the Cook | 1941-01-24 |
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The Shepherd of the Hills | Granny Becky | 1941-07-18 |
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Honky Tonk | Mrs. Varner | 1941-10-01 |
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The Trial of Mary Dugan | Mrs. Collins | 1941-02-14 |
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Turnabout | Nora, the Cook | 1940-05-17 |
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Wyoming | Mehitabel | 1940-09-13 |
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Women Without Names | Mrs. Lowery | 1940-03-14 |
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I Take This Woman | Gertie | 1940-02-02 |
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Dark Command | Mrs. Cantrell / Mrs. Adams | 1940-04-15 |
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The Captain Is a Lady | Sarah May Willett | 1940-06-21 |
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Susan and God | Mary | 1940-06-07 |
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Another Thin Man | Mrs. Dolley (uncredited) | 1939-11-17 |
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The Women | Lucy | 1939-09-01 |
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They Shall Have Music | Mrs. Miller | 1939-08-18 |
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Two Thoroughbreds | Hildegarde 'Hildy' Carey | 1939-12-08 |
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Lucky Night | Mrs. Briggs | 1939-05-05 |
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Angels Wash Their Faces | Mrs. Arkelian | 1939-08-26 |
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Too Hot to Handle | Miss Wayne | 1938-09-16 |
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Girls' School | Miss Armstrong | 1938-09-30 |
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Under the Big Top | Sara Post | 1938-08-31 |
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Boy of the Streets | Mrs. Mary Brennan | 1938-01-08 |
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Test Pilot | Landlady | 1938-04-16 |
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King of the Newsboys | Mrs. Stephens (uncredited) | 1938-03-18 |
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Little Tough Guy | Mrs. Boylan | 1938-07-22 |
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There Goes My Heart | Fireless Cooker Customer (uncredited) | 1938-10-14 |
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Romance of the Limberlost | Nora | 1938-06-16 |
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Penitentiary | Miss Katie Mathews | 1938-02-05 |
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Prison Farm | Matron Brand | 1938-06-17 |
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Three Comrades | Old woman by phone (uncredited) | 1938-06-02 |
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The Wrong Road | Martha Foster | 1937-10-11 |
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Stella Dallas | Mrs. Martin | 1937-08-06 |
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The Shadow | Hannah Gillespie | 1937-12-22 |
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Dead End | Mrs. Martin | 1937-08-27 |
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The Man Who Cried Wolf | Amelia Bradley | 1937-08-29 |
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Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1) | Self | 1936-09-11 |
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Crime Without Passion | Backstage Wardrobe Woman (uncredited) | 1934-08-30 |
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Art Trouble | Woman Who Sits on Painting | 1934-06-23 |
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Music in the Air | Anna (Uncredited) | 1934-12-13 |
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Close Relations | Woman in Depot (uncredited) | 1933-09-30 |
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New Deal Rhythm | Arizona Representative | 1933-04-13 |
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Broken Lullaby | Frau Schmidt - Townswoman (uncredited) | 1932-01-19 |
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Hot Saturday | Gossip in Window (uncredited) | 1932-10-28 |
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A House Divided | Townswoman at Wedding (uncredited) | 1931-12-05 |
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Harry Fox and His Six American Beauties | Statler Hotel Beauty | 1929-07-21 |
