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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Summer Stock: Get Happy! | Esme (archive footage) (uncredited) | 2006-04-25 |
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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 | 1956-10-30 |
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Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki | Ma' Kettle | 1955-04-01 |
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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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Ma and Pa Kettle at Home | Ma Kettle | 1954-03-10 |
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Fast Company | Ma Parkson | 1953-05-21 |
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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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The Belle of New York | Mrs Phineas Hill | 1952-02-22 |
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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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The Law and the Lady | Julia Wortin | 1951-07-20 |
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Mr. Imperium | Mrs. Cabot | 1951-03-02 |
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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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Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone | Harriet O'Malley | 1950-12-08 |
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Ma and Pa Kettle | Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle | 1949-04-01 |
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Big Jack | Flapjack Kate | 1949-04-12 |
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Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' | Maribel Mathews | 1948-06-01 |
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The Egg and I | Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle | 1947-05-01 |
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The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap | Widow Hawkins | 1947-10-08 |
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The Harvey Girls | Sonora Cassidy | 1946-01-18 |
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The Show-Off | Mrs. Fisher | 1946-12-01 |
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Bad Bascomb | Abbey Hanks | 1946-05-26 |
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Undercurrent | Lucy | 1946-11-11 |
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Murder, He Says | Mamie Fleagle Smithers Johnson | 1945-06-23 |
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Gentle Annie | Annie Goss | 1944-12-05 |
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Meet Me in St. Louis | Katie | 1944-11-28 |
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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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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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Tish | Miss Letitia 'Tish' Carberry | 1942-09-17 |
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The Bugle Sounds | Susie 'Suz' | 1942-01-30 |
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Jackass Mail | Clementine 'Tina' Tucker | 1942-07-01 |
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Tennessee Johnson | Mrs. Maude Fisher | 1942-12-01 |
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The Wild Man of Borneo | Irma, the Cook | 1941-01-24 |
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The Trial of Mary Dugan | Mrs. Collins | 1941-02-14 |
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The Shepherd of the Hills | Granny Becky | 1941-07-18 |
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A Woman's Face | Emma Kristiansdotter | 1941-05-09 |
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Honky Tonk | Mrs. Varner | 1941-10-01 |
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Barnacle Bill | Marge Cavendish | 1941-04-07 |
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Turnabout | Nora, the Cook | 1940-05-17 |
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Wyoming | Mehitabel | 1940-09-13 |
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Susan and God | Mary | 1940-06-07 |
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Dark Command | Mrs. Cantrell / Mrs. Adams | 1940-04-15 |
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Women Without Names | Mrs. Lowery | 1940-03-14 |
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The Captain Is a Lady | Sarah May Willett | 1940-06-21 |
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I Take This Woman | Gertie | 1940-02-02 |
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Another Thin Man | Mrs. Dolley (uncredited) | 1939-11-17 |
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Angels Wash Their Faces | Mrs. Arkelian | 1939-08-26 |
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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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Lucky Night | Mrs. Briggs | 1939-05-05 |
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Two Thoroughbreds | Hildegarde 'Hildy' Carey | 1939-12-08 |
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King of the Newsboys | Mrs. Stephens (uncredited) | 1938-03-18 |
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Test Pilot | Landlady | 1938-04-16 |
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Three Comrades | Old woman by phone (uncredited) | 1938-06-02 |
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Penitentiary | Miss Katie Mathews | 1938-02-05 |
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Little Tough Guy | Mrs. Boylan | 1938-07-22 |
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Girls' School | Miss Armstrong | 1938-09-30 |
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Prison Farm | Matron Brand | 1938-06-17 |
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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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Too Hot to Handle | Miss Wayne | 1938-09-16 |
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Romance of the Limberlost | Nora | 1938-06-16 |
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There Goes My Heart | Fireless Cooker Customer (uncredited) | 1938-10-14 |
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The Wrong Road | Martha Foster | 1937-10-11 |
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Love in a Bungalow | Miss Emma Bisbee | 1937-06-27 |
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The Man Who Cried Wolf | Amelia Bradley | 1937-08-29 |
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Dead End | Mrs. Martin | 1937-08-27 |
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The Shadow | Hannah Gillespie | 1937-12-22 |
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Stella Dallas | Mrs. Martin | 1937-08-06 |
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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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Music in the Air | Anna (Uncredited) | 1934-12-13 |
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Art Trouble | Woman Who Sits on Painting | 1934-06-23 |
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New Deal Rhythm | Arizona Representative | 1933-04-13 |
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Close Relations | Woman in Depot (uncredited) | 1933-09-30 |
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Hot Saturday | Gossip in Window (uncredited) | 1932-10-28 |
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Broken Lullaby | Frau Schmidt - Townswoman (uncredited) | 1932-01-19 |
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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 |
