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.
Acted in 91
2000s
- 2006
Summer Stock: Get Happy!
Esme (archive footage) (uncredited)
1960s
- 1965
The World of Abbott and Costello
Widow Hawkins in The Wistful Widow Of Wagon Gap
1950s
- 1957
The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm
Ma Kettle
- 1956
The Kettles in the Ozarks
Ma Kettle
- 1955
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki
Ma' Kettle
- 1954
Ricochet Romance
Pansy Jones
Ma and Pa Kettle at Home
Ma Kettle
Rose Marie
Lady Jane Dunstock
- 1953
Fast Company
Ma Parkson
- 1952
Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation
Ma Kettle
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
Ma Kettle
The Belle of New York
Mrs Phineas Hill
- 1951
It's a Big Country
Mrs. Wrenley
The Law and the Lady
Julia Wortin
Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm
Ma Kettle
- 1950
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
Harriet O'Malley
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
Ma Kettle
1940s
- 1949
Big Jack
Flapjack Kate
Ma and Pa Kettle
Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle
- 1948
Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'
Maribel Mathews
- 1947
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap
Widow Hawkins
The Egg and I
Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle
- 1946
The Show-Off
Mrs. Fisher
- 1945
Murder, He Says
Mamie Fleagle Smithers Johnson
- 1944
Gentle Annie
Annie Goss
Rationing
Iris Tuttle
- 1943
Johnny Come Lately
'Gashouse' Mary
- 1942
Tennessee Johnson
Mrs. Maude Fisher
Tish
Miss Letitia 'Tish' Carberry
Jackass Mail
Clementine 'Tina' Tucker
The Affairs of Martha
Mrs. McKissick
We Were Dancing
Judge Hawkes
The Bugle Sounds
Susie 'Suz'
- 1941
Barnacle Bill
Marge Cavendish
The Trial of Mary Dugan
Mrs. Collins
The Wild Man of Borneo
Irma, the Cook
- 1940
Wyoming
Mehitabel
The Captain is a Lady
Sarah May Willett
Turnabout
Nora, the Cook
Dark Command
Mrs. Cantrell / Mrs. Adams
Women Without Names
Mrs. Lowery
I Take This Woman
Gertie
1930s
- 1939
Two Thoroughbreds
Hildegarde 'Hildy' Carey
Another Thin Man
Mrs. Dolley
Angels Wash Their Faces
Mrs. Arkelian
They Shall Have Music
Mrs. Miller
Lucky Night
Mrs. Briggs
- 1938
There Goes My Heart
Fireless Cooker Customer (uncredited)
Girls' School
Miss Armstrong
Under the Big Top
Sara Post
Little Tough Guy
Mrs. Boylan
Prison Farm
Matron Brand
Romance of the Limberlost
Nora
Three Comrades
Old woman by phone (uncredited)
King of the Newsboys
Mrs. Stephens (uncredited)
Penitentiary
Miss Katie Mathews
Boy of the Streets
Mrs. Mary Brennan
City Girl
Mrs. Ward (uncredited)
- 1937
The Shadow
Hannah Gillespie
The Wrong Road
Martha Foster
The Man Who Cried Wolf
Amelia Bradley
Love in a Bungalow
Miss Emma Bisbee
- 1934
Music in the Air
Anna (Uncredited)
Crime Without Passion
Backstage Wardrobe Woman (uncredited)
Art Trouble
Woman Who Sits on Painting
- 1933
Close Relations
Woman in Depot (uncredited)
New Deal Rhythm
Arizona Representative
- 1932
Hot Saturday
Gossip in Window (uncredited)
Broken Lullaby
Frau Schmidt - Townswoman (uncredited)
- 1931
A House Divided
Townswoman at Wedding (uncredited)
1920s
- 1929
Harry Fox and His Six American Beauties
Statler Hotel Beauty
Appearances1
1930s
- 1936
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Self