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Marjorie Main

Marjorie Main

Birthday: 1890-02-24 | Place of Birth: 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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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1956
The Kettles in the Ozarks

as    Ma Kettle

1954
Rose Marie

as    Lady Jane Dunstock

1954
The Long, Long Trailer

as    Mrs. Hittaway

1952
The Belle of New York

as    Mrs Phineas Hill

1951
It's a Big Country

as    Mrs. Wrenley

1950
Summer Stock

as    Esme

1950
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone

as    Harriet O'Malley

1949
Big Jack

as    Flapjack Kate

1947
The Egg and I

as    Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle

1947
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap

as    Widow Hawkins

1946
Bad Bascomb

as    Abbey Hanks

1946
Undercurrent

as    Lucy

1946
The Harvey Girls

as    Sonora Cassidy

1945
Murder, He Says

as    Mamie Fleagle Smithers Johnson

1944
Gentle Annie

as    Annie Goss

1944
Meet Me in St. Louis

as    Katie (Maid)

1943
Heaven Can Wait

as    Mrs. Strabel

1942
Jackass Mail

as    Clementine 'Tina' Tucker

1942
We Were Dancing

as    Judge Hawkes

1942
Tennessee Johnson

as    Mrs. Maude Fisher

1942
The Affairs of Martha

as    Mrs. McKissick

1941
A Woman's Face

as    Emma Kristiansdotter

1941
The Shepherd of the Hills

as    Granny Becky

1941
Honky Tonk

as    Mrs. Varner

1940
Wyoming

as    Mehitabel

1940
Dark Command

as    Mrs. Cantrell / Mrs. Adams

1939
Two Thoroughbreds

as    Hildegarde 'Hildy' Carey

1939
The Women

as    Lucy

1939
Lucky Night

as    Mrs. Briggs

1938
Too Hot to Handle

as    Miss Wayne