Margaret Dumont

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Birth Name:

Daisy Juliette Baker

Height:

175 cm

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 Noix de coco (1929) and Animal crackers, l'explorateur en folie (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). Show less «

[on first joining the Marx Brothers act] After three weeks as a leading lady, Groucho had pushed me out of windows, pulled chairs out from u...Show more »

[on first joining the Marx Brothers act] After three weeks as a leading lady, Groucho had pushed me out of windows, pulled chairs out from under me, broiled steaks in the fireplace of my apartment, put frogs in my bathtub and made my life miserable, on the stage and off. Show less «

I'm not a stooge, I'm the best straight woman in Hollywood. There's an art to playing it straight. You must build up your man, but never top...Show more »

I'm not a stooge, I'm the best straight woman in Hollywood. There's an art to playing it straight. You must build up your man, but never top him, never steal the laughs from him. Show less «