Margaret Dumont
Birthday: 1882-10-19
Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Biography: 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 The Cocoanuts (1929) and Animal Crackers (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).
Movies
Duck Soup
Rufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring S...
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The Cocoanuts
During the Florida land boom, the Marx Brothers run a hotel, auction off some land and thwart a jewe...
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At the Circus
Jeff Wilson, the owner of a small circus, owes his partner Carter $10,000. Before Jeff can pay, Cart...
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A Day at the Races
Doctor Hugo Hackenbush, Tony, and Stuffy try and save Judy's sanitarium by winning a big race with a...
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The Big Store
A detective is hired to protect the life of a singer, who has recently inherited a department store,...
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The Hollywood Clowns
Glenn Ford narrates this hilarious look back at the greatest comedians in movie history....
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Animal Crackers
The well-known explorer and hunter Captain Spaulding has just returned from Africa, and is being wel...
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Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break is a 1941 film about a man who wants to sell a film story to Esote...
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Little Giant
Lou Costello plays a country bumpkin vacuum-cleaner salesman, working for the company run by the cro...
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Bathing Beauty
After breaking up with her fiancé, a gym teacher returns to work at a women's college, but a legal l...
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A Night at the Opera
The Marx Brothers take on high society and the opera world to bring two lovers together. A sly busin...
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The Horn Blows at Midnight
A trumpet player in a radio orchestra falls asleep during a commercial and dreams he's Athanael, an ...
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The Dancing Masters
The Dancing Masters is a 1943 Laurel and Hardy feature film. The plot involves the team running a ba...
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Stop, You're Killing Me
With the end of Prohibition a former bootlegger and his wife attempt to go straight. Remake of the 1...
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The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell
A fascinating look at the most beloved comedy team in motion picture history. Exclusive interviews w...
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Diamond Horseshoe
Joe Davis Sr., headliner at a big nightclub, is visited by medical student son Joe Jr., who to Dad's...
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Hollywood: The Dream Factory
A documentary about the glorious history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and its decline leading to t...
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Up in Arms
Hypochondriac Danny Weems gets drafted and accidentally smuggles his girlfriend aboard his Pacific-b...
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Wise Girl
Snooty heiress decides to track down her dead sister's kids, who are living a Bohemian life with the...
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Anything Goes
A young man falls in love with a beautiful blonde. When he sees her being forced onto a luxury liner...
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Dramatic School
Aspiring actress Louise Muban attends the prestigious Paris School of Drama during the day and works...
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Three for Bedroom C
After beginning their train trip to California, a famous film actress and her daughter discover thei...
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Youth on Parole
Two strangers, a man and a woman, are framed for a jewel robbery and thrown in jail. After they get ...
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Reckless
A theatrical star, born on the wrong side of the tracks, marries a drunken blue-blood millionaire....
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Fifteen Wives
Shortly after his arrival from South America to New York, Steven Humbolt is found dead in his apartm...
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Sing Your Worries Away
This package for comedy and the musical numbers has Luke Brown being drugged by the gangster operato...
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High Flyers
Two men running a carnival airplane ride are hired to fly to retrieve what they think are photos for...
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Seven Days Ashore
Circumstances force a womanizing playboy on leave from the Merchant Marine to ask two shipmates to h...
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The Life of the Party
A singer finds another heir (Gene Raymond) to marry, to avoid the one (Joe Penner) her mother found....
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Born to Sing
A group of children put on a show in order to prove that a down and out musician was the real compos...
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What a Way to Go!
A four-time widow discusses her four marriages, in which all of her husbands became incredibly rich ...
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Storm at Daybreak
Sarajevo June 28, 1914. Dushan, the Serbian mayor of a Hungarian town, has come to see the parade of...
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Zotz!
Jonathan Jones, a professor of ancient languages, comes into possession of an ancient coin. He trans...
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Shake, Rattle and Rock!
A TV star meets with opposition from adults who object to the opening of a rock 'n' roll palace for ...
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Wonderland of California
Short film made up of various clips showcasing the Cinecolor process, including a visit to a Marx Br...
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After Office Hours
A managing editor sends a socialite reporter to spy on her boyfriend, mixed up in murder....
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Song and Dance Man
Julia and Hap are a dance team. He drinks and gambles, she succeeds for a while with the help of pro...
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Kentucky Kernels
The Great Elmer and Company, two out-of-work magicians, help lovelorn Jerry Bronson adopt Spanky Mil...
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Rhythm Parade
A nightclub performer, jealous about the talents of an aspiring singer, tries to sabotage her chance...
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Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
Second installment of deleted scenes, mostly musical or comedic, from Fox films of the 30's - 50's....
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Gypsy Sweetheart
Tina, a singing Gypsy with a band of roving gypsies, is invited by Tom to come over to his mother's ...
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Sunset in El Dorado
The story involves a rather odd flashback by Dale who is visiting El Dorado, home of her grandmother...
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Tales of Manhattan
Ten screenwriters collaborated on this series of tales concerning the effect a tailcoat cursed by it...
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Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American ent...
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A Tale of Two Cities
At the outbreak of the French Revolution, Charles Darnay goes to Paris to rescue an imprisoned forme...
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That's Entertainment, Part II
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time includi...
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For Beauty's Sake
A woman-hater who inherits a beauty salon gets a new perspective on females after capturing a gang o...
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Auntie Mame
Mame Dennis, a progressive and independent woman of the 1920s, is left to care for her nephew Patric...
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The Girl Habit
A Lothario tries to get arrested as protection from the gangster husband who has threatened him....
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Enemies of Women
The dashing but arrogant Prince Michael Fedor Lubimoff has to flee Tsarist Russia after falling into...
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Around the World with Nellie Bly
Made-for-TV musical inspired by the real-life travels of a celebrated 1800s female newspaper columni...
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