Marjorie Main

Also Known As: Mary Tomlinson

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.

Department: Acting

Place of Birth: Acton, Indiana, USA

Birthday: February 22, 1890

Deathday: April 10, 1975

Adult: No

Gender: Female

Popularity:

1.00%

Known For:

Meet Me in St. Louis
Mr. Imperium
The Women
The Long, Long Trailer
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap
A Woman's Face
Dead End
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
The Egg and I
Friendly Persuasion
The Shepherd of the Hills
The Belle of New York
Summer Stock
Stella Dallas
Undercurrent
Ma and Pa Kettle
Heaven Can Wait
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki
Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation
Tennessee Johnson
Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
It's a Big Country
The Kettles in the Ozarks
Honky Tonk
The Bugle Sounds
Jackass Mail
Angels Wash Their Faces
The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm
Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'
Murder, He Says
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
The Wild Man of Borneo
New Deal Rhythm
The Shadow
I Take This Woman
Barnacle Bill
Rose Marie
Lucky Night
Big Jack
Bad Bascomb
We Were Dancing
Rationing
The Wrong Road
The Law and the Lady
The Affairs of Martha
Boy of the Streets
Under the Big Top
The Man Who Cried Wolf
Women Without Names
Girls' School
Too Hot to Handle
Little Tough Guy
The Show-Off
Romance of the Limberlost
Tish
Two Thoroughbreds
Susan and God
Ma and Pa Kettle at Home
There Goes My Heart
Gentle Annie
The Harvey Girls
Wyoming
Prison Farm
Turnabout
Three Comrades
Test Pilot
Another Thin Man
They Shall Have Music
King of the Newsboys
Fast Company
Ricochet Romance
A House Divided
The Trial of Mary Dugan
Johnny Come Lately
Music in the Air
Dark Command
Hot Saturday
The Captain Is a Lady
Broken Lullaby
Art Trouble
Harry Fox and His Six American Beauties
Close Relations
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Crime Without Passion
The World of Abbott and Costello
Penitentiary