Cast & creator
Margaret Dumont
Best known for The Donna Reed Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
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).
Also known as: Daisy Juliette Baker, Маргарет Дюмон
57
film credits
4
television credits
61
1917–1999 · acting roles
6.6
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (61)
Showing 61 of 61 credits
The Donna Reed Show
1958
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Self
1950
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self
1956
Racket Squad
1951
What a Way to Go!
Mrs. Foster
1964
Bathing Beauty
Mrs. Allenwood
1944
A Night at the Opera
Mrs. Claypool
1935
At the Circus
Mrs. Suzanna Dukesbury
1939
Duck Soup
Gloria Teasdale
1933
A Day at the Races
Emily Upjohn
1937
That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
1976
Auntie Mame
Noblewoman in Play (uncredited)
1958
The Cocoanuts
Mrs. Potter
1929
The Big Store
Martha Phelps
1941
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
1975
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Self (archive footage)
1972
Animal Crackers
Mrs. Rittenhouse
1930
Around the World with Nellie Bly
Dowager #1
1960
The Horn Blows at Midnight
Mme. Traviata / Miss Rodholder
1945
About Face
Mrs. Culpepper
1942
Tales of Manhattan
Mme. Langehanke (uncredited)
1942
Rendezvous
Mrs. Hendricks (uncredited)
1935
Stop, You're Killing Me
Mrs. Whitelaw
1952
Wise Girl
Mrs. Bell-Rivington
1937
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Mrs. Hemogloben
1941
A Tale of Two Cities
Aristocrat (uncredited)
1917
Reckless
Woman in Audience Yelling 'Get Off the Stage' (uncredited)
1935
The Dancing Masters
Louise Harlan
1943
Shake, Rattle and Rock!
Georgianna Fitzdingle
1956
Little Giant
Mrs. Hendrickson
1946
The Life of the Party
Mrs. Penner
1937
Up in Arms
Mrs. Willoughby
1944
Born to Sing
Mrs. E. V. Lawson
1942
For Beauty's Sake
Mrs. Franklin Evans
1941
Song and Dance Man
Mrs. Whitney
1936
Sunset in El Dorado
Aunt Dolly / Aunt Arabella
1945
Anything Goes
Mrs. Wentworth
1936
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
(archive footage)
1999
The Girl Habit
Blanche Ledyard
1931
The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell
(archive footage)
1982
Kentucky Kernels
Mrs. Baxter
1934
The Hollywood Clowns
(archive footage)
1979
Susie Steps Out
Mrs. Starr
1946
Sing Your Worries Away
Flo Faulkner - Landlady
1942
Gridiron Flash
Mrs. Fields
1934
Dramatic School
Pantomime Teacher
1938
Three for Bedroom C
Mrs. Agnes Hawthorne
1952
Zotz!
Persephone Updike
1962
Storm at Daybreak
Duchess Sophie (uncredited)
1933
Fifteen Wives
Sybilla Crum
1934
Seven Days Ashore
Mrs. Croxton-Lynch
1944
After Office Hours
Mrs. Murchison (uncredited)
1935
Enemies of Women
French Beauty
1923
High Flyers
Martha Arlington
1937
Youth on Parole
Mrs. Abernathy
1937
Arbor Day
Woman Outside (uncredited)
1936
Diamond Horseshoe
Mrs. Standish
1945
Rhythm Parade
Ophelia MacDougal
1942
Wonderland of California
Self
1933Here, Prince
The Queen of Deleria (uncredited)
1932Gypsy Sweetheart
Mrs. Van Updyke
1935