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Marjorie Main
Marjorie Main
Age 85 years (Feb 22, 1890 – Apr 10, 1975)
Birthplace Acton, Indiana, USA
Movies 86
TV Shows 1

Marjorie Main

Actress
Careers this long are unusual: Marjorie Main is an American actress who has been at it long enough for audiences to grow up watching her. The career opened quietly, the way most long ones do. By genre, drama dominates the list. 87 credits across 97 years is a rate most careers never reach. The single most recognizable credit is 'Meet Me in St. Louis', playing Katie. Viewers may also know her from 'Heaven Can Wait'. She earned a the Academy Award nomination for 'The Egg and I'.
Acton, Indiana, USA
Feb 22, 1890 – Apr 10, 1975
Age85years
Movies86
Series1
Careers this long are unusual: Marjorie Main is an American actress who has been at it long enough for audiences to grow up watching her. The career opened quietly, the way most long ones do. By genre, drama dominates the list. 87 credits across 97 years is a rate most careers never reach. The single most recognizable credit is 'Meet Me in St. Louis', playing Katie. Viewers may also know her from 'Heaven Can Wait'. She earned a the Academy Award nomination for 'The Egg and I'.
Movies
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The World of Abbott and Costello
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The World of Abbott and Costello
Full Filmography 87
The World of Abbott and Costello
Widow Hawkins in The Wistful Widow Of Wagon Gap
★ 6.8
1965
Wagon Train
Cassie Tanner
★ 6.6
1957Season 1
The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm
Ma Kettle
★ 6.4
1957
Friendly Persuasion
The Widow Hudspeth
★ 6.7
1956
The Kettles in the Ozarks
Ma Kettle
★ 6.4
1956
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki
Ma' Kettle
★ 6.8
1955
Ricochet Romance
Pansy Jones
★ 8.0
1954
Ma and Pa Kettle at Home
Ma Kettle
★ 6.6
1954
Rose Marie
Lady Jane Dunstock
★ 4.5
1954
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Marjorie Main still alive?
Marjorie Main passed away on April 10, 1975 at age 85.
What are the most famous roles of Marjorie Main?
Marjorie Main is best known for roles in Meet Me in St. Louis, Heaven Can Wait, The Women.
How many movies has Marjorie Main been in?
Over a 46-year career (since 1929), Marjorie Main has appeared in 86 movies and 1 TV shows.
What was Marjorie Main's first movie?
The career of Marjorie Main began with Harry Fox and His Six American Beauties (1929).
What is Marjorie Main's most recent movie or series?
Marjorie Main's most recent release is The World of Abbott and Costello, which premiered on April 1, 1965.
What TV shows has Marjorie Main appeared in?
On television, Marjorie Main has appeared in Wagon Train, December Bride.
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Marjorie Main
Marjorie Main
1890-02-22 · Acton, Indiana, USA

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
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