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).

Filmography

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

Appearances as themselves (5)

• 1975Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? — Self (archive footage)
• 1972Hollywood: The Dream Factory — Self (archive footage)
• The Dinah Shore Chevy Show — Self
• The Colgate Comedy Hour — Self
• 1933Wonderland of California — Self