Marjorie Main

Marjorie Main
as Ma Kettle in Ma and Pa Kettle On Vacation (1953)
Born	Mary Tomlinson February 24, 1890 Acton, Indiana, U.S.
Died	April 10, 1975 (aged 85) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1916–1958
Spouse	Stanley LeFevre Krebs (1921–1935; his death)

Marjorie Main (February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975) was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.^[1]

Early life and career

Born Mary Tomlinson in Acton, Indiana, Main attended Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana, and adopted a stage name to avoid embarrassing her father, Samuel J. Tomlinson (married to Jennie L. McGaughey), who was a minister. She worked in vaudeville on the Chautauqua and Orpheum Circuits, and debuted on Broadway in 1916. Her first film was A House Divided in 1931.^[2][3]

Main began playing upper class dowagers, but was ultimately typecast in abrasive, domineering, salty roles, for which her distinct 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. She made six films with Wallace Beery in the 1940s including Barnacle Bill (1941), Jackass Mail (1942), and Bad Bascomb (1946).^[4] She played Sonora Cassidy, the chief cook, in The Harvey Girls (1945). The director, George Sidney, says in the comments on 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.^[4]

Personal life and death

Main married Stanley LeFevre Krebs, who died in 1935. Three authors, Boze Hadleigh, Axel Madsen, and Darwin Porter, have asserted that Main was a lesbian.^[5][6][7]According to Keith Stern and Boze Hadleigh, Marjorie Main had a long-term lesbian relationship with actress Spring Byington. ^[8][9]

Main died of lung cancer on April 10, 1975 in Los Angeles at the age of 85. She is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.^[10]

Her name is listed on her headstone as Mrs. Mary Tomlinson Krebs, with her stage name Marjorie Main underneath.

Theatre

• Salvation (1928)
• Scarlet Sister Mary (1930)
• Ebb Tide (1931)
• Music in the Air (1932)
• Jackson White (1935)
• Dead End (1935)
• The Women (1936)

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1932	Hot Saturday	Gossip in Window	Uncredited
1933	New Deal Rhythm	Delegate from Arizona	Uncredited
1934	Music in the Air	Anna
1937	Stella Dallas	Mrs. Martin
1938	Test Pilot	Landlady
1938	Three Comrades	Old Woman by Phone	Uncredited
1938	Girls' School	Miss Honore Armstrong
1938	Little Tough Guy	Mrs. Boylan
1938	Too Hot to Handle	Miss Kitty Wayne
1939	They Shall Have Music	Mrs. Miller
1939	The Angels Wash Their Faces	Mrs. Arkelian
1939	Another Thin Man	Mrs. Dolley, Landlord Chesterfield Apartments
1939	The Women	Lucy, Dude Ranch Owner
1940	I Take This Woman	Gertie
1940	Dark Command	Mrs. Cantrell, aka Mrs. Adams
1940	Turnabout	Nora - the Cook
1940	Susan and God	Mary Maloney	Alternative title: The Gay Mrs. Trexel
1941	The Trial of Mary Dugan	Mrs. Collins
1941	A Woman's Face	Emma Kristiansdotter
1941	The Shepherd of the Hills	Granny Becky
1941	Honky Tonk	Mrs. Varner
1942	The Bugle Sounds	Susie "Suz"
1942	The Affairs of Martha	Mrs. McKessic
1942	Tennessee Johnson	Mrs. Maude Fisher	Alternative title: The Man on America's Conscience
1942	We Were Dancing	The Judge
1943	Heaven Can Wait	Mrs. Strable
1944	Meet Me in St. Louis	Katie
1944	Gentle Annie	Annie Goss
1945	Murder, He Says	Mamie Fleagle Smithers Johnson
1946	The Harvey Girls	Sonora Cassidy
1946	Undercurrent	Lucy
1947	The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap	Widow Hawkins	Alternative title: The Wistful Widow
1948	Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'	Maribel Mathews
1949	Big Jack	Flapjack Kate
1950	Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town	Ma Kettle
1950	Summer Stock	Esme	Alternative title: If You Feel Like Singing
1950	Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone	Harriet "Hattie" O'Malley
1951	Mr. Imperium	Mrs. Cabot	Alternative title: You Belong to My Heart
1951	Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm	Ma Kettle
1951	It's a Big Country	Mrs. Wrenley
1952	The Belle of New York	Mrs. Phineas Hill
1952	Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair	Ma Kettle
1953	Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation	Ma Kettle
1953	Fast Company	Ma Parkson
1954	The Long, Long Trailer	Mrs. Hittaway
1954	Rose Marie	Lady Jane Dunstock
1955	Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki	Ma Kettle
1956	The Kettles in the Ozarks	Ma Kettle
1956	Friendly Persuasion	The Widow Hudspeth	Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress
1956	December Bride	Herself	Episode: "The Marjorie Main Show"
1957	The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm	Ma Kettle
1958	Wagon Train	Cassie Tanner	2 episodes

References

External links

• Marjorie Main at the Internet Broadway Database
• Marjorie Main at the Internet Movie Database
• Marjorie Main at the TCM Movie Database
• Marjorie Main at Find a Grave
• Literature on Marjorie Main