biography
Born Mary Tomlinson in Marion County, Indiana on February 24, 1890, Marjorie Main spent her formative years in Indianapolis, Elkhart, and Fairland Indiana. Her father was a Disciples of Christ minister who did not
approve of dramatics as a form of entertainment. She briefly attended Franklin College in Indiana but left to attend drama school in Kentucky. Upon graduation, she taught dramatics for a year but
eventually went to New York City to study drama and work in vaudeville in the 1910s, which is when she took on her stage name so as not to embarrass her familty. Working the Chautauqua circuit
(which brought brought entertainment and culture to rural areas in the days before radio), she met and she married Dr. Stanley Krebs, a minister who was also working the Chautauqua circuit, in 1921.
She more or less gave up performing for several years who assist her husband. Krebs, who was about 25 years older than Main, retired to New York later in the 1920s; Main then resumed acting, this time
on Broadway. Her film career began with small roles and bit parts in the early 1930s. But with the death of her husband in 1935, Main threw herself into her work. She never remarried and had no children.
Under contract with MGM from 1937 through 1957, Main acted in more than 100 'A' and 'B' pictures, tackling comedy and drama with ease. She took on a variety of supporting roles in big-budget films, including A Woman's Face (1941; with Joan Crawford), The Harvey Girls (1946; with Judy Garland and John Hodiak), and The Egg and I (1947; with Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray). However, in B movies Main was the star attraction in such films as The Bugle Sounds (1942; with Wallace Beery) and Rationing (1944; with Wallace Beery). When The Egg and I (1947), in which she appeared on loan-out to Universial, proved such a hit, Universial decided to move forward with a Ma and Pa Kettle series. Initially, Main refused to do Ma and Pa Kettle (1949; with Percy Kilbride and Richard Long) in part because of its low budget, but MGM forced her to make the film on loan-out. She stayed with the series of nine films through the final entry, The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm (1957; with Gloria Talbott), when the series ended and her contract lapsed. |
the films of marjorie mainThe Bugle Sounds (1941)
With frequent co-star Wallace Beery in The Bugle SoundsHonky Tonk (1941)
With Clark Gable in the MGM western Honky TonkA Woman's Face (1941)
With Joan Crawford in the campy MGM drama A Woman's FaceThe Affairs of Martha (1942)
From the comedy The Affairs of Martha with Spring Byington, Frances Drake, Marsha Hunt, and Richard CarlsonTish (1942)
With Aline MacMahon, Lee Bowman, and Zasu Pitts in the comedy TishHeaven Can Wait (1943)
Main looks glamourous in this scene from the romantic comedy Heaven Can Wait. Also pictured are Louis Calhern, Spring Byington, and Eugene PalletteGentle Annie (1944) 
From the MGM western Gentle Annie. LEFT: With James Craig and Donna Reed. RIGHT: With James Craig, Donna Reed, Harry Morgan, and Paul LangtonRationing (1944)
Scene from the wartime comedy Rationing with Wallace Beery and Dorothy MorrisUndercurrent (1946)
From the film noir outing Undercurrent, with Edmund Gwenn, Katharine Hepburn, and Robert TaylorThe Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947)
From the Abbott and Costello vehicle The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap with George ClevelandFeudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' (1948)
With Joe Besser and Percy Kilbride in the Universal comedy Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair (1952)Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954)    
LEFT, CENTER A and B: Promotional photos from Ma and Pa Kettle at Home. CENTER C: With Percy Kilbride as Pa Kettle and Brett Halsey as their son Elwin. RIGHT: With Alan Mowbraylater yearsThroughout the 1940s, Main proved to be one of the busiest actresses in Hollywood. Her role as Ma Kettle in the hit Universal comedy The Egg and I (1947; with Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert) shaped the remainder of her career. Universal executives decided to build a low-budget series around the Kettle family characters, making eight films between 1949 and 1957. The Ma and Pa Kettle series proved to be Main's swansong, however. With the release of The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm in 1957, Marjorie Main, then 67 years old, retired from films, finally wrapping her career with a few television appearances in the late 1950s. She passed away on April 10, 1975, from cancer at the age of 85. Main left no immediate survivors. |
filmographyFILM
|
marjorie main trailers now showingmarjorie main film now showing |
Click on the logo to go back to Brian's Drive-In Theater
This page premiered September 10, 2002.
Copyright and Disclaimer Information