Marjorie Main

Her father was a minister, and when she joined a local stock company as a youngster she changed her name to avoid embarrassing her family. She worked in vaudeville and debuted on Broadway in 1916. Her film debut was in _A House Divided (1931)_ (qv). She repeated her stage role in _Dead End (1937)_ (qv) as Baby Face Martin ('Humphrey Bogart' (qv))'s mother, which led to a number of slum mother parts. She played very strong role of Lucy, the dude ranch operator in _The Women (1939)_ (qv). She achieved popularity as a comedienne in six 1940s movies made with 'Wallace Beery' (qv) e.g., _Barnacle Bill (1941)_ (qv). The character which would dominate her remaining career was established when she played Ma Kettle in _The Egg and I (1947)_ (qv), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. She began her co-starring series with 'Percy Kilbride' (qv) the following year in _Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' (1948)_ (qv) and continued through seven more. Her last movie was a "Kettle" without Kilbride: _The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm (1957)_ (qv).::Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>