| Marjorie Main | |
| Born: | February 24, 1890 |
| Birthplace: | Acton, Indiana, United States |
| Deathplace: | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Birthname: | Mary Tomlinson |
| Spouse: | Stanley LeFevre Krebs (1921-1935) (his death) |
Marjorie Main (February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975) was an Oscar-nominated 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.
Marjorie Main was born in Acton, Indiana, as Mary Tomlinson. She 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.
Marjorie 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 movie version of 1937, 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 comedies with Wallace Beery in the 1940s.
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 the role, and portrayed the character in nine more Ma and Pa Kettle films.
Main married Stanley LeFevre Krebs, who died in 1935. Her near-pathological fear of germs did not interfere with her career. Three authors, Boze Hadleigh, Axel Madsen, and Darwin Porter, have asserted that Main was a lesbian.[1] [2] [3]
Main died in Los Angeles, California, of lung cancer at the age of 85. Her grave marker lists both her stage name and "Mrs. Mary Tomlinson Krebs."