Marjorie Main (February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975) was an American character actress, best known as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player and for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.
| Full Name | Marjorie Main |
| Net Worth | $1 Million |
| Date Of Birth | February 24, 1890 |
| Died | April 10, 1975, Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Place Of Birth | Acton, Franklin Township, Indiana, United States |
| Occupation | Actress, Singer |
| Profession | Actor |
| Education | Franklin College |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Stanley LeFevre Krebs |
| Parents | Samuel J. Tomlinson, Jennie L. McGaughey |
| Nicknames | Marjorie Main, Main, Marjorie |
| IMDB |
| Nominations | Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture |
| Movies | The Egg and I, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Women, Dead End, Heaven Can Wait, The Harvey Girls, The Long, Long Trailer, Friendly Persuasion, The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm, Summer Stock, The Kettles in the Ozarks, Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation, Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki, Barnacle Bill, Ma and Pa ... |
| # | Fact |
|---|
| 1 | Marjorie Main was never under contract to Universal Pictures when she appeared in the "Ma and Pa Kettle" series of films. She was on loan to Universal by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. |
| 2 | Biography in "Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties" by Axel Nissen. |
| 3 | Main's career was highlighted in "The Slapstick Queens" by James Robert Parish, published by A. S. Barnes in 1973. |
| 4 | Her husband, Stanley Lefevre Krebs, was born February 14, 1864 in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. |
| 5 | Profiled in book "Funny Ladies" by Stephen Silverman. [1999] |
| 6 | Her husband Stanley died in 1935, but until her death, she often had "conversations" with her late husband, occasionally interrupting a scene in a movie. She would then let the director know it was okay to continue the scene, which she did as if nothing happened. |
| 7 | There were a total of 10 movies in which Main played the character of Ma Kettle. She also co-starred with Kettle co-star Percy Kilbride in Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' (1948) though it isn't a Kettle film. |
| 8 | Long-time companion of actress Spring Byington. |
| 9 | Had been known to wear white gloves and a surgical mask for fear of germ contamination. |
| 10 | She attended Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana. |
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|
| Johnny Come Lately | 1943 | 'Gashouse' Mary |
| Heaven Can Wait | 1943 | Mrs. Strabel |
| Tennessee Johnson | 1942 | Mrs. Maude Fisher |
| Tish | 1942 | Miss Letitia 'Tish' Carberry |
| Jackass Mail | 1942 | Clementine 'Tina' Tucker |
| The Affairs of Martha | 1942 | Mrs. McKissick |
| We Were Dancing | 1942 | Judge Sidney Hawkes |
| The Bugle Sounds | 1942 | Susie 'Suz' |
| Honky Tonk | 1941 | Mrs. Varner |
| The Shepherd of the Hills | 1941 | Granny Becky |
| A Woman's Face | 1941 | Emma Kristiansdotter |
| Barnacle Bill | 1941 | Marge Cavendish |
| The Trial of Mary Dugan | 1941 | Mrs. Collins |
| The Wild Man of Borneo | 1941 | Irma |
| Wyoming | 1940 | Mehitabel |
| The Captain Is a Lady | 1940 | Sarah May Willett |
| Susan and God | 1940 | Mary |
| Turnabout | 1940 | Nora |
| Dark Command | 1940 | Mrs. Cantrell / Mrs. Adams |
| Women Without Names | 1940 | Mrs. Lowery - Prison Matron |
| I Take This Woman | 1940 | Gertie |
| Two Thoroughbreds | 1939 | Hildegarde 'Hildy' Carey |
| Another Thin Man | 1939 | Mrs. Dolley |
| The Women | 1939 | Lucy |
| The Angels Wash Their Faces | 1939 | Mrs. Arkelian |
| They Shall Have Music | 1939 | Mrs. Miller |
| Lucky Night | 1939 | Mrs. Briggs |
| There Goes My Heart | 1938 | Fireless Cooker Customer (uncredited) |
| Girls' School | 1938 | Miss Armstrong |
| Too Hot to Handle | 1938 | Miss Wayne |
| Under the Big Top | 1938 | Sara Post |
| Little Tough Guy | 1938 | Mrs. Boylan |
| Prison Farm | 1938 | Matron Brand |
| Romance of the Limberlost | 1938 | Nora |
| Three Comrades | 1938 | Old Woman by Phone (uncredited) |
| Test Pilot | 1938 | Landlady |
| King of the Newsboys | 1938 | Mrs. Stephens (uncredited) |
| Penitentiary | 1938 | Miss Katie Mathews (uncredited) |
| City Girl | 1938 | Mrs. Ward (uncredited) |
| The Shadow | 1937 | Hannah Gillespie |
| Boy of the Streets | 1937 | Mrs. Mary Brennan |
| The Wrong Road | 1937 | Martha Foster |
| The Man Who Cried Wolf | 1937 | Amelia Bradley |
| Dead End | 1937 | Mrs. Martin |
| Stella Dallas | 1937 | Mrs. Martin |
| Love in a Bungalow | 1937 | Miss Emma Bisbee |
| Music in the Air | 1934 | Anna |
| Crime Without Passion | 1934 | Backstage Wardrobe Woman (uncredited) |
| Art Trouble | 1934 | Short | Woman Who Sits on Painting (uncredited) |
| Close Relations | 1933 | Short | Woman in Depot (uncredited) |
| New Deal Rhythm | 1933 | Short | Delegate from Arizona (uncredited) |
| Hot Saturday | 1932 | Gossip in Window (uncredited) |
| Broken Lullaby | 1932 | Frau Schmidt - Townswoman (uncredited) |
| A House Divided | 1931 | Townswoman at Wedding (uncredited) |
| Harry Fox and His Six American Beauties | 1929 | Short | Statler Hotel Beauty (uncredited) |
| Wagon Train | 1958 | TV Series | Cassie Tanner |
| The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm | 1957 | Ma Kettle |
| Friendly Persuasion | 1956 | The Widow Hudspeth |
| The Kettles in the Ozarks | 1956 | Ma Kettle |
| Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki | 1955 | Ma Kettle |
| Ricochet Romance | 1954 | Pansy Jones |
| Ma and Pa Kettle at Home | 1954 | Ma Kettle |
| Rose Marie | 1954 | Lady Jane Dunstock |
| The Long, Long Trailer | 1953 | Mrs. Hittaway |
| Fast Company | 1953 | Ma Parkson |
| Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation | 1953 | Ma Kettle |
| Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair | 1952 | Ma Kettle |
| The Belle of New York | 1952 | Mrs. Phineas Hill |
| A Letter from a Soldier | 1951 | Short | Mrs. Wrenley |
| It's a Big Country: An American Anthology | 1951 | Mrs. Wrenley |
| The Law and the Lady | 1951 | Julia Wortin |
| Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm | 1951 | Ma Kettle |
| Mr. Imperium | 1951 | Mrs. Cabot |
| Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone | 1950 | Harriet 'Hattie' O'Malley |
| Summer Stock | 1950 | Esme |
| Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town | 1950 | Ma Kettle |
| Big Jack | 1949 | Flapjack Kate |
| Ma and Pa Kettle | 1949 | Ma Kettle |
| Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' | 1948 | Maribel Mathews |
| The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap | 1947 | Widow Hawkins |
| The Egg and I | 1947 | Phoebe 'Ma' Kettle |
| The Show-Off | 1946 | Mrs. Fisher |
| Undercurrent | 1946 | Lucy |
| Bad Bascomb | 1946 | Abbey Hanks |
| The Harvey Girls | 1946 | Sonora Cassidy |
| Murder, He Says | 1945 | Mamie Fleagle Smithers Johnson |
| Gentle Annie | 1944 | Annie Goss |
| Meet Me in St. Louis | 1944 | Katie (Maid) |
| Rationing | 1944 | Iris Tuttle |
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|
| Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing | 2009 | Video documentary performer: "The Train Must Be Fed" - uncredited |
| Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical Treasure | 2008 | TV Movie documentary performer: "The Train Must Be Fed" - uncredited |
| The Harvey Girls | 1946 | performer: "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", "The Train Must Be Fed", "Swing Your Partner Round and Round" - uncredited |
| Jackass Mail | 1942 | performer: "The Girls of the Golden West" 1942, "When Our Day is Done" uncredited, "A Rose in the Forest" uncredited |
| Wyoming | 1940 | performer: "A Bird in a Gilded Cage" 1900, "There's a Home in Wyomin'" 1933 - uncredited |
| The Women | 1939 | music: "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain When She Comes" - uncredited / performer: "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain When She Comes", "On Top of Old Smokey" - uncredited |
