From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Marjorie Main born Mary Tomlinson February 24 1890 April 10 1975 was an American actress best known as a MetroGoldwynMayer contract player and for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies Main worked in vaudeville on the Orpheum circuit and in Chautauqua presentations and debuted on Broadway in 1916 Her first film was A House Divided in 1931 Main began playing upper class dowagers but ultimately was typecast in abrasive domineering salty roles for which her distinctive 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 duderanch operator in The Women to film in 1939 At this time she gueststarred on radio programs such as Columbia Presents Corwin and The Goldbergs Main was signed to a MetroGoldwynMayer contract in 1940 and stayed with the studio until the mid1950s She made six films with Wallace Beery in the 1940s including Barnacle Bill 1941 Jackass Mail 1942 and Bad Bascomb 1946 She played Sonora Cassidy the chief cook in The Harvey Girls 1946 The director George Sidney remarked in the commentary for 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 By the early 1950s she had appeared in several MGM musicals including Meet Me in St Louis and The Belle of New York She played Mrs Wrenley in the studios allstar film Its a Big Country 1951 In 1954 Marjorie Main played her last roles for the studio Mrs Hittaway in The Long Long Trailer and Jane Dunstock in Rose Marie In 1956 Mains performance as the widow Hudspeth in the hit film Friendly Persuasion was wellreceived earning her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress In 1958 Main appeared twice as rugged frontierswoman Cassie Tanner in the episodes The Cassie Tanner Story and The Sacramento Story on NBCs television series Wagon Train In the first segment she joins the wagon train casts her romantic interest on Ward Bond as Major Adams and helps the train locate needed horses despite a Paiute threat
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