Dumont, Margaret

Dumont, Margaret (b. Margaret Baker)

(1889–1965) movie actress; born in Brooklyn, N.Y. She began her career as a singer and became a regular player with the Marx Brothers in stage comedies of the 1920s. As the classic "straight" foil to their antics, she appeared in seven Marx Brothers movies, including The Cocoanuts (1929), Animal Crackers (1930), and Duck Soup (1933). She also appeared in several film comedies of W. C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy, and Jack Benny. Her last movie was What a Way to Go! (1964).