Marjorie Main Biography

Mary Tomlinson, better known by the stage name of Marjorie Main, was an American “Classical Hollywood” period singer and a character actress. She was known for her roles in the ‘Ma and Pa Kettle’ movie series by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1940s and 1950s. Main appeared in all ten movies of the series, playing the role of ‘Ma Kettle’, a role that gave her a unique identity in the show business. In her career, which lasted more than four decades, Main had played numerous significant roles on the silver screen. For her role in the romantic comedy film ‘The Egg and I’, Main was nominated at the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Later in her career, she portrayed the character of ‘The Widow Hudspeth’ in the civil war drama film ‘Friendly Persuasion’ and was nominated at the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Marjorie Main had also appeared in various popular stage productions, including ‘Scarlet Sister Mary’, ‘Music in the Air’, and ‘The Women’. Main was known for her spirituality and for talking to her dead husband, sometimes even while she was in the middle of shooting. Even though her colleagues found her behavior unusual at times, she never felt it was “abnormal” to talk to dead people.