Her father was a minister, and when she joined a local stock company as a youngster she changed her name to avoid embarrassing her family. She worked in vaudeville and debuted on Broadway in 1916. Her film debut was in _A House Divided .
She attended Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana.
Had been known to wear white gloves and a surgical mask for fear of germ contamination.
Long-time companion of actress Spring Byington.
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 though it isnt a Kettle film.
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.
Profiled in book "Funny Ladies" by Stephen Silverman.
Her husband, Stanley Lefevre Krebs, was born February 14, 1864 in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.
Mains career was highlighted in "The Slapstick Queens" by James Robert Parish, published by A. S. Barnes in 1973.
Biography in "Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties" by Axel Nissen.
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.
