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Margaret Dumont (October 20, 1882 – March 6, 1965) was an American comedic actress.

She is remembered mostly for being the comic foil to Groucho Marx in seven of the Marx Brothers movies. Groucho called her "practically the fifth Marx brother." (In fact, there were five Marx brothers, but only a maximum of four ever performed together.)
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Born Daisy Juliette Baker in Brooklyn, New York she adopted the stage name Margaret (and/or Marguerite) Dumont.

Dumont played wealthy high-society widows whom Groucho alternately insulted and romanced for their money. They include Mrs. Potter in The Cocoanuts (1929), Mrs. Rittenhouse in Animal Crackers (1930), Mrs. Gloria Teasdale in Duck Soup (1933), Mrs. Claypool in A Night at the Opera (1935), Emily Upjohn in A Day at the Races (1937), Mrs. Suzanna Dukesbury in At the Circus (1939), and Martha Phelps in The Big Store (1941). Groucho once said a lot of people believed they were married in real life, but they were not. A typical exchange, from Duck Soup, follows:

Groucho: You might think me a sentimental old fluff, but would you mind giving me a lock of your hair?
Dumont (smitten): A lock of my hair? Why, I had no idea that you ...
Groucho: You`re getting off easy. I was going to ask for the whole wig!

Dumont also endured dialogue about her characters` (and thus her own) stoutish build, as with these lines, also from Duck Soup:

Dumont: I`ve sponsored your appointment because I feel you are the most able statesman in all Freedonia.
Groucho: Well, that covers a lot of ground. Say, you cover a lot of ground yourself! You`d better beat it; I hear they`re going to tear you down and put up an office building where you`re standing!

and:

Groucho: Why don`t we get married, and take a vacation? I`ll need a vacation if we`re going to get married. Married! I can see you now, in the kitchen, bending over a hot stove. But I can`t see the stove!

Dumont`s character would often give a short, startled-looking "take" to such insults, but would not otherwise respond and would apparently forget the insult quickly.

Dumont`s presumed ladylike innocence (contrasting with Groucho`s perpetual leer) was fodder for Groucho`s oft-stated comment that the brothers had to explain jokes like this to her:

Groucho (to the other brothers, during a battle sequence in Duck Soup): Remember, you`re defending this woman`s honor, which is probably more than she ever did!

and this, from A Night at the Opera:

Dumont: Do you have everything, Otis?
Groucho: I`ve never had any complaints yet!

Decades later, in his one man show at New York`s Carnegie Hall, Groucho mentioned Dumont`s name and got a burst of applause. He informed the audience that she rarely understood the humor of their scenes together and would ask him, "Why are they laughing, Julie?" ("Julie" was her nickname for Julius, Groucho`s birth name.)

Over the course of her lifetime, she played in 57 films, including some minor silent work that began with A Tale of Two Cities (1917). Her first feature film was the Marx Brothers film The Cocoanuts (1929), in which she played Mrs. Potter, the same role she played in the stage version from which the film was adapted. Her last movie was What a Way to Go! (1964), in which she played Shirley MacLaine`s mother, Mrs. Foster.

She also played the same dignified, poised dowager with