biography of the marx brothers

Groucho Marx

(1890-1977)

Who Was Groucho Marx?

Comedian and film actor Groucho Marx was one of the Marx Brothers. The Marx Brothers had a career breakthrough in 1914, as Groucho's quick-witted quips won over crowds. By the 1920s, the Marx Brothers had become a hugely popular theatrical act. They made films before splitting up in 1949, at which point Groucho performed solo on radio and television. He once described his comedy as "the type of humor that made people laugh at themselves."

Marx was born Julius Henry Marx on October 2, 1890, in New York City. While he originally aspired to be a doctor, Groucho started his career as a singer. One of his earliest efforts proved to be disastrous, however. As part of the Le May Trio, Groucho got stuck in Colorado for a while after another group member took off with his pay. He had to work at a grocery store to earn enough money to make it back to New York.

Groucho's father Samuel never had much success as a tailor, and the family struggled financially. His mother Minnie hoped that she might find prosperity through her five children. She became the quintessential "stage mother," guiding her children's theatrical acts and even performing herself. The act eventually featured Groucho and his brothers Leonard, Adolph and Milton.

Groucho received his colorful nickname from fellow vaudeville performer Art Fisher because of his personality. Fisher also coined amusing names for Groucho's brothers, renaming Leonard "Chico," Adolph "Harpo" and Milton "Gummo." Milton left the act to fight in World War I and was replaced by youngest brother Herbert, known as "Zeppo." Both Herbert and Milton later became theatrical agents.

Career Breakthrough

The Marx Brothers had a career breakthrough in 1914 while performing in Texas. During a show, some of the audience left to go see a runaway mule. When they returned, the Marx Brothers put aside their usual routines to make fun of the audience. Groucho's quick-witted quips won over the crowd. The switch to comedy proved to be their ticket to success.

By the 1920s, the Marx Brothers had become a hugely popular theatrical act. Groucho had developed some of his trademarks by this time. He often wore a long coat, a painted-on mustache, thick glasses and held on to a cigar on stage. In addition to just liking cigars, Groucho explained that they proved useful, too. He said that "if you forget a line, all you have to do is stick the cigar in your mouth and puff on it until you think of what you've forgotten."

The Marx Brothers on Broadway

The Marx Brothers had a string of Broadway hits, starting with 1924's I'll Say She Is , which Groucho helped write. The following year, they returned to the stage with The Cocoanuts , a spoof on land speculation in Florida. The Marx Brothers hit it big again in 1928 with Animal Crackers .

In great demand, Groucho appeared on Broadway in Animal Crackers at night while filming the film version of The Cocoanuts during the day. Around this time, he nearly suffered a complete mental breakdown. His hectic schedule and his enormous financial loss in the 1929 stock market crash had taken a toll on the performer and left him with a lifelong struggle with insomnia.

Working with producer Irving Thalberg, the Marx Brothers created one of their most popular movies: A Night at the Opera (1935). As the decade drew to a close, the Marx Brothers continued to make more films, but none matched the success of their earlier efforts. Their last film together was 1949's Love Happy .

Solo Career

Even before the Marx Brothers split up, Groucho had been exploring other career opportunities. He wrote the 1930 humorous book Beds and followed it up in 1942 with Many Happy Returns , his comic attack on taxes. On the radio, Groucho worked on several programs before landing a hit in 1947 with You Bet Your Life . He hosted the quirky game show, which focused more on his quick wit than on contestants winning prizes.

You Bet Your Life moved from radio to television in 1950, and Marx entertained America with his wisecracks for 11 years, also winning a 1951 Emmy. After that program ended in 1961, he appeared on Tell It to Groucho , a short-lived game show the following year. Then Groucho largely retreated from the limelight, making only sporadic appearances on television and in films.

Later Years and Children

Later in life, instead of performing, Marx wrote a follow-up to his 1959 autobiography Groucho and Me . This time around, he focused on love and sex in 1963's Memoirs of a Mangy Lover . The thrice-married comedian had a lot to say on those topics. Marx had been married to his first wife Ruth from 1920 to 1942. The couple had two children together, Miriam and Arthur. He had his third child, Melinda, with his second wife, Catherine Gorcey. His third marriage to Eden Hartford lasted from 1953 to 1969.

A prolific correspondent with friends and associates, Marx had his personal writings published in 1967 as The Groucho Letters . He returned to the stage in 1972 with a one-man show at New York City's Carnegie Hall. Crowds turned out to see the performer, then in his 80s. He had trouble hearing and his voice was much weaker than it was in his prime. Still, he managed to charm and entertain the audience. Two years later, Marx received a special Academy Award for his stage and screen efforts.

By 1977, Marx was in decline both physically and mentally. He struggled with health problems, and his family battled with his companion Erin Fleming over control of his affairs. After spending nearly two months in a Los Angeles hospital, Marx died of pneumonia on August 19, 1977. "He developed the insult into an art form," The New York Times mused on his death. "And he used the insult, delivered with maniacal glee, to shatter the egos of the pompous and to plunge his audience into helpless laughter."

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Groucho Marx
• Birth Year: 1890
• Birth date: October 2, 1890
• Birth State: New York
• Birth City: New York
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Comedian and film actor Groucho Marx was one of the Marx Brothers. He spent nearly seven decades making people laugh with his snappy one-liners and sharp wit.
• Theater and Dance
• Astrological Sign: Libra
• Death Year: 1977
• Death date: August 19, 1977
• Death State: California
• Death City: Los Angeles
• Death Country: United States

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Groucho Marx Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/groucho-marx
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: April 20, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
• When we were coming up through vaudeville, we had the time to work at a sketch until we had it right. When we played Chicago, we played a year and never left the city. There was a theater every four blocks. And then when you left Chicago there was Decatur, Aurora, Elgin, Champaign … you could work out new stuff.
• … my trouble is that I don’t like to let just everybody get in a word edgewise, and can’t stand anyone else having the last word.

Famous Actors

Cillian Murphy & Sterling K. Brown Oscars Grooming

Ryan Gosling’s Oscars Sunglasses

Cillian Murphy

Ryan Gosling

Robert Downey Jr.

Get to Know Oscar Winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph

Bradley Cooper

Annette Bening

Emily Blunt

Margot Robbie

The Marx Brothers: During the Depression, They Made Moviegoers Laugh

I'm Mary Tillotson.

And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA . Today we tell about the Marx Brothers. They made many funny movies in the nineteen thirties and nineteen forties that are still popular today.

There were five Marx Brothers. The most famous were Julius, Leonard and Adolph. They wereborn in New York City between eighteen eighty-six and eighteen ninety. Their father made clothing. Their mother wanted them to become performers. Julius, Leonard and Adolph started performing when they were children. Along with their two brothers, they performed in stage shows called vaudeville in New York. They sang songs, danced and told jokes.

Julius, Leonard and Adolph Marx began making funny movies in nineteen twenty-nine. They changed their first names. Julius became Groucho. Leonard became Chico. Adolph became Harpo. Another brother, Herbert, appeared in the first five Marx Brothers movies. He was called Zeppo. He did not play a funny man like the other three. He played a good-looking young man.

Groucho Marx looked funny. He had large black eyebrows and a hairy mustache. But they were painted on his face. He spoke very quickly. And he walked in a funny way. He played people with funny names, like Rufus T. Firefly. Otis B. Driftwood. And Doctor Hugo Z. Hackenbush.

Groucho was not a very nice person in the movies. He often insulted or made fun of rich or important people. He made fun of doctors, college officials, opera singers, diplomats and government officials. He even insulted his son, played in this example by Zeppo.

ZEPPO: "Dad, let me congratulate you. I'm proud to be your son."

GROUCHO: "My boy, you took the words right out of my mouth. I'm ashamed to be your father. I'd have horsewhipped you if I had a horse. You may go now. Leave your name and address for the girl outside and if anything turns up, we'll get in touch with you. Where are you going?"

ZEPPO: "Well, you just told me to go."

GROUCHO: "So that's what they taught you in college. Just when I tell you to go, you leave me. You know you can't leave a schoolroom without raising your hand, no matter where you're going."

ZEPPO: "Anything further, father?"

GROUCHO: "Anything further, father? That can't be right. Isn't it "anything father, further"? The idea! I married your mother because I wanted children. Imagine my disappointment when you arrived!"

Chico Marx talked as if he was born in Italy. He spoke English that was not correct. Many other funny men spoke as though they came from other countries. They were making fun of themselves and other immigrants who did not speak English well. Chico also made funny jokes about words and expressions that sound alike but have different meanings. For example, in one movie a woman sings with a very high falsetto voice. She says "I have a falsetto voice." Chico then says "Well, my last student had a false set of teeth."

Chico also was known for performing what was called the comedy of the absurd. He talked about things that were so untrue or unreasonable that they were funny. Here is an example. Chico is supposed to spy on someone called Rufus T. Firefly. Chico reports his progress to the man who asked him to spy on Firefly. To "shadow" someone is to secretly follow that person.

CHICO: "Well, you remember you gave us a picture of this man and said follow him?"

MAN: "Oh, yes."

CHICO: "Well, we get on the job right away. And in one hour, even less than one hour, we lose the fix. That's pretty good work, eh?"

MAN: " I want a full, detailed report of your investigation."

CHICO: "All right. I tell you. Monday we watch Firefly's house. But he no come out. He wasn't home. Tuesday we go to the ball game, but he fool us. He no show up. Wednesday, he go to the ball game, but we fool him. We no show up. Thursday was a double-header, nobody show up. Friday it rained all day. There was no ball game. So we stayed home. We listened to it over the radio".

MAN: "Then you didn't shadow Firefly!"

CHICO: "Oh, sure, we shadow Firefly. We shadow him all day."

MAN: "What day was that?"

CHICO:" It was Shadowday (Saturday)! That's some joke, eh, Boss!"

Chico also played the piano in a funny way. Chico did to music what he did to the English language. He made fun of it.

Harpo Marx had curly yellow hair, but it was not really his hair. It was false hair, called a wig. He never said a word in any of the movies. Instead, he acted out what he wanted to say. He could make people laugh without saying a word. People always knew what he was thinking. He made funny sounds with horns and whistles to express his thoughts and feelings.

In one movie, a kind policeman tries to give him some advice to stay away from bad people. As the policeman shakes Harpo's hand, you can hear pieces of silver that Harpo has stolen fall out of his clothes.

POLICEMAN: "You better come with me, young fellow."

GROUCHO: " Don't take him away, officer."

POLICEMAN: "All right. I'll let him go this time. But I want to give you some advice. You're running around with the wrong kind of people. Why don't you go home?"

CHICO: "He got no home."

POLICEMAN: "Go home for a few nights. Stay home. Don't you know your poor old mother sits there, night after night, waiting to hear your steps on the stairs?"

CHICO: "He got no stairs."

POLICEMAN: " I can see a little light burning in the window."

GROUCHO: "No you can't. The gas company turned it off."

POLICEMAN: "Now, what I'm telling you is for your own good. And if you listen to me, you can't go wrong."

As you might have guessed from his name, Harpo Marx was famous for playing the musical instrument called the harp. He made beautiful music like this on the harp in several movies.

The three Marx Brothers -- Groucho, Chico and Harpo -- made fourteen movies together. The movies made fun of officials in many areas of society, like colleges, hospitals or the government. The Marx Brothers made most of their movies during the nineteen thirties. This was during the great economic Depression. Many Americans had no jobs and not much hope. Many people went to the movies to try to forget their troubles. The Marx Brothers thought people might like to see funny things happen to rich and important people.

The Marx Brothers' first two movies were "The Cocoanuts" and "Animal Crackers." These were based on earlier shows that they starred in on Broadway in New York City. Some of their most famous movies are "Horse Feathers," "Duck Soup," and "A Night at the Opera."

In "Horse Feathers," the Marx Brothers make fun of colleges. Groucho is a professor and the president of Huxley College. He wants to improve the college by having a successful football team. Here, he talks to other college officials.

GROUCHO: "Now I say to you gentlemen that this college is a failure. The trouble is, we're neglecting football for education."

COLLEGE OFFICIALS: "Exactly, the professor is right."

GROUCHO: "Oh, I'm right, am I? Well, I'm not right. I'm wrong. I just said that to test you. Now I know where I'm at. I'm dealing with a couple of snakes. What I meant to say was that there is too much football and not enough education."

COLLEGE OFFICIALS: "That's what I think."

GROUCHO: "Oh you do, do you? Well, you're wrong again. If there was a snake here, I'd apologize. Where would this college be without football? Have we got a stadium?"

COLLEGE OFFICIALS: "Yes."

GROUCHO: "Have we got a college?"

GROUCHO: "Well, we can't support both. Tomorrow we start tearing down the college."

COLLEGE OFFICIALS: "But, professor, where will the students sleep?"

GROUCHO: "Where they always sleep – in the classroom!"

Some critics say "Duck Soup," is one of the greatest comedies ever made. Groucho is the leader of a country called Freedonia. He declares war on a nearby country. The movie makes fun of war, diplomats and dictators.

Other critics say "A Night at the Opera," is their finest film. Groucho tries to get a rich woman to invest in an opera company. The movie has many funny parts. One of the most famous is when fifteen people are crowded into a very small room on a passenger ship.

Experts say the Marx Brothers movies were extremely popular for several reasons. The brothers had been performing together since they were children. They shared a sense of what was funny.

In addition, they all loved music. Most of their movies include music. When a song begins in their movies, everything else stops. When Harpo plays his harp, his face shows how much he loves what he is playing. Then, when the music is over, the Marx Brothers immediately start being funny again.

The Marx Brothers' movies were like vaudeville shows. They contained something for everyone. There was comedy, speeches, music and songs.  Often Groucho sang a funny song. Here is an example, called "Hello, I Must be Going."

The Marx Brothers performed together and then separately for more than seventy years until the last one died in the late nineteen seventies. Their comedy influenced many other present day comedians including Woody Allen and Robin Williams. Critics have called the Marx Brothers the most influential comedy team of the twentieth century.

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember. And I'm Mary Tillotson. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.

This page is part of Stories About People which is part of Interesting Things for ESL Students .

The Marx Brothers

IMDbPro Starmeter See rank

• Contact info

• Actor (as The Four Marx Brothers)

• Marx Brothers
• (as The Four Marx Brothers)

• The Four Stowaways (as The Four Marx Brothers)

• performer: "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (circa 1872) (uncredited)

Personal details

• The Four Marx Brothers
• Other works (2/24/24) Stage: Appeared in "I'll Say She Is", Hanna Theatre, Cleveland, OH.
• 4 Biographical Movies
• 15 Print Biographies
• 1 Magazine Cover Photo

Did you know

• Trivia In 1971, the Mariner 9 spacecraft arrived in orbit around Mars - to find it entirely engulfed in a planet-wide dust storm. The only features clearly visible were four dark spots (now known to correspond to the Tharsis volcanoes and Olympus Mons). Carl Sagan was so fascinated by these that his colleagues at Cornell University jokingly called them "Carl's Marks"; Sagan, in his turn, nicknamed the four spots Harpo, Groucho, Chico, and Zeppo.

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

How much have you seen?

Recently viewed

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

Cass warner, filmmaker and granddaughter of warner bros. co-founder, dies at 76.

She also launched Warner Sisters, a company that developed film and TV projects, and co-authored the book 'The Brothers Warner.'

By Chris Yogerst

Chris Yogerst

• Share this article on Facebook
• Share this article on Twitter
• Share this article on Flipboard
• Share this article on Email
• Show additional share options
• Share this article on Linkedin
• Share this article on Pinit
• Share this article on Reddit
• Share this article on Tumblr
• Share this article on Whatsapp
• Share this article on Print
• Share this article on Comment

Cass Warner, filmmaker, author and granddaughter of Harry Warner, co-founder of Warner Bros., has died. She was 76.

Her death was announced by her son and  Yellowstone  actor Cole Hauser on his Instagram page. “Her kindness, love, humor and amazing spirit will be missed by not only my family but the world. You have touched so many,” he wrote.

Related Stories

Byron janis, one of the great pianists of the 20th century, dies at 95, david seidler, oscar-winning 'the king's speech' writer, dies at 86.

Harry’s daughter, Betty Warner Sheinbaum, wrote of her father as “a very serious man. He was the company’s conscience and driving force.” In 1939, Betty married producer Milton Sperling, who had teamed with ex-Warner producer Darryl Zanuck at Fox. Harry did not want family working for the competition, so he let Sperling open an independent production unit at Warner Bros.

Betty and Milton welcomed Cass to the world on March 8, 1948. It wasn’t long before she was sitting in on story meetings with her father and learning the trade in the last years of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She also enjoyed mentorship from Howard Koch, who wrote such classic Warner Bros. films as  The Sea Hawk (1940), The Letter (1940), Sergeant York  (1941) and Casablanca (1942).

Continuing the family history of entrepreneurship, Cass founded Warner Sisters, a company that developed film and TV projects such as  Hopper: In His Own Words  (2012). She also created a nonprofit called The Dream Factory, which features inspirational interviews with Hollywood celebrities.

In recent years, Cass continued to add to the mantle of Warner history by uploading new and old interviews to her website. The interviews ranged from her direct family to those who worked at the studio, like actor James Garner, and Harry’s last secretary, Lois McGrew, who told essential stories about the rocky road of Warner Bros.’ sale in 1956 .

On her website,  WarnerSisters , Cass responded to filmmaker Frank Capra’s message about the responsibility of movies. “My family understood this,” she wrote. “They were aware of the numbers of people they reached and the power of this medium. They knew they were setting trends, influencing and introducing viewpoints and instrumental in creating the future culture.”

Groucho Marx once called Warners “the only studio with any guts” as it took on the Nazis and defied the production code in 1939. The   New York Times  did, in fact, brand Warner Bros. in 1943 as known for “combining good citizenship with good picturemaking.”

Cass was a mother of four, of which the most well-known is Hauser, who has enjoyed a long career in Hollywood. Daughter Vanessa Mooney is a designer and daughter Tao Gaines an entrepreneur, and son Jesse Pool works in advertising.

She was married three times, to Harvey Norman Haber (1970-72), Wings Hauser (1974-77) and to Glenn Allan Pool since 1977.

Survivors also include her grandchildren (Hauser’s children) Ryland, Colt and Steely Rose.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Cole Hauser (@colehauser22)

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Open letter condemning jonathan glazer’s ‘zone of interest’ oscars speech garners over 450 signatures, original ‘the crow’ director disavows reboot over concern for brandon lee’s legacy, rian johnson’s t-street inks two-film pact with warner bros., ‘immaculate’ director michael mohan had a front row seat to the rise of sydney sweeney, ‘winnie-the-pooh: blood and honey’ franchise to launch crossover event ‘poohniverse’, judy garland’s recovered ruby slippers from ‘wizard of oz’ going up for auction.

The Marx Brothers Family

On the image above please click on the brother you would like more information about or scroll down to get general information on the Marx family (image only clickable when your browser supports Client-side maps.) This picture shows from left to right: Zeppo , Groucho , Chico , Gummo and Harpo .

Chronological history of the Marx Brothers

The mother of the Marx Brothers came from Germany. She was born in Dornum on Nov 9, 1864, her name was Miene Schönberg. He brother Abraham Elieser Adolf is born on May 14, 1868, he later became known as the comedian Al Sheen. In 1880 the family came to the United States. Grandfather Levy, an umbrella maker who had worked as a ventriloquist and grandmother Fanny who played the harp - so the brothers were not the first family members on a stage - , and with them came some of their eight surviving children.

The family lived in New York. When Minnie, how Miene was called now, was 18 she met Simon "Sam" Marx in a dance hall. He came from Alsace, France. He had changed his family name from Marrix to Marx to make it sound more German because he hoped it would be easier to find a job this way. In 1884 when Sam was 23 and Minnie was 20 they got married. They moved into 354 E 82nd Street together with Minnie's parents and other members of the Schönberg family. Simon worked as a tailor, but since he refused to use a measuring tape, his customers were seldom satisfied. His real talents were in cooking, and the family used this when they had to 'bribe' somebody.

Simon's and Minnie's first child Manfred born in 1885, died in infancy before the age of three. Most likely the cause of his death was tuberculosis, but some sources say that he died in an accident. The other children were born in 1887, Chico , 1888, Harpo , 1890, Groucho , 1892, Gummo and 1901, Zeppo .

Minnie helped her brother Al Sheen getting into show business and decided early that her children should follow him. Chico played the piano in pubs, Groucho sang as a boy soprano. The brother appeared as The Four Nightingales and The Six Mascots .

The first performance in the Marx Brothers style as we know it was Fun in Hi Skule in 1912. Other shows were Mr Green's Reception , Home Again , On the Mezzanine Floor and I'll Say She Is which became their first big success in 1924. After Home Again Gummo left show business and became an agent. He was replaced by Zeppo.

What followed was The Cocoanuts a Broadway show which became their first film . This show as well as Animal Crackers was originally written for the stage and what we see today are more or less filmed versions of the stage productions. These stage performances gave them the possibilities to test the script before an audience and so they perfected the puns and timing. The went back on stage for test performances when filming A Night at the Opera .

From 1929 on they were mainly active in filming. In their first films they appeared as The Four Marx Brothers (Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Zeppo), but Zeppo left the movie business after Duck Soup . From 1929 to 1949 they made 13 films. After that Chico and Harpo more or less retired, but Groucho started a second career as a show master in the quiz show You Bet Your Life .

Top of page - Disclaimer

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.