GROUCHO MARX BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Groucho Marx was born on October 2nd, 1890 in New York City, New York with the birth name Julius Henry Marx.  Marx became most well known for playing wisecracking characters.  Many remember him from the Marx Brothers films for which he made a total of thirteen with his siblings.

He was born to parents, Minnie Schoenberg Marx and Sam Marx.  Although his mother was not involved in the entertainment industry she had goals for her children to be involved in show business.  Her eldest son, Chico was a talented piano player and she noticed (Julius) had a nice singing voice.  At the age of twelve he dropped out of school to try and pursue a career in entertainment.
 
Groucho began working as a vaudeville performer and soon with his siblings was part of a vaudeville singing group known as, "The Four Nightingales".  Soon his family relocated to La Grange, Illinois to make a name for themselves in the Midwest.  It was at the time that they began to incorporate comedy into their routine and they realized how much more audiences appreciated them as a comedy troupe over a singing group.  For the next seven years they performed as, "Fun in Hi Skule". Their comedy routine was always clean but many times full of sexual innuendo. 
 
Soon the Marx Brothers were the biggest comedy stars of the Palace Theatre and were known as the, "Valhalla of Vaudeville" and soon the brothers were on their way to stardom in the film industry.  'Groucho' became most remembered later in his career as the host of the radio and television game show, "You Bet Your Life" (1947) which first debuted on ABC radio and later on CBS and then NBC.  After eleven successful seasons on television the show finally came to an end.  
 
Throughout his career he made a total of twenty six movies which thirteen of them were with his brothers, Chico and Harpo.  Their first film was a silent movie made in 1921, however this was never released to the public.  Later some of their Broadway roles were put into films such as, "The Cocoanuts" and "Animal Crackers".
 
As his career progressed other films he appeared in were, "Monkey Business", "Horse Feathers", "Duck Soup", "Night at the Opera" and "Double Dynamite" (1951).  His last film with his brothers was, "Love Happy" (1949).   

He did have a number of other television shows and radio shows such as, "Tell it to Groucho" (1962), however none reached the level of success that, "You Bet Your Life" had achieved.  Along with his career as a performer, 'Groucho' also wrote a number of books along with his autobiography, "Groucho and Me" (1959) and "Memoirs of a Mangy Lover" (1963). 
 
His final public appearance was in 1974 at the Academy Awards where Jack Lemmon presented Goucho with an honorary Academy Award.  His health was beginning to worsen and he was becoming very frail and had suffered a number of non deadly strokes. 
 
Marx married three times throughout his life.  His first wife was Ruth Johnson whom he wed in 1920 and after having two children the marriage ended in divorce in 1942.  He then married Kay Marvis from 1945 through 1951 and they had one child together.  His third time to marry was to Eden Hartford in 1954 and this marriage lasted until 1969.  He did not remarry and on August 19th, 1977 he passed away in Los Angeles, California from pneumonia. 
 
His remains were cremated and his ashes were interred in the Eden memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.  He outlived all of the Marx Brothers and he still to this day has a huge fan following.  On the Hollywood Sign one of the "O"s has been dedicated to Groucho.  

 
Filmography

1968 Skidoo 
1964 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre 
1959-1962 G.E. True Theater
1960 The Bell Telephone Hour 
1957 The Story of Mankind 
1957 Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? 
1956 Showdown at Ulcer Gulch 
1952 A Girl in Every Port 
1951 Double Dynamite
1950 The Popsicle Parade of Stars 
1949 Love Happy 
1947 Copacabana 
1946 A Night in Casablanca 
1941 The Big Store
1940 Go West 
1939 At the Circus 
1938 Room Service
1937 A Day at the Races 
1936 Yours for the Asking 
1935 A Night at the Opera
1933 Duck Soup 
1932 Horse Feathers 
1931 Monkey Business 
1930 Animal Crackers
1929 The Cocoanuts
1921 Humor Risk