Not to be morbid, but are there any surviving cast members from the Marx Brothers movies?? I imagine that some of the child actors who appeared may still be kicking, but you never seem to see them on any Marx specials or documentaries. Just kind of curious.
shareThe only one that I'm aware of right off the top of my head is Kitty Carlisle, who played Rosa Castaldi in A Night at the Opera. At least I'm pretty sure she's still alive. Ann Miller, who was in Room Service, died just last year. I've seen Carlisle, Miller and the late Maureen O'Sullivan (Judy Standish, A Day at the Races) on documentaries before; I think they might've been featured in the documentaries that accompanied the new Opera and Races DVDs.
"And now, I'm going back in the closet...where men are empty overcoats..."
Does as of this date I believe Kitty Carlisle is still alive-would be about 95 now. She has a good commentary at the end of A Night At The Opera DVD, with interesting insght on Margaret Dumont.
If you are interested in learnig more on Marx Bros. I recommend Harpo's autobiography HARPO SPEAKS. I don't know if it's currently in print, but worth looking. Several other good Marx books out there. You may note some inconsistancies. Certain legends have been attributed to different times.
Kitty Carlisle is indeed alive at this writing. She was interviewed recently at the Performing Arts Library in NYC and I happened to see her there. She moves slowly but looks quite good for her age.
shareall i know is that their children are alive. and here's a fun fact for ya:
one of Harpo's sons said that every morning Harpo would come downstairs and say, "And in conclusion." He loved that phrase. Plus it's funny because it's the MORNING, and therefore it is not the conclusion of anything! also, the nephews and neices of the marx bros didn't call their uncles by their real names, they called them Uncle Groucho, Uncle Chico, etc.
-surely you can't be serious!
-I am serious, and don't call me Shirley
I count 7 surviving cast members.
As stated earlier Kitty Carlisle (Rosa from A night at the opera), Tony Martin (Tommy Rogers from big Store), also from the Big Store is Charles Lane (just turned 101), Jerry Maren (Professor from at the Circus), Paul Valentine and Bruce Gordon (Mike Johnston and Hannibal Zoto from Love Happy)and Vivien Fay (solo dance feature in Day at the Races).
Cannot find any reference to Lisette Verea (Beatrice Rheiner from night in Casablanca) since appearing with Marx Brothers. She may be still alive.
Most recent loss of a Marx Brothers cast member was June McCloy (Lulubelle from Go West) who died last year.
June McClory...I remember her in that movie...she had the lowest-pitched voice of any woman I've every heard...she must have been nearly six feet tall!
shareKitty Carlisle sadly died about a week ago, so we can tick her off the list.
--Lauren
Sever your leg please, sir. It's the greatest day.
Jerry Maren is still alive and well. I actually just had the opportunity recently to meet him and take a pic with him. It was at a Wizard of Oz convention (Jerry Maren was the main lollipop kid) and had him autograph a still from The Circus movie in which he was the little dude.
shareGroucho's son Arthur is still alive. Although he has no dialogue,he plays an extra in Monkey Business,along with his sister. They can be seen playing by the ships fountain and later in the immigration line up. Groucho is seen to be interacting with them in this scene. This is the movie with the most Marx relatives in it, with their father showing up twice as well. One radio interview I heard way back in the 1970s suggested that assorted Marx wives and even Gummo show up as extras in this film. I've tried comparing photos in the Groucho Phile and The MB Scrapbook while freezeframing the Dvd, but came to no clear identifications.But I did notice a woman with four legs walk by....
shareI know the original post of the thread is now a few years old, but I thought I'd throw this in...back in the early 1970s I saw a theater screening of "A Day At The Races," and in the scene where Harpo is "Gabriel" in the shack, the young man playing violin was actually sitting behind me in the theater with his kids! I heard his kids cry out, "is that you, Daddy?" And naturally I had a nice chat with him after the screening.
shareSorry to say, the closer we get to the 100th anniversary of Animal Crackers( It's only 20 years from now), ANY surviving cast members will be a thing of the past. Maxine Marx, Chico's daughter, died late last year at the age of 91. Groucho's son Arthur, will be 90 next year.
In 1972,during a screening of this classic, I saw Morrie Ryskind, who was the guest of honor, give an introduction. George S. Kaufman, was the co-writer. One of the questions put to him, was, " Could Harpo REALLY talk ?? ".
" I'll tell ya, you take Abbysinia, and I'll take a hot butterscotch sundae, on Rye Bread . "
Waitaminit! Rewind the tape! Gummo was an extra in MONKEY BUSINESS? In what scene? I've read a billion words on the Marxes in the last 40 years and I've never read that. That would be on a par with the supposed lost newsreel footage of I'LL SAY SHE IS.
shareBack to the original question, I now count only 4 surviving cast members (credited). Certainly Jerry Marin, Tony Martin and Bruce Gordon are still alive but has anyone got any information on Vivien Fay. This website shows her birthday as 1914 but does not record any death details so it is possible that she is still alive.
The website dedicated to famous nonagenarians & centenarians does not mention her as still living.
I thought I read that in Groucho,by Hector Arce,but in rereading it for the first time since the early 1980s,I couldn't find it.But...I do recall an Arthur Marx interview in which he mentioned Gummo being present on the set. There IS one recording of Gummo I heard. It's from an audio recording of the radio program The Big Show where a reporter tries to get Gummo to call Zeppo over who was also in the studio at the time. it's interesting to note in the biography Monkey Business that the only time all five brothers appeared on stage at once was when Groucho was hosting the tonight show.My father was in New York at the time and actually saw the broadcast. They also appeared on Vaudeville once,but on seperate bills in the same evening.
shareSome people on Youtube has claimed to be the children extras, however how much of that is true is unknown.
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"Common sense is not so common."
- Voltaire