Julius Henry Marx
15 min read
Reading time
2,881
Words
Published
84
Film credits
15
Books
4
Awards
Groucho Marx, born Julius Henry Marx in New York City in 1890, led the Marx Brothers with a cigar and quick wit. He starred in Duck Soup 1933 and A Night at the Opera 1935, and hosted the quiz show You Bet Your Life. His painted-on mustache and sharp humor earned him an Academy Honorary Award in 1974.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Groucho Marx — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Groucho Marx by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Groucho Marx — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
On October 2, 1890, Julius Henry Marx was born in New York City, the middle child of Minnie and Sam Marx. His maternal grandfather, Lafe Schonburg, was a magician and ventriloquist. Minnie encouraged her sons to pursue vaudeville. Groucho regretted never finishing grammar school, becoming a voracious reader and correspondent with literary figures like T.S. Eliot.
Broadway success with I’ll Say She Is in the 1920s launched the Marx Brothers. Their first film, The Cocoanuts 1929, led to classics like Duck Soup 1933 and A Night at the Opera 1935, produced by Irving Thalberg. After Thalberg’s death in 1936, film quality slipped. Groucho revived his career on radio and television with You Bet Your Life 1947-1961. His 1972 album An Evening with Groucho earned a Grammy nomination.
Groucho married three times: Ruth Johnson from 1920 to 1942, Kay Marvis from 1945 to 1951, and Eden Hartford from 1954 to 1969. He had three children: Arthur, Miriam, and Melinda. Unlike his brothers, he was not a womanizer. His son Arthur recalled hiding a lit corncob pipe in a drawer; Groucho responded with a briar pipe and a deadpan remark. He suffered from insomnia and counted rock star Alice Cooper among his close friends.
Groucho Marx inspired the cartoon character Bugs Bunny and comedians like Alice Cooper, who bought an O from the Hollywood sign in his memory. You Bet Your Life entered the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988. He earned two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an Academy Honorary Award in 1974, and was named the 20th greatest screen legend by the American Film Institute. His quote about declining to join any club that would accept him endures.
The complete filmography of Groucho Marx — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Groucho Marx — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Groucho Marx's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Groucho Marx — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Outside of a Dog, a Book Is a Man’s Best Friend. Inside of a Dog, It’s Too Dark to Read.
Marriage Is a Wonderful Institution. but Who Wants to Live in an Institution?
I Was Married by a Judge. I Should Have Asked for a Jury.
While Shooting Elephants in Africa, I Found the Tusks Very Difficult to Remove. but in Alabama, the Tuscaloosa…
I Started Smoking as Soon as I Went on the Stage. I’d Make Cigars Out of the Morning World When I Was a Kid. Eventually I Smoked Havanas. a Cigar Makers’ Organization Once Said That I Was the Most Famous Cigar Smoker in the World. I Don’t Know If That’s True, but Once While Visiting Havana, I Went to a Cigar Factory. There Were Four Hundred People There Rolling Cigars, and When They Saw Me, They All Stood up and Applauded.
Because We Were a Kid Act, We Traveled at Half Fare, Despite the Fact That We Were All Around 20. Minnie Insisted We Were 13. That Kid of Yours Is in the Dining Car Smoking a Cigar, the Conductor Told Her, and Another One Is in the Washroom Shaving. Minnie Shook Her Head Sadly. They Grow so Fast . . .
You’re Only as Young as the Woman You Feel.
If You Want to See a Comic Strip, You Should See Me in the Shower.
Military Intelligence Is a Contradiction in Terms.
It Looks as If Hollywood Brides Keep the Bouquets and Throw Away the Grooms.
I Drink to Make Other People Interesting.
There’s One Way to Find Out If a Man Is Honest: Ask Him. If He Says Yes, You Know He Is Crooked.
Behind Every Successful Man Stands a Woman. and Behind Her Stands His Wife.
I Find Television Very Educating. Every Time Somebody Turns on the Set, I Go into the Other Room and Read a Book.
My Mother Loved Children She Would Have Given Anything If I Had Been One.
From the Moment I Picked Your Book up Until I Put It Down, I Was Convulsed with Laughter. Some Day I Intend Reading It.
Politics Doesn’t Make Strange Bedfellows Marriage Does.
In America You Can Go on the Air and Kid the Politicians, and the Politicians Can Go on the Air and Kid the People.
The Only Game I Like to Play Is Old Maid…provided She’s Not TOO Old.
A Moose Is an Animal with Horns on the Front of His Head and a Hunting Lodge Wall on the Back of It.
People Are Most Likely to Listen to Reason When in Bed.
Military Justice Is to Justice What Military Music Is to Music.
Quote Me as Saying I Was Misquoted.
Why Should I Care About Posterity? What’s Posterity Ever Done for Me?
One of the Best Hearing Aids a Man Can Have Is an Attentive Wife.
I Was so Long Writing My Review That I Never Got Around to Reading the Book.
She Got Her Good Looks from Her Father He’s a Plastic Surgeon.
Wives Are People Who Feel That They Don’t Dance Enough.
The Husband Who Wants a Happy Marriage Should Learn to Keep His Mouth Shut and His Checkbook Open.
Alimony Is Like Buying Hay for a Dead Horse.
A Woman Is an Occasional Pleasure, but a Cigar Is Always a Smoke.
I’d Have Liked to Have Gone to Bed with Jean Harlow. She Was a Beautiful Broad. the Fellow Who Married Her Was Impotent and He Killed Himself. I Would Have Done the Same Thing.
Jerry Lewis Hasn’t Made Me Laugh Since He Left Dean Martin.
There Has Never Been a Good Comedian That Didn’t Have a Good Straight Man. Audiences Don’t *Think* the Straight Man Means Anything, but It’s Very Important.
Politics Is the Art of Looking for Trouble, Finding It Everywhere, Diagnosing It Incorrectly, and Applying the Wrong Remedies.
Those Are My Principles, and If You Don’t Like Them . . . Well, I Have Others.
I’ve Been Around so Long, I Knew Doris Day Before She Was a Virgin.
Little-known facts about Groucho Marx — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
In the 1950s Groucho was invited to tour the New York Stock Exchange. He grabbed the public address system and sang Lydia the Tattooed Lady for fifteen minutes, causing the stock ticker to run blank.
His son Arthur Marx once hid a lit corncob pipe in a drawer when he heard Groucho coming. Groucho returned with a briar pipe and said smoking wouldn’t hurt, noting that he felt terrible all the time.
Groucho died three days after Elvis Presley in 1977, and the media paid little attention due to the furor over Presley’s death.
Shortly after his death, his children found a gag letter expressing his wish to be buried on top of Marilyn Monroe.
Groucho was in attendance at The Beatles 1964 Hollywood Bowl concert, and there is footage of him applauding.
He regretted never going beyond grammar school and became a voracious reader and correspondent with noted authors, writing several books himself.
Groucho suffered from insomnia, which he claimed was due to a financial loss in the stock market in October 1929. He would call people in the middle of the night to insult them.
He was good friends with rock star Alice Cooper, often inviting him over at 11:00 pm to watch TV. Alice Cooper bought an O from the Hollywood sign in Groucho’s memory.
At the time of his death, Groucho was not aware that his brother Gummo Marx had passed away four months earlier; his family chose not to tell him.
He appeared as Johnny Carson’s very first guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on October 1, 1962.
Regarding Margaret Dumont, who often played the dowager in Marx Brothers films, Groucho claimed the secret to their chemistry was that she never understood what he was saying.
Groucho was the quiet, introverted middle brother and developed a cutting wit to get attention as an outsider.
His brother Gummo Marx performed with the brothers in vaudeville but left before they made movies, though they remained close.
The success of The Marx Brothers at MGM was due to Irving Thalberg; after his death, quality declined because Louis B. Mayer did not care for them.
In 1989, the Republic of Abkhazia issued postage stamps of Groucho Marx and John Lennon to reject Communist past.
Groucho was not much of a womanizer in real life, unlike his brothers Chico and Harpo, and joked about his disastrous attempts at courting.
He carried on correspondence with literary giants such as T.S. Eliot and Carl Sandburg, often adding hilarious postscripts.
The Groucho Club in London is named after his quote about not wanting to join any club that would accept him as a member.
His famous quote first appeared in Erskine Johnson’s column on October 20, 1949, claiming it came from his resignation letter to the Friars Club.
The FBI had a file on Groucho after he made jokes about communism.
His double album An Evening with Groucho 1972 was a surprise best-seller and a Grammy nominee, with accompanist Marvin Hamlisch.
During the run of I’ll Say She Is, Harpo chased a chorus girl onto stage; Groucho pulled out his watch and said The Five Fifteen is right on schedule.
W.C. Fields said the Marx Brothers were the only act he couldn’t follow on live stage, recalling an engagement in Columbus, OH in 1915.
There are two versions of how Julius Henry Marx got his nickname: from his general disposition or from keeping the grouch bag in vaudeville.
His maternal grandfather, Lafe Schonburg, was a magician and ventriloquist who toured Germany and died in 1919 at age 101.
The cartoon character Bugs Bunny was modeled after Groucho.
The phrase Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes? was delivered by Chico Marx in Duck Soup 1933, not Groucho.
A famous gag toy was modeled after his face: dark glasses with big orange nose and mustache, known as the Beagle-Puss.
Groucho came fifth in a 2005 Channel 4 poll for all-time favorite comedians’ comedian.
He knew Charles Chaplin during his vaudeville days.
He was a close friend of The Exorcist author William Peter Blatty.
The Marx Brothers were named the 20th Greatest Actor on the AFI 50 Greatest Screen Legends list.
His announcer on You Bet Your Life, George Fenneman, said he was embarrassed each and every show.
Groucho smashed a violin onstage at Carnegie Hall in a mock tribute to Jack Benny.
He left an estate valued at $2 million upon his death in 1977.
He and his brothers star in five of AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies, including Duck Soup #5 and A Night at the Opera #12.
He sang Everybody Works But Father in both English and German on The Dick Cavett Show in 1968.
Groucho was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: for radio at 6821 Hollywood Blvd and television at 1734 Vine Street.
In 1959, the Marx Brothers reunited for The Incredible Jewel Robbery, with Chico and Harpo disguised as Groucho.
His show You Bet Your Life was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.
He appears on a 44-cent USA commemorative postage stamp issued August 11, 2009, in the Early TV Memories series.
Groucho intended to make a joke on the set of The Exorcist 1973 by appearing in Father Merrin’s clothes, but scheduling conflicts prevented it.
Studio executive Walter Wanger told Groucho to lose his greasepaint mustache as it was an obvious fake.
He, Chico, and Harpo made three attempts at a weekly TV series but all failed.
He was to have played the title role in a TV movie of L. Frank Baum’s The Magical Monarch of Mo with a teleplay by Gore Vidal, never produced.
Groucho was a big fan of Gilbert & Sullivan operettas and appeared as Ko-Ko in an abridged version of The Mikado on NBC in the 1950s.
His cremated remains are entombed at Eden Memorial Park in San Fernando, California; Eden was also the first name of his third wife.
He was voted the 62nd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly as part of the Marx Brothers.
Paramount wanted him for the role of Dr. Dreyfuss in The Apartment 1960, but Billy Wilder wanted a more dramatic actor.
He was portrayed by Lewis J. Stadlen in the Broadway show Minnie’s Boys in 1970.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Groucho Marx.
Celebrities similar to Groucho Marx — same craft, ranked by reach.
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