I did a search and couldn't find a thread dedicated to this comic legend, (aside from one comparing him to Bill Cosby).
The 31st anniversary of his death just passed a few days ago.
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977), was an American comedian and film star. He is famed as a master of wit. He made fifteen feature films with his siblings, the Marx Brothers, and also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show You Bet Your Life.[1] He had a distinctive image, which included a heavy greasepaint moustache and eyebrows and glasses.
Hollywood
Groucho Marx made a total of 26 movies; of them, fifteen were with his brothers Chico and Harpo.[2] Marx developed a routine as a wise-cracking hustler with a distinctive chicken-walking lope, an exaggerated greasepaint moustache and eyebrows, and an ever-present cigar, improvising insults to stuffy dowagers (often played by Margaret Dumont) and anyone else who stood in his way. As the Marx Brothers, his brothers and he starred in a series of extraordinarily popular stage shows and movies.
Their first movie was a silent film that was never released.[2] As one of the world's most famous comedy teams, they were recognizable. The team made some of their Vaudeville hits into movies, including The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers.[2] Other successful films were Horse Feathers, Duck Soup, and A Night at the Opera.[2]
Marx also worked as a radio comedian and show host. One of his earliest stints was in a short-lived series in 1932 entitled Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel, co-starring Chico, who was the only one of his brothers also willing to appear on the show. Most of the scripts and discs were subsequently destroyed, turning up only in 1988 in the Library of Congress.
In 1947, Marx was chosen to host a radio quiz program entitled You Bet Your Life broadcast by ABC and then CBS, before moving over to NBC television in 1950. Filmed before a live audience, the television show consisted of Marx interviewing the contestants and ad libbing jokes, before playing a brief quiz. The show was responsible for the phrases "Say the secret woid [word] and divide $100" (that is, each contestant would get $50); and "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" or "What color is the White House?" (asked when Marx felt sorry for a contestant who had not won anything). It ran for eleven years on television.
One quip from Marx concerned his response to Sam Wood, the director of the classic film A Night at the Opera. Wood was furious with the Marx Brothers' ad-libs and antics on the set and yelled to all in disgust that he "cannot make actors out of clay." Without missing a beat, Groucho responded, "Nor can you make a director out of Wood."
A widely reported, but likely apocryphal, ad-lib is reportedly a response to a contestant who had over a dozen children. In response to Marx asking why they had so many children, the contestant is said to have replied either "I love children." or "I love my husband.", to which Marx responded, "I love my cigar too, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while." Hector Arce inserted the claim into Marx's memoir The Secret Word Is Groucho but Marx himself denied that it ever happened.[3]
Throughout his career he introduced a number of memorable songs in films, including "Hooray for Captain Spaulding", "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It", "Hello, I Must Be Going", "Everyone Says I Love You" and "Lydia the Tattooed Lady". Frank Sinatra, who once quipped that the only thing he could do better than Marx was sing, made a film with Marx and Jane Russell in 1951 entitled Double Dynamite.
Death
Marx's children, particularly his son Arthur, felt strongly that Fleming was pushing his weak father beyond his physical and mental limits. Writer Mark Evanier concurs with this.[6][7] Marx was hospitalized for pneumonia on June 22, 1977 and died on August 19, 1977 at Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. [1]
He was cremated, and the ashes were interred in the Eden Memorial Park Cemetery in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California. Aged 86 at death, Groucho had the longest lifespan of all the Marx Brothers and was survived only by younger brother Zeppo, who outlived him by two years, dying in 1979 at age 78. Groucho's death only received passing attention, due to the fact that it occurred three days after that of Elvis Presley. In an interview, he jokingly suggested his epitaph read "Excuse me, I can't stand up", but his mausoleum marker bears only his stage name, a Star of David, and the years of his birth and death.[8]
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Originally Posted by Sampiro
