Susan Fleming
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Susan Fleming (February 19, 1908 – December 22, 2002) was an American actress and the wife of comic actor Harpo Marx. Fleming was known as the "Girl with the Million Dollar Legs" for a role she played in the W. C. Fields film Million Dollar Legs (1932). Her big stage break, which led to her Hollywood career, was as a Ziegfeld girl, performing in The Ziegfeld Follies.
Fleming was from New York City and went to school in Forest Hills, Queens. After starring in the Ziegfeld Follies productions on Broadway, she started appearing in movies. One of her earliest film roles was a starring role in Range Feud as Judy Walton, the love interest of John Wayne. Fleming combined her dancing and cinematic interests in the 1932 movie Million Dollar Legs, in which she played the daughter of W. C. Fields' character. As part of a publicity stunt for the film, her legs were insured for the eponymous million dollars.
Fleming was unhappy with Hollywood, stating in a 1995 interview that she found "nothing more boring than working on a movie... I hated it!". At a dinner party held in the home of Samuel Goldwyn, she was seated next to Harpo Marx and found him fascinating. Despite his silent persona in films, she found Marx to be "a warm, fun, darling man to talk to". She pursued him relentlessly, dating for four years and proposing marriage to him on three separate occasions before he accepted. She ended her Hollywood career when she married Marx on September 28, 1936. Fleming's wedding to Marx was revealed to the public when President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt sent the couple a telegram of congratulations in November. Marx had sent a thank you letter to Roosevelt in appreciation for a signed photograph of the President, in which Marx had stated that he was "in line for congratulations, too, having been married since September" in an unspecified "little town up North".
Fleming outlived Marx by almost forty years during which she was an artist and activist in the Palm Springs area. She died at age 94 on December 22, 2002, of a heart attack at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage. She was survived by a daughter, three sons, five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 5.719 |
Birthday | 1908-02-19 |
Place of Birth | New York City, New York, USA |
Also Known As | Susan F. Marx, Susan Fleming Marx, Susan Alva Fleming, |
1936
Gold Diggers of 1937
5.8/13
The partners of stage-producer J. J. Hobart gamble away the money for his new show. They enlist a gold-digging chorus girl to help get it back by conn...
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Gold Diggers of 1937
1931
The Range Feud
5.237/19
Clint Turner is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend Judy's father, a rival rancher who was an enemy of his own father, and his best friend, Sher...
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The Range Feud
1937
God's Country and the Woman
4.2/4
Hard-nosed Jefferson Russett runs a logging company; his brother, Steve, is the prodigal son. Steve becomes stranded on the competition's property and...
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God's Country and the Woman
1933
My Weakness
0/0
A wealthy young man bets his uncle that he can transform a clumsy cleaning lady into a glamorous fashion plate, then marry her off to his bachelor cou...
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My Weakness
1934
Elinor Norton
6/1
A romantic triangle during WW I provides the basis of this drama. The trouble begins when a young wife gets involved with a coffee baron while her hus...
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Elinor Norton
1932
Careless Lady
5.3/3
Innocent Sally Brown thinks men are only attracted to experienced women, so she poses as the wife of an unmarried businessman on a trip to Paris.
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Careless Lady
1934
She Learned About Sailors
2.5/2
Shanghai nightclub singer Jean falls in love to a sailor, but after his ship left Shanghai, he is of the opinion that he cannot support her in the Sta...
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She Learned About Sailors
1934
By Your Leave
3/2
A bored couple facing middle-age succumbs to wandering eyes.
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By Your Leave
1931
A Dangerous Affair
0/0
Holt plays police lieutenant McHenry, while Graves is his friendly rival, crime reporter Wally Cook. After the two men verbally duel over a variety of...
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A Dangerous Affair
1933
Broadway Thru a Keyhole
5.7/3
Racketeer Frank Rocci is smitten with Joan Whelan, a dancer at Texas Guinan's famous Broadway night spot. He uses his influence to help her get a star...
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Broadway Thru a Keyhole
1932
Million Dollar Legs
6.579/19
A small country on the verge of bankruptcy is persuaded to enter the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics as a means of raising money.
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Million Dollar Legs
1933
He Learned About Women
0/0
He Learned About Women is a 1932 American Pre-Code comedy film directed by Lloyd Corrigan and written by Lloyd Corrigan, Ray Harris and Harlan Thompso...
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He Learned About Women
1934
Call It Luck
6/1
A London taxicab driver cashes in on a big sweepstakes ticket and becomes the prey of a confidence-gang that sells him a nag of a cavalry horse on the...
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Call It Luck
1936
Star for a Night
6/1
Blind Mrs. Lind comes to American to visit her three children whom she thinks are successful.
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Star for a Night
1932
Ladies of the Jury
6.4/8
Society matron Mrs. Livingston Baldwin Crane is selected as a juror in the trial of former chorus girl Yvette Gordon, who's accused of murdering her r...
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Ladies of the Jury
1935
Break of Hearts
5.5/7
Constance, a poor but aspiring composer, meets the great conductor, Franz, through their old music teacher. They fall in love, despite Constance knowi...
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Break of Hearts
1933
I Love That Man
0/0
Innocent Nancy Carroll falls in love with con man Edmund Lowe and the pair swindle their way across the country until they decide to settle down in a...
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I Love That Man
1934
Charlie Chan's Courage
8/2
Charlie is hired to deliver a pearl necklace to a millionaire at his ranch. When murder intervenes he disguises himself as a Chinese servant and begin...
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