Susan Fleming

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title: "Susan Fleming" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1908-births", "2002-deaths", "20th-century-american-actresses", "actresses-from-queens,-new-york", "actresses-from-palm-springs,-california", "american-film-actresses", "american-television-actresses", "marx-brothers", "people-from-forest-hills,-queens", "school-board-members-in-california", "ziegfeld-girls"] description: "American actress (1908–2002)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Fleming" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actress (1908–2002) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Susan Fleming
image	Susan Fleming CM333.jpg
caption	Fleming in 1933
birth_name	Susan Alva Fleming
birth_date
birth_place	New York City, NY, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Rancho Mirage, California, U.S.
other_names	Suzanne Fleming
Susan F. Marx
Susan Fleming Marx
occupation	Actress
years_active	1926–1954
spouse
children	4
::

| name = Susan Fleming | image = Susan Fleming CM333.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Fleming in 1933 | birth_name = Susan Alva Fleming | birth_date = | birth_place = New York City, NY, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Rancho Mirage, California, U.S. | resting_place = | other_names = Suzanne Fleming Susan F. Marx Susan Fleming Marx | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1926–1954 | spouse = | children = 4

Susan Alva Fleming (February 19, 1908 – December 22, 2002) was an American actress and the wife of comic actor Harpo Marx and sister in law to Groucho, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo. 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 Rio Rita.

Career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Susan_Fleming_sl931.jpg" caption="Susan Fleming in 1931."] ::

Fleming was from New York City and went to school in Forest Hills, Queens.

Fleming was unhappy with Hollywood, stating in a 1995 interview that she found "nothing more boring than working on a movie... I hated it!".

Personal life

::quote I first met Harpo at a party as is typical in Hollywood. I sat next to him and Fanny Brice. He had taken her to the party because he felt she would be entertaining, and he loved to be entertained. ::

At a dinner party held in the home of Samuel Goldwyn in 1932, Fleming was seated next to Harpo Marx and found him fascinating.

Fleming was happy to leave show business, serving as Marx's "valet" and raising their four children, whom they had adopted. In addition to his widespread interest in playing musical instruments, including his trademark harp, Fleming helped foster her husband's interest in painting; she would make elaborate frames for his paintings, as well as creating her own works of art. The two collected many artworks, which Fleming donated widely after her husband's death. In 1956, they moved to Rancho Mirage, California, with three out of the four other Marx Brothers; Gummo, Zeppo and Groucho building homes nearby.

Fleming became active in local community affairs, was the first woman on the board of College of the Desert and was elected to the Palm Springs Unified School District Board of Education.

Harpo Marx died at age 75 on September 28, 1964, their 28th wedding anniversary. Following his death, Fleming became more involved in local activities, including the local League of Women Voters. She became an advisory planning commissioner for Rancho Mirage, California, and headed an organization dedicated to preserving development on the fragile desert hillsides. She served a total of 18 years on the district board of education and ran and lost in a campaign for the California State Assembly.

In a 1981 decision later overruled by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a case brought by Fleming, federal judge William C. Conner ruled that the producers of A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine had improperly used the Marx Brothers characters in their Broadway theatre production and that the publicity rights of the comedians, even after their deaths, overrode the First Amendment issues raised by the show's creators. In April 1980, Conner refused to issue a preliminary injunction and allowed producer Alexander H. Cohen to open the show as planned.

Death

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 died on the same day as her close friend, Mary De Vithas, her brother-in-law Chico Marx's second wife.

Filmography

::data[format=table]

Film	Year	Title	Role	Notes	Television	Year	Title	Role	Notes
1926	The Ace of Cads	Joan	as Suzanne Fleming
1931	Lover Come Back	Susan
Arizona	Dot	Uncredited
Alternative title: Men Are Like That
A Dangerous Affair	Florence
Range Feud	Judy Walton
1932	Ladies of the Jury	Suzanne	Uncredited
Careless Lady	Guest of Captain Girard	Uncredited
Million Dollar Legs	Angela Barret
Heritage of the Desert	Dance Hall Girl	Uncredited
Alternative title: When the West Was Young
1933	Olsen's Big Moment	Virginia West	Alternative title: Olsen's Night Out
He Learned About Women	Joan Allen
I Love That Man	Miss Jones, Stenographer
My Weakness	Jacqueline Wood
Broadway Through a Keyhole	Chorine	Uncredited
1934	Now I'll Tell	Minor role	Uncredited
Alternative titles: When New York Sleeps
When New York Sleeps
She Learned About Sailors	Departing Sailor's Girlfriend	Uncredited
Charlie Chan's Courage	Chorus Girl
Call It Luck	Alice Blue
Elinor Norton	Publisher's Staff	Uncredited
1935	George White's 1935 Scandals	Chorine	Uncredited
Break of Hearts	Elise
Navy Wife	Jenny	Alternative title: Beauty's Daughter
1936	The Great Ziegfeld	Ziegfeld Girl	Uncredited
Star for a Night	Mildred La Rue
Gold Diggers of 1937	Lucille Bailey (Hobart's secretary)
1937	God's Country and the Woman	Grace Moran, Steve's Secretary
1954	Inner Sanctum	Liz	Episode: "The Fatal Hour" (final appearance)
::

References

References

1. Marx, Susan Fleming. (2022). "Speaking of Harpo". Applause Books.
2. After starring in the [[Ziegfeld Follies]] productions on [[Broadway theatre
3. (8 September 1973). "The Marx Bros. Scrapbook". Darien House.
4. 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 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".via ''[[Associated Press]]''. [https://www.nytimes.com/1936/11/05/archives/harpo-marx-weds-marriage-to-susan-fleming-is-revealed-in-wire-to.html "HARPO MARX WEDS; Marriage to Susan Fleming Is Revealed In Wire to Roosevelt"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', November 5, 1936. Accessed July 20, 2009.
5. (10 May 2015). "Palm Springs - real estate - Harpo Marx Estate has Historic Designation in Rancho Mirage".
6. "Groucho Marx and Hollywood's elite at Tamarisk Ranchos".
7. (September 10, 2010). "Harpo Marx's Rundown, Renovated Neff in Rancho Mirage".
8. Rufus, Anita. (August 10, 2016). "Know Your Neighbors: Bill Marx Honors His Famous Family Name by Giving Back and Sharing His Talents".
9. Martin, Douglas. [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/nyregion/20conner.html "William Conner, Judge Expert in Patent Law, Dies at 89"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 19, 2009. Accessed July 20, 2009.
10. Cummings, Judith; Krebs, Albin. [https://www.nytimes.com/1980/04/30/archives/notes-on-people-the-highflying-flag-a-price-hard-to-lick-no-1-in.html "Notes on People: The Marx Musical"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 30, 1980. Accessed July 20, 2009.

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