Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx (February 25, 1901 – November 30, 1979) was an American comedic actor and businessman. He was the youngest, and last survivor, of the five Marx Brothers. He appeared with his brothers on Broadway during the 1920s and in the first five Marx Brothers feature films from 1929 to 1933, usually performing in a more subdued style than his brothers and serving as a romantic lead and/or straight man. After Duck Soup (1933), he abandoned acting for subsequent careers as an engineer and theatrical agent.
Marx was born in Manhattan. His parents were Sam Marx (called "Frenchie" throughout his life) and Minnie Schönberg Marx. Minnie's brother was Al Shean, who later gained fame as half of the vaudeville team Gallagher and Shean. His mother was from East Frisia in Germany and his father was a tailor from Alsace, France.
As with all of the Marx Brothers, various theories exist regarding the origin of Zeppo's stage name. His older brother Groucho said in his Carnegie Hall concert in 1972 that the name was derived from the Zeppelin airship, and Zeppo's ex-wife Barbara Sinatra repeated this claim in her 2011 book Lady Blue Eyes: My Life with Frank. In his 1961 autobiography Harpo Speaks!, older brother Harpo said that there was a trained chimpanzee named Mr. Zippo that Herbert would imitate, but when Herbert objected to being named after a chimp, it was altered to Zeppo. In a rare television interview years later, Zeppo said that "Zep" was Italian-American slang for "baby", and the name fit as he was the youngest of the brothers.
Early career and the Marx Brothers
Zeppo replaced brother Gummo in the Marx Brothers' stage act when Gummo was drafted into the army in 1918. Zeppo had been employed as a mechanic for the Ford Motor Company. He had no desire for a show business career, but Minnie Marx insisted that he replace Gummo because she wanted to maintain the act as a foursome. Zeppo remained with the team in vaudeville, Broadway and the first five Marx Brothers films as the straight man and romantic lead until leaving the act following Duck Soup in 1933. He also appeared, without his brothers, performing a minor role in the Adolphe Menjou comedy A Kiss in the Dark (1925), billed as Herbert Marx. His performance was praised by the New York Sun.
Barbara Sinatra (Zeppo's second wife) said that he was considered too young to perform with his brothers, but when Gummo joined the army, Zeppo was asked to join the act as a last-minute replacement at a show in Texas. He and a Jewish friend were supposed to have a date with two Irish girls, but Zeppo canceled in order to board the train to Texas. His friend was shot several hours later by a gang that disapproved of Jews dating Irish girls.
Having watched his brothers for many years, Zeppo could imitate and replace any of the others when illness kept them from performing live on stage, most notably stepping in for Groucho during a tour of their greatest scenes when Groucho was recovering from appendicitis. This tour took place around the release of the film Animal Crackers. Groucho said: "He was so good as Captain Spaulding in Animal Crackers that I would have let him play the part indefinitely if they had allowed me to smoke in the audience." However, Zeppo did not develop his own comic persona to play against those of his brothers. Critic Percy Hammond wrote in 1928:
One of the handicaps to the thorough enjoyment of the Marx Brothers in their merry escapades is the plight of poor Zeppo Marx. While Groucho, Harpo, and Chico are hogging the show, as the phrase has it, their brother hides in an insignificant role, peeping out now and then to listen to plaudits in which he has no share.
The popular assumption that Zeppo's character was superfluous was fueled in part by Groucho. According to Groucho's own story, when the group became the Three Marx Brothers, the studio wanted to trim their collective salary, and Groucho replied, "We're twice as funny without Zeppo!"
Zeppo was mechanically adept and largely responsible for keeping the Marx family car running. He later owned Marman Products Co., which machined parts for the war effort during World War II. The company produced a motorcycle called the Marman Twin as well as the Marman clamps used to hold the atomic bombs inside the B-29 bombers Enola Gay and Bockscar. He obtained patents for a wristwatch that monitored pulse rate and sounded an alarm if the heartbeat became irregular, and a therapeutic pad for delivering moist heat to a patient.
The 2024 book by Robert S Bader Zeppo: The Reluctant Marx Brother said that Zeppo was deeply associated with gangsters, and was called to testify before a grand jury in 1958 about missing funds in a gambling syndicate. According to Bader his brothers were so worried about his associates and high-stakes gambling that they considered disowning him; but they were always personally close.
After retiring from the screen, Zeppo founded a large theatrical agency with his brother Gummo and they represented numerous screenwriters and actors, including their brothers.
Zeppo introduced Mary Livingstone to Jack Benny during a Passover seder; they married in 1926.
On April 12, 1927, Zeppo married Marion Benda (née Bimberg). They adopted two children, Timothy and Thomas, in 1944 and 1945, and divorced on May 12, 1954. On September 18, 1959, Zeppo married Barbara Blakeley. He wanted to adopt and give his surname to her son Bobby Oliver, but Bobby's father would not allow it. However, Bobby did later use the last name of Marx.
Barbara, a Methodist, wrote in her book Lady Blue Eyes that Zeppo never forced her to convert to Judaism, but that he told her that she became Jewish by "injection". Barbara also wrote that Zeppo wanted to keep her son at a distance and added a guest house separated from the main residence for him. Zeppo was reportedly pleased when the boy was sent to military school.
Zeppo owned a house on Halper Lake Drive in Rancho Mirage, California, near the residence of Frank Sinatra. Along with his brothers Groucho and Harpo, Zeppo was a member of the Hillcrest Country Club with friends such as Sinatra, George Burns, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, Sid Caesar and Milton Berle.
Barbara became involved with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and had arranged to show Spartacus (1960) for charity, selling tickets and organizing a post-screening ball. At the last minute, Barbara was told that she could not show the film, so Zeppo spoke to Sinatra, who gave them an early release of the recently completed Come Blow Your Horn. Sinatra also flew everyone involved to Palm Springs for the event.
Sinatra began to invite Barbara and Zeppo to his house two or three times per week, and often sent champagne and wine to their home. Barbara and Sinatra began a love affair without Zeppo's knowledge, and the tabloid newspapers published photos showing them together. Barbara and Sinatra denied the affair until after she and Zeppo divorced in 1973.