Place of birth: New York (USA)
Biography:
His father Sam Marx, his German mother, Minnie Schoenberg, ran a company of traveling comedians so he began to be interested in acting and performed with his brothers in trios or musical quartets and later in magazines.
Even today it is unknown because his nickname is Zeppo and several versions are configured without being able to reach the truth although the two closest versions are that his nickname comes from the hot air balloon Graff Zeppelin or is the product of a tribute to the famous actor of the time Mr Zippo to the which physically resembled him.
In 1921 they work on a film “Humor risk” which was not successful at that time. Until they are popularly recognized for their play “Cocoanuts” that they made between 1925 and 1928 and it gives them the opportunity to be seen on Broadway.
From there his career begins as Paramount offers them a contract to make several films, such as “The Four Coconuts”, “Horse Feathers” and “Goose Soup”, among others.
Soon after, the brothers left Paramount and thanks to Irving G. Thalberg The Marx Brothers began to work for Metro Goldwyn Mayer, where they got off to a very good start, filming films such as “A night at the opera” and “A day at the the races “until today seen and remembered by millions of fans.
His brothers, Leonard (Chico), Adolph (Harpo), Julius (Groucho), Milton (Gummo), and Herbert (Zeppo) adopt their nicknames as stage names and thus rise to fame and their fans elevate them to the highest. Hollywood peaks.
His romantic and not so comical character in the early Marx Brothers films was talented enough that he could have replaced his brother Groucho perfectly and was famous for his jokes and despite this he did not create a comical character in the group.
He was in charge of maintaining the family car as he was passionate about mechanics. Almost at the beginning of the Second World War, in 1941 he founded the company “Marman Products”, dedicated to the design and assembly of parts and weapons material required by the US Army. The rings with which the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was tied, were his design and were built in his factories.
He also founded a theatrical company with his brother Gummo and due to his great ability in mechanics, he invented a wristwatch capable of measuring the pulse of people affected with heart conditions and launching an alarm signal when it did not register its normal values.
He married Marion Brenda on April 12, 1927 with whom he adopted a child, Timothy, in 1944 and finally divorced in 1954.
In 1959 he married Barbara Blakeley and adopted her son, Bobby Oliver, to whom he gave his surname. Zeppo and Barbara divorced in turn in 1972. He did not remarry, but she would bond with singer Frank Sinatra.
In 1929, affected by lung cancer, he died on November 29, being the last of the Marx Brothers.
Filmography:
Together with The Marx Brothers:
- Humor Risk (1921)
- The Cocoanuts (1929)
- Animal Crackers (1930)
- The House That Shadows Built (1931)
- Monkey Business (1931)
- Horse Feathers (1932)
- Duck Soup (1933)
In solitary:
- A Kiss in the Dark (1925), produced by Paramount.