12 Facts About Susan Fleming

Susan Alva Fleming was an American actress and the wife of comic actor Harpo Marx and sister in law to Groucho, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo.

Susan Fleming 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, Susan Fleming was seated next to Harpo Marx and found him fascinating.

Susan Fleming pursued him relentlessly, dating for four years and proposing marriage to him on three occasions before he accepted.

Susan Fleming ended her Hollywood career when she married Marx on September 28,1936.

Susan Fleming was happy to leave show business, serving as Marx's "valet" and raising their four children, whom they had adopted.

Susan 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.

Susan Fleming became an advisory planning commissioner for Rancho Mirage, California, and headed an organization dedicated to preserving development on the fragile desert hillsides.

Susan Fleming served a total of 18 years on the district board of education and ran and lost in a campaign for the California State Assembly.

Susan Fleming outlived Marx by almost forty years during which she was an artist and activist in the Palm Springs area.

Susan Fleming died at age 94 on December 22,2002, of a heart attack at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.

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