roucho was born Julius Marx on October 2, 1890. He was the first brother to experiment with show business. At age fifteen, he dropped out of school and pursued a career in show business. He enlisted in various vaudeville acts, but never met with much success until his brothers joined him. As the group evolved, Groucho developed and fine-tuned his wisecracking into the form that we know today. Groucho received his nickname from the fact that he always carried his money in something called a grouch-bag.

When the Marx Brothers began their film career, Groucho was largely credited as the one that kept order (as much as one could keep the Marx Brothers in order).

After the Marx Brothers films, Groucho met great success as a solo act. He starred in the film Copacabana, with Carmen Miranda, and in 1950 turned his radio show into the TV show You Bet Your Life, which ran on NBC until 1961. In 1974, Groucho was presented with an honorary Oscar by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Groucho died on August 19, 1977 from pneumonia.