Trivia

Retired from show business in 1958, after friend and fellow actor Gracie Allen retired (due to heart disease).

Had worked as a department-store clerk before marrying Jack Benny; fellow celebrities sometimes put her in her place by asking her opinion on imaginary clothes.

In 1934, she and Jack Benny adopted a girl, whom they named Joan Benny.

Developed stage fright late in her career. Frequent illnesses were used to explain her absence. Eventually, her lines were recorded and dubbed onto the live recording later.

First appeared on Jack Benny's radio show playing the president of his fan club.

A distant cousin of former The Beach Boys guitarist, David Marks.

Several people in Show Business were quite vocal about how mean and rude Mary was to people. Lucille Ball called Mary "a Hard-Hearted Hannah". George Burns said Gracie and he got along well with Jack, but neither one could stand Mary, because she was always rude and mean to everybody. Even Joan Benny said she had a close relationship with her father, but her relationship with her mother was non-existent, because anytime Joan wanted to have a conversation with her mother, Mary would be rude to her.

Has been mistakenly identified and believed to be a distant cousin of the Marx Brothers, which is untrue. The belief is largely rooted in the fact that she first met her husband Jack Benny through a Passover Seder which was also attended by the Brothers. Additionally, her original stage name Marks (which was actually a diminutive of her surname at birth Marcowitz) was incorrectly thought to be spelled the same as that of the Marx Brothers, furthering the belief.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives." Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 500-501. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

Profiled in book, "Funny Ladies", by Stephen M. Silverman. (1999)

Her brother, Hilliard Marks, produced her husband's radio and TV shows.