Zeffie Tilbury
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zeffie Agnes Lydia Tilbury (November 20, 1863 – July 24, 1950) was an English actress.
Tilbury was known first on the London stage and on Broadway in New York City. In 1881, she debuted on stage in Nine Points of the Law at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, England.
She is today best known for playing wise or evil older characters in films, such as the distinguished lady gambler at dinner with Garbo in The Single Standard, as the pitiful Grandma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath and Grandma Lester in Tobacco Road.
She appeared in over 70 films. Her earliest surviving silent film is the Valentino / Nazimova 1921 production of Camille. Tilbury is probably best remembered as the old lady who is befriended by Spanky and his friends on her birthday and, as a result, is transformed from a lonely, disagreeable recluse to a happy and loving carefree soul in the 1936 Hal Roach Our Gang comedy Second Childhood. In the same year she also portrayed the Gypsy Queen in the Laurel and Hardy film The Bohemian Girl.
Tilbury was married twice. First to Arthur Frederick Lewis in June, 1887, and later to L. E. Woodthorpe, who died on April 8, 1915. She died in Los Angeles, California in 1950 at the age of 86.
Acted in
Flying with Music
1942
as Fortune Teller
Sheriff of Tombstone
1941
as Granny Carson
Tobacco Road
1941
as Grandma Lester
She Couldn't Say No
1940
as Ma Hawkins
Comin' Round the Mountain
1940
as Granny Stokes
The Grapes of Wrath
1940
as Grandma Joad
The Earl of Chicago
1940
as Miss Nana (uncredited)
Emergency Squad
1940
as Mrs. Cobb
Balalaika
1939
as Natalya Petrovna
Lady of the Tropics
1939
as Woman Congratulating Manon
Tell No Tales
1939
as Miss Mary
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
1939
as Mrs. Sanders
Boy Trouble
1939
as Mrs. Jepson
Arrest Bulldog Drummond
1938
as Aunt Meg
Marie Antoinette
1938
as Dowager at Birth of Dauphin (uncredited)
Woman Against Woman
1938
as Grandma
Kidnapped
1938
as Old Woman
Hunted Men
1938
as Flower Woman
Bulldog Drummond's Peril
1938
as Mrs. Weevens
Federal Bullets
1937
as Mrs. Crippen
The King Without a Crown
1937
as Dying Duchess Marie (uncredited)
Bulldog Drummond Comes Back
1937
as Zeffie
It Happened in Hollywood
1937
as Miss Gordon
Hideaway
1937
as Mrs. Beamish
Rhythm in the Clouds
1937
as The Duchess de Lovely
Parnell
1937
as Old Lady
Midnight Taxi
1937
as Mrs. Lane
Maid of Salem
1937
as Goody Hodgers
Bulldog Drummond Escapes
1937
as Drunk in Jail Cell
Under Cover of Night
1937
as Mrs. Nash
Camille
1936
as Old Duchess Bidding 3750 Francs
After the Thin Man
1936
as Aunt Lucy (uncredited)
Grandma's Buoys
1936
as Grandma
Old Hutch
1936
as Elderly Woman in Bank
Give Me Your Heart
1936
as Esther Warren
The Gorgeous Hussy
1936
as Mrs. Daniel Beall
Anthony Adverse
1936
as Old Woman at Chalet
The White Angel
1936
as Woman Donating Sheets (uncredited)
Parole!
1936
as Molly Smith
Desire
1936
as Aunt Olga
Second Childhood
1936
as Grandma
Vamp Till Ready
1936
as Woman
The Bohemian Girl
1936
as Gypsy Queen
Bad Boy
1935
as Deaf Woman
The Last Days of Pompeii
1935
as The Wise Woman (uncredited)
Navy Wife
1935
as Bridge Player
Alice Adams
1935
as Mrs. Dresser (uncredited)
The Farmer Takes a Wife
1935
as Old Townswoman
Stranded
1935
as Old Hag (uncredited)
Public Hero Number 1
1935
as Deaf Woman in Scottsdale Bar (uncredited)
Werewolf of London
1935
as Mrs. Moncaster
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
1935
as The Opium Woman
Women Must Dress
1935
as Peg Martin
The Fuller Gush Man
1934
as Grandma
Ocean Swells
1934
as Auntie
Bachelor Bait
1934
as Miss Turner (uncredited)
Mystery Liner
1934
as Granny Plimpton
Two Alone
1934
as Rogers' Neighbor (uncredited)
Blind Adventure
1933
Made on Broadway
1933
as Aunt Ada
Charlie Chan Carries On
1931
as Mrs. Luce
The Ship from Shanghai
1930
as Lady Daley
The Single Standard
1929
as Mrs. Handley
The Night of Love
1927
as Lady in Waiting
Another Scandal
1924
as Brownie
Camille
1921
as Prudence
Big Game
1921
as Aunt Sarah Winthrop
The Marriage of William Ashe
1921
as Lady Tranmore
Clothes
1920
as Mrs. Cathcart
Mothers of Men
1920
as Mrs. De La Motte
A Society Exile
1919
as Mrs. Stanley Shelby
The Avalanche
1919
as Mrs. Ruyler
Blind Man's Luck
1917
as Mrs. Guerton