Nora Cecil
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nora Cecil (September 20, 1878 – May 1, 1951) was a British-American character actress whose 30-year career spanned both the silent and sound film eras. Cecil's career began on the stage, where she appeared in a single Broadway production, The Sleeping Beauty and the Beast, which ran for more than 240 performances at the Broadway Theatre in 1901-02. (A 1930 newspaper article says that Cecil "made her debut, three decades ago, on the London stage.")
Cecil appeared in well over 100 feature films and film shorts.
In 1915, she moved from the stage into films, her first appearance being in a starring role in The Arrival of Perpetua, directed by Émile Chautard. She often played "thin-lipped, stern-visaged dowagers and forbidding mothers-in-law" and "welfare workers, landladies, schoolmistresses and maiden aunts".
One of the most significant roles was in the W.C. Fields vehicle, The Old Fashioned Way in 1934. Some of the other notable films in which Cecil appeared include: Ernst Lubitsch's historical romance, The Merry Widow, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald; the 1939 version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, starring Mickey Rooney; the John Ford classic, Stagecoach, with John Wayne.
Her final acting performance was in a featured role in Mourning Becomes Electra in 1947, starring Rosalind Russell.
Acted in
The Big Parade of Comedy
1964
as Actress in 'Hollywood Party' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Mourning Becomes Electra
1947
as Louisa Ames
The Sea of Grass
1947
as Mrs. Ryan - Nurse (uncredited)
Big Town
1946
as Miss Lovelace (uncredited)
The Missing Lady
1946
as Miss Millie
Two Sisters from Boston
1946
as Mrs. Mulberry - Recital Guest (uncredited)
Lady on a Train
1945
The Thin Man Goes Home
1944
as Miss Peavy
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
1944
as Hospital Nurse (uncredited)
Hail the Conquering Hero
1944
as Train Ticket Clerk (uncredited)
The Unknown Guest
1943
as Martha Williams
I Married a Witch
1942
as Harriet Wooley (uncredited)
Apache Trail
1942
as Passenger (uncredited)
The Wife Takes a Flyer
1942
as Miss Updike
Obliging Young Lady
1942
as Miss Hollyrod - Bird Lover (uncredited)
Three Girls About Town
1941
as Casket Customer
A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob
1941
as Charwoman
The Bank Dick
1940
as Lompoc Ladies Auxiliary (uncredited)
Little Men
1940
as Head of Orphanage
Young People
1940
as Righteous Old Lady
Lucky Partners
1940
as Women's Club President (uncredited)
What a Life
1939
as Miss Eggleston
Some Like It Hot
1939
as Mrs. Beckett (uncredited)
Union Pacific
1939
as Snoring Woman on Train (uncredited)
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
1939
as Miss Jenkins
Stagecoach
1939
as Boone's Landlady (uncredited)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1939
as Mrs. Shackleford (uncredited)
Mr. Boggs Steps Out
1938
as Widow Peddie
International Settlement
1938
as English Woman
Borrowing Trouble
1937
as Dressmaker
Nothing Sacred
1937
as Schoolteacher (uncredited)
Blossoms On Broadway
1937
as Leader of Committee (uncredited)
Partners in Crime
1937
as Housekeeper
She Asked for It
1937
as Elderly lady (uncredited)
Easy Living
1937
as Miss Swerf
Night of Mystery
1937
Three Smart Boys
1937
as Miss Witherspoon, Superintendent
Night Must Fall
1937
Champagne Waltz
1937
as Train Passenger
The Mighty Treve
1937
as Old Maid at Dog Show
College Holiday
1936
as Miss Elkins (uncredited)
Laughing at Trouble
1936
as Mrs. Wigby - Townswoman
Under Your Spell
1936
as School Teacher (uncredited)
The Big Broadcast of 1937
1936
as Home Economics Woman
Let's Make a Million
1936
Little Miss Nobody
1936
as Mrs. Robinson
Fury
1936
as Albert's Mother (uncredited)
Dancing Pirate
1936
as Landlady (uncredited)
Collegiate
1936
as Miss Curtiss
Two in the Dark
1936
as Mrs. Potter, Landlady (uncredited)
Way Down East
1935
as Townswoman at Party
Slightly Static
1935
as Beauty Products Announcer (uncredited)
Vagabond Lady
1935
as Miss Perkins (uncredited)
Gold Diggers of 1935
1935
as Housekeeper (uncredited)
Car 99
1935
as Granny Adams
Memories and Melodies
1935
as Customer (uncredited)
Biography of a Bachelor Girl
1935
as Ship's Matron (uncredited)
The Merry Widow
1934
as Animal Woman (uncredited)
Opened by Mistake
1934
as Head Nurse
The Spectacle Maker
1934
as Duchess
Chained
1934
as Edith (uncredited)
One-Horse Farmers
1934
as Subway Passenger (uncredited)
Bachelor Bait
1934
as Mrs. Trutmanner (uncredited)
The Old-Fashioned Way
1934
as Mrs. Wendelschaffer
Upperworld
1934
as Housekeeper (uncredited)
Laughing Boy
1934
as Schoolteacher
You're Telling Me!
1934
as Mrs. Price
Mixed Nuts
1934
as Mrs. Twitchett
Search for Beauty
1934
as Miss Pettigrew
Design for Living
1933
as Tom's Secretary (uncredited)
Going Hollywood
1933
as Briarcroft's Teacher
Meet the Baron
1933
as Professor Winterbottom (uncredited)
Stage Mother
1933
as Miss Gilford, Kitty's Music Store Boss
Doctor Bull
1933
as Aunt Emily Banning
Hold Your Man
1933
as Miss Campbell (uncredited)
Peg o' My Heart
1933
as Smythe (maid)
Nature in the Wrong
1933
as Muriel's mother
King of the Jungle
1933
as Spinster in park (uncredited)
Fast Workers
1933
as Tall Window-Shopper (Uncredited)
Wreckety Wrecks
1933
as Miss Winterbottom
Asleep in the Feet
1933
as Female Police Officer
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
1932
as Missionary
Mr. Bride
1932
as Mrs. Cecil
Hot Saturday
1932
as Gossip on Telephone (Uncredited)
Girl Grief
1932
as Miss Tuttle, Principal
Pack Up Your Troubles
1932
as Welfare Association Officer (uncredited)
Amateur Daddy
1932
as Saleslady
Young Bride
1932
as Landlady (uncredited)
Arrowsmith
1931
as Nurse (uncredited)
The Ruling Voice
1931
as Malcom's Nurse (uncredited)
Street Scene
1931
as Alice Simpson - Welfare Worker
Everything’s Rosie
1931
as Hotel Proprietress
East Lynne
1931
as Charity Bazaar Committee
Millie
1931
as Helen and Angie's Landlady (uncredited)
Only Saps Work
1930
as Mrs. Partridge (uncredited)
Hell's Angels
1930
as Helen's Maid (uncredited)
Little Accident
1930
as Dr. Zernecke
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
1930
Seven Days Leave
1930
as Amelia Twymley
Footlights and Fools
1929
as (uncredited)
Seven Footprints to Satan
1929
as Old Witch
The Cavalier
1928
as Lucia's Aunt
Driftwood
1928
as Mrs. Prouty
The Baby Cyclone
1928
as Mrs. Crandall
A Trick of Hearts
1928
as The Mayor
The Devil Dancer
1927
as Julia
Too Many Crooks
1927
as (uncredited)
Girls
1927
as Matron Helen Hunt
Sensation Seekers
1927
as Mrs. Lodge
The Demi-Bride
1927
as School Teacher
The Fortune Hunter
1927
as Betty Carpenter
The Silent Rider
1927
as Mrs. Randall
Midnight Faces
1926
as Mrs. Hart
Chip of the Flying U
1926
as Dr. Cecil Grantham
His Majesty, Bunker Bean
1925
as Countess Casanova
The Deadwood Coach
1924
as Matilda Shields - in play
Manslaughter
1922
as Lydia's Chaperone (uncredited)
Timothy's Quest
1922
as Townswoman
Footfalls
1921
The Daughter Pays
1920
Red Foam
1920
An Amateur Widow
1919
Love Net
1918
as Miss Prudence Tilly
By Hook or Crook
1918
as Aunt Marie
American Buds
1918
as Emily
Prunella
1918
The Wild Girl
1917
as Undetermined Role (uncredited)
A Royal Romance
1917
as Miss McPherson
The Poor Little Rich Girl
1917
as One of Gwendolyn's Teachers (uncredited)
Tillie Wakes Up
1917
as Gossip in Ice Cream Parlor / Woman Having Picture Taken
The Social Secretary
1916
as Spinster (uncredited)
A Model Husband
1916
as Mrs Gossip
The Arrival of Perpetua
1915
as Abigail Majendrie