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.
Known For
Credits
- 1964 · The Big Parade of Comedy as Actress in 'Hollywood Party' (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1947 · Mourning Becomes Electra as Louisa Ames
- 1947 · The Sea of Grass as Mrs. Ryan - Nurse (uncredited)
- 1946 · Big Town as Miss Lovelace (uncredited)
- 1946 · The Missing Lady as Miss Millie
- 1946 · Two Sisters from Boston as Mrs. Mulberry - Recital Guest (uncredited)
- 1945 · Lady on a Train as
- 1944 · The Thin Man Goes Home as Miss Peavy
- 1944 · Hail the Conquering Hero as Train Ticket Clerk (uncredited)
- 1943 · The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek as Hospital Nurse (uncredited)
- 1943 · The Unknown Guest as Martha Williams
- 1942 · I Married a Witch as Harriet Wooley (uncredited)
- 1942 · Apache Trail as Passenger (uncredited)
- 1942 · The Wife Takes a Flyer as Miss Updike
- 1942 · Obliging Young Lady as Miss Hollyrod - Bird Lover (uncredited)
- 1941 · Three Girls About Town as Casket Customer
- 1941 · A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob as Charwoman
- 1940 · The Bank Dick as Lompoc Ladies Auxiliary (uncredited)
- 1940 · Little Men as Head of Orphanage
- 1940 · Young People as Righteous Old Lady
- 1940 · Lucky Partners as Women's Club President (uncredited)
- 1939 · What a Life as Miss Eggleston
- 1939 · Some Like It Hot as Mrs. Beckett (uncredited)
- 1939 · Union Pacific as Snoring Woman on Train (uncredited)
- 1939 · The Story of Alexander Graham Bell as Miss Jenkins
- 1939 · Stagecoach as Boone's Landlady (uncredited)
- 1939 · The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as Mrs. Shackleford (uncredited)
- 1938 · Mr. Boggs Steps Out as Widow Peddie
- 1938 · International Settlement as English Woman
- 1937 · Borrowing Trouble as Dressmaker
- 1937 · Nothing Sacred as Schoolteacher (uncredited)
- 1937 · Blossoms On Broadway as Leader of Committee (uncredited)
- 1937 · Partners in Crime as Housekeeper
- 1937 · She Asked for It as Elderly lady (uncredited)
- 1937 · Easy Living as Miss Swerf
- 1937 · Night of Mystery as
- 1937 · Three Smart Boys as Miss Witherspoon, Superintendent
- 1937 · Night Must Fall as
- 1937 · Champagne Waltz as Train Passenger
- 1937 · The Mighty Treve as Old Maid at Dog Show
- 1936 · College Holiday as Miss Elkins (uncredited)
- 1936 · Under Your Spell as School Teacher (uncredited)
- 1936 · The Big Broadcast of 1937 as Home Economics Woman
- 1936 · Let's Make a Million as
- 1936 · Fury as Albert's Mother (uncredited)
- 1936 · Little Miss Nobody as Mrs. Robinson
- 1936 · Dancing Pirate as Landlady (uncredited)
- 1936 · Collegiate as Miss Curtiss
- 1936 · Two in the Dark as Mrs. Potter, Landlady
- 1935 · Way Down East as Townswoman at Party
- 1935 · Slightly Static as Beauty Products Announcer (uncredited)
- 1935 · Vagabond Lady as Miss Perkins (uncredited)
- 1935 · Gold Diggers of 1935 as Housekeeper (uncredited)
- 1935 · Car 99 as Granny Adams
- 1935 · Memories and Melodies as Customer (uncredited)
- 1935 · Biography of a Bachelor Girl as Ship's Matron (uncredited)
- 1934 · The Merry Widow as Animal Woman (uncredited)
- 1934 · Opened by Mistake as Head Nurse
- 1934 · The Spectacle Maker as Duchess
- 1934 · Chained as Edith (uncredited)
- 1934 · One-Horse Farmers as Subway Passenger (uncredited)
- 1934 · Bachelor Bait as Mrs. Trutmanner (uncredited)
- 1934 · The Old-Fashioned Way as Mrs. Wendelschaffer
- 1934 · Upperworld as Housekeeper (uncredited)
- 1934 · Laughing Boy as Schoolteacher
- 1934 · You're Telling Me! as Mrs. Price
- 1934 · Mixed Nuts as Mrs. Twitchett
- 1934 · Search for Beauty as Miss Pettigrew
- 1933 · Design for Living as Tom's Secretary (uncredited)
- 1933 · Going Hollywood as Briarcroft's Teacher
- 1933 · Meet the Baron as Professor Winterbottom (uncredited)
- 1933 · Stage Mother as Miss Gilford, Kitty's Music Store Boss
- 1933 · Doctor Bull as Aunt Emily Banning
- 1933 · Hold Your Man as Miss Campbell (uncredited)
- 1933 · Peg o' My Heart as Smythe (maid)
- 1933 · Nature in the Wrong as Muriel's mother
- 1933 · King of the Jungle as Spinster in park (uncredited)
- 1933 · Fast Workers as Tall Window-Shopper (Uncredited)
- 1933 · Wreckety Wrecks as Miss Winterbottom
- 1933 · Asleep in the Feet as Female Police Officer
- 1932 · The Bitter Tea of General Yen as Missionary
- 1932 · Mr. Bride as Mrs. Cecil
- 1932 · Hot Saturday as Gossip on Telephone (Uncredited)
- 1932 · Girl Grief as Miss Tuttle, Principal
- 1932 · Pack Up Your Troubles as Welfare Association Officer (uncredited)
- 1932 · Amateur Daddy as Saleslady
- 1932 · Young Bride as Landlady (uncredited)
- 1931 · Arrowsmith as Nurse (uncredited)
- 1931 · The Ruling Voice as Malcom's Nurse (uncredited)
- 1931 · Street Scene as Alice Simpson - Welfare Worker
- 1931 · Everything’s Rosie as Hotel Proprietress
- 1931 · East Lynne as Charity Bazaar Committee
- 1931 · Millie as Helen and Angie's Landlady (uncredited)
- 1930 · Only Saps Work as Mrs. Partridge
- 1930 · Hell's Angels as Helen's Maid (uncredited)
- 1930 · Little Accident as Dr. Zernecke
- 1930 · The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu as
- 1930 · Seven Days Leave as Amelia Twymley
- 1929 · Footlights and Fools as (uncredited)
- 1929 · Seven Footprints to Satan as Old Witch
- 1928 · The Cavalier as Lucia's Aunt
- 1928 · The Baby Cyclone as Mrs. Crandall
- 1928 · A Trick of Hearts as The Mayor
- 1927 · The Devil Dancer as Julia
- 1927 · Too Many Crooks as (uncredited)
- 1927 · Girls as Matron Helen Hunt
- 1927 · Sensation Seekers as Mrs. Lodge
- 1927 · The Demi-Bride as School Teacher
- 1927 · The Fortune Hunter as Betty Carpenter
- 1927 · The Silent Rider as Mrs. Randall
- 1926 · Midnight Faces as Mrs. Hart
- 1926 · Chip of the Flying U as Dr. Cecil Grantham
- 1925 · His Majesty, Bunker Bean as Countess Casanova
- 1924 · The Deadwood Coach as Matilda Shields - in play
- 1922 · Manslaughter as Lydia's Chaperone (uncredited)
- 1922 · Timothy's Quest as Townswoman
- 1921 · Footfalls as
- 1920 · The Daughter Pays as
- 1920 · Red Foam as
- 1919 · An Amateur Widow as
- 1918 · Love Net as Miss Prudence Tilly
- 1918 · By Hook or Crook as Aunt Marie
- 1918 · American Buds as Emily
- 1918 · Prunella as
- 1917 · The Wild Girl as Undetermined Role (uncredited)
- 1917 · A Royal Romance as Miss McPherson
- 1917 · The Poor Little Rich Girl as One of Gwendolyn's Teachers (uncredited)
- 1917 · Tillie Wakes Up as Gossip in Ice Cream Parlor / Woman Having Picture Taken
- 1916 · The Social Secretary as Spinster (uncredited)
- 1916 · A Model Husband as Mrs Gossip
- 1915 · The Arrival of Perpetua as Abigail Majendrie