Jessie Ralph
Born
November 4, 1864
Died
May 30, 1944 (79 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jessie Ralph (born Jessie Ralph Chambers, November 5, 1864 – May 30, 1944) was an American stage and screen actress, best known for her matronly roles in many classic motion pictures.
She was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1864. She made her acting debut in 1880, at the age of sixteen. She made it to Broadway, where George M. Cohan cast her in many of his musicals, but she also excelled at dramatic roles. Although she made her Hollywood debut in 1916, in a motion picture career that would eventually span 25 years, she only became a permanent Hollywood actress in 1933. She was nearly 70 at this time, so her roles were limited to matronly roles, but her expertise at stealing scenes captured the imagination of cinema-goers of the time. Her best-known roles are as Greta Garbo's maid in Camille, as W.C. Fields' battle-axe of a mother-in-law in The Bank Dick, as Myrna Loy's supercilious aunt Katherine in After the Thin Man, and as Nurse Peggotty in David Copperfield. She starred in 55 movies altogether, 52 between 1933 and 1941.
Jessie Ralph retired from Hollywood in 1941, after her leg was amputated. She died four years later in her home town of Gloucester at the age of 79. She was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
They Met in Bombay
Duchess of Beltravers
1941
The Lady from Cheyenne
Mrs. McGuinness
1941
The Bank Dick
Mrs. Hermisillo Brunch
1940
I Want a Divorce
Grandma Brokaw
1940
The Girl from Avenue A
Mrs. Van Dyne
1940
I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
Mama McGann
1940
Star Dust
Aunt Martha Parker
1940
The Blue Bird
Fairy Berylune
1940
Drums Along the Mohawk
Mrs. Weaver
1939
Mickey the Kid
Veronica Hudson
1939
The Kid From Texas
Aunt Minetta
1939
Cafe Society
Mrs. De Witt
1939
St. Louis Blues
Aunt Tibbie
1939
Four Girls in White
Miss Tobias
1939
Port of Seven Seas
Honorine
1938
Hold That Kiss
Aunt Lucy
1938
Love Is a Headache
Sheriff Janet Winfield
1938
Double Wedding
Mrs. Kensington-Bly
1937
The Romance of Celluloid
Self
1937
The Good Earth
Cuckoo
1937
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
The Duchess of Ebley
1937
Camille
Nanine
1936
After the Thin Man
Aunt Katherine Forrest
1936
Walking on Air
Evelyn Bennett
1936
Bunker Bean
Grandmother
1936
San Francisco
Mrs. Maisie Burley
1936
The Unguarded Hour
Lady Agatha Hathaway
1936
Yellow Dust
Mrs. Brian
1936
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Applewoman
1936
The Garden Murder Case
Mrs. Hammle
1936
Captain Blood
Mrs. Barlow
1935
I Found Stella Parish
Nana
1935
Metropolitan
Charwoman
1935
I Live My Life
Mrs. O.H.B. Gage, Kay's Grandmother
1935
Jalna
Gran Whiteoaks
1935
Paris in Spring
Countess de Charelle
1935
Mark of the Vampire
Midwife
1935
Les Misérables
Madame Magloire
1935
Vanessa: Her Love Story
Lady Mullion
1935
Enchanted April
Mrs. Phoebe Fisher
1935
David Copperfield
Clara Peggotty
1935
Evelyn Prentice
Mrs. Blake
1934
We Live Again
Matrona Pavlovna
1934
The Affairs of Cellini
Beatrice
1934
One Night of Love
Angelina
1934
Murder at the Vanities
Mrs. Helene Smith
1934
Coming Out Party
Nora
1934
Nana
Zoe
1934
Ann Carver's Profession
Terry
1933
Cocktail Hour
Princess
1933
Elmer, the Great
Sarah Crosby (uncredited)
1933
Child of Manhattan
Aunt Minnie
1933
Such a Little Queen
Mary
1921
The Madonna of the Slums
1919