Nora Cecil
Born
September 24, 1878
Died
May 1, 1951 (72 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
London, England, UK
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.
The Big Parade of Comedy
Actress in 'Hollywood Party' (archive footage) (uncredited)
1964
Mourning Becomes Electra
Louisa Ames
1947
The Sea of Grass
Mrs. Ryan - Nurse (uncredited)
1947
Big Town
Miss Lovelace (uncredited)
1946
The Missing Lady
Miss Millie
1946
Two Sisters from Boston
Mrs. Mulberry - Recital Guest (uncredited)
1946
Lady on a Train
1945
The Thin Man Goes Home
Miss Peavy
1944
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
Hospital Nurse (uncredited)
1944
Hail the Conquering Hero
Train Ticket Clerk (uncredited)
1944
The Unknown Guest
Martha Williams
1943
I Married a Witch
Harriet Wooley (uncredited)
1942
Apache Trail
Passenger (uncredited)
1942
The Wife Takes a Flyer
Miss Updike
1942
Obliging Young Lady
Miss Hollyrod - Bird Lover (uncredited)
1942
Three Girls About Town
Casket Customer
1941
A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob
Charwoman
1941
The Bank Dick
Lompoc Ladies Auxiliary (uncredited)
1940
Little Men
Head of Orphanage
1940
Young People
Righteous Old Lady
1940
Lucky Partners
Women's Club President (uncredited)
1940
Those Were the Days!
Mrs. Moffett
1940
What a Life
Miss Eggleston
1939
Some Like It Hot
Mrs. Beckett (uncredited)
1939
Union Pacific
Snoring Woman on Train (uncredited)
1939
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
Miss Jenkins
1939
Stagecoach
Boone's Landlady (uncredited)
1939
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mrs. Shackleford (uncredited)
1939
Mr. Boggs Steps Out
Widow Peddie
1938
International Settlement
English Woman
1938
Borrowing Trouble
Dressmaker
1937
Nothing Sacred
Schoolteacher (uncredited)
1937
Blossoms On Broadway
Leader of Committee (uncredited)
1937
Partners in Crime
Housekeeper
1937
She Asked for It
Elderly lady (uncredited)
1937
Easy Living
Miss Swerf
1937
Night of Mystery
1937
Three Smart Boys
Miss Witherspoon, Superintendent
1937
Night Must Fall
1937
Champagne Waltz
Train Passenger
1937
The Mighty Treve
Old Maid at Dog Show
1937
College Holiday
Miss Elkins (uncredited)
1936
Laughing at Trouble
Mrs. Wigby - Townswoman
1936
Under Your Spell
School Teacher (uncredited)
1936
The Big Broadcast of 1937
Home Economics Woman
1936
Let's Make a Million
1936
Girl of the Ozarks
Miss Trent
1936
Little Miss Nobody
Mrs. Robinson
1936
Fury
Albert's Mother (uncredited)
1936
Dancing Pirate
Landlady (uncredited)
1936
Collegiate
Miss Curtiss
1936
Two in the Dark
Mrs. Potter, Landlady (uncredited)
1936
Way Down East
Townswoman at Party
1935
Slightly Static
Beauty Products Announcer (uncredited)
1935
Vagabond Lady
Miss Perkins (uncredited)
1935
Gold Diggers of 1935
Housekeeper (uncredited)
1935
Car 99
Granny Adams
1935
Memories and Melodies
Customer (uncredited)
1935
Biography of a Bachelor Girl
Ship's Matron (uncredited)
1935
The Merry Widow
Animal Woman (uncredited)
1934
Opened by Mistake
Head Nurse
1934
The Spectacle Maker
Duchess
1934
Chained
Edith (uncredited)
1934
One-Horse Farmers
Subway Passenger (uncredited)
1934
Bachelor Bait
Mrs. Trutmanner (uncredited)
1934
The Old-Fashioned Way
Mrs. Wendelschaffer
1934
Upperworld
Housekeeper (uncredited)
1934
Laughing Boy
Schoolteacher
1934
You're Telling Me!
Mrs. Price
1934
Once to Every Woman
Miss Baxter’s Sister (uncredited)
1934
Mixed Nuts
Mrs. Twitchett
1934
Search for Beauty
Miss Pettigrew
1934
Design for Living
Tom's Secretary (uncredited)
1933
Going Hollywood
Briarcroft's Teacher
1933
Meet the Baron
Professor Winterbottom (uncredited)
1933
Stage Mother
Miss Gilford, Kitty's Music Store Boss (uncredited)
1933
Doctor Bull
Aunt Emily Banning
1933
Hold Your Man
Miss Campbell (uncredited)
1933
Peg o' My Heart
Smythe (maid)
1933
Nature in the Wrong
Muriel's mother
1933
King of the Jungle
Spinster in park (uncredited)
1933
Fast Workers
Tall Window-Shopper (Uncredited)
1933
Wreckety Wrecks
Miss Winterbottom
1933
Asleep in the Feet
Female Police Officer
1933
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
Missionary
1932
Mr. Bride
Mrs. Cecil
1932
Hot Saturday
Gossip on Telephone (Uncredited)
1932
The Millionaire Cat
Aunt Mathilda
1932
Girl Grief
Miss Tuttle, Principal
1932
Pack Up Your Troubles
Welfare Association Officer (uncredited)
1932
Amateur Daddy
Saleslady
1932
Young Bride
Landlady (uncredited)
1932
Arrowsmith
Nurse (uncredited)
1931
The Ruling Voice
Malcom's Nurse (uncredited)
1931
Street Scene
Alice Simpson - Welfare Worker
1931
Everything’s Rosie
Hotel Proprietress
1931
East Lynne
Charity Bazaar Committee
1931
Millie
Helen and Angie's Landlady (uncredited)
1931
Only Saps Work
Mrs. Partridge (uncredited)
1930
Hell's Angels
Helen's Maid (uncredited)
1930
Little Accident
Dr. Zernecke
1930
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
1930
Seven Days Leave
Amelia Twymley
1930
Footlights and Fools
(uncredited)
1929
Seven Footprints to Satan
Old Witch
1929
The Cavalier
Lucia's Aunt
1928
Driftwood
Mrs. Prouty
1928
The Baby Cyclone
Mrs. Crandall
1928
A Trick of Hearts
The Mayor
1928
The Devil Dancer
Julia
1927
Born to Battle
Ma Cowan
1927
Too Many Crooks
(uncredited)
1927
Girls
Matron Helen Hunt
1927
Sensation Seekers
Mrs. Lodge
1927
The Demi-Bride
School Teacher
1927
The Fortune Hunter
Betty Carpenter
1927
The Silent Rider
Mrs. Randall
1927
Midnight Faces
Mrs. Hart
1926
Chip of the Flying U
Dr. Cecil Grantham
1926
His Majesty, Bunker Bean
Countess Casanova
1925
The Deadwood Coach
Matilda Shields - in play
1924
Manslaughter
Lydia's Chaperone (uncredited)
1922
Timothy's Quest
Townswoman
1922
Footfalls
1921
The Daughter Pays
1920
Red Foam
1920
Woman, Woman!
Mrs. Lindsay
1919
An Amateur Widow
1919
Love Net
Miss Prudence Tilly
1918
By Hook or Crook
Aunt Marie
1918
American Buds
Emily
1918
Prunella
1918
The Wild Girl
Undetermined Role (uncredited)
1917
A Royal Romance
Miss McPherson
1917
The Poor Little Rich Girl
One of Gwendolyn's Teachers (uncredited)
1917
Tillie Wakes Up
Gossip in Ice Cream Parlor / Woman Having Picture Taken
1917
The Social Secretary
Spinster (uncredited)
1916
A Model Husband
Mrs Gossip
1916
The Arrival of Perpetua
Abigail Majendrie
1915