Skip to content
balasaur
Jessie Ralph

Jessie Ralph

Actor · 1864–1944 · Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA

IMDb

Biography

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.

Acted in 53

1940s

  1. 1941

    They Met in Bombay

    Duchess of Beltravers

  2. The Lady from Cheyenne

    Mrs. McGuinness

  3. 1940

    The Bank Dick

    Mrs. Hermisillo Brunch

  4. I Want a Divorce

    Grandma Brokaw

  5. The Girl from Avenue A

    Mrs. Van Dyne

  6. I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby

    Mama McGann

  7. Star Dust

    Aunt Martha Parker

  8. The Blue Bird

    Fairy Berylune

    61

1930s

  1. 1939

    Drums Along the Mohawk

    Mrs. Weaver

  2. Mickey the Kid

    Veronica Hudson

  3. The Kid From Texas

    Aunt Minetta

  4. Cafe Society

    Mrs. De Witt

  5. St. Louis Blues

    Aunt Tibbie

  6. Four Girls in White

    Miss Tobias

  7. 1938

    Port of Seven Seas

    Honorine

  8. Hold That Kiss

    Aunt Lucy

  9. Love Is a Headache

    Sheriff Janet Winfield

  10. 1937

    Double Wedding

    Mrs. Kensington-Bly

    68

  11. The Good Earth

    Cuckoo

    78

  12. The Last of Mrs. Cheyney

    The Duchess of Ebley

  13. 1936

    Camille

    Nanine

    78

  14. After the Thin Man

    Katherine Forrest

  15. Walking on Air

    Evelyn Bennett

  16. Bunker Bean

    Grandmother

  17. San Francisco

    Mrs. Maisie Burley

    75

  18. The Unguarded Hour

    Lady Agatha Hathaway

  19. Yellow Dust

    Mrs. Brian

  20. Little Lord Fauntleroy

    Applewoman

    75

  21. The Garden Murder Case

    Mrs. Hammle

  22. 1935

    Captain Blood

    Mrs. Barlow

  23. I Found Stella Parish

    Nana

  24. Metropolitan

    Charwoman

  25. I Live My Life

    Mrs. O.H.B. Gage, Kay's Grandmother

  26. Jalna

    Gran Whiteoaks

  27. Paris in Spring

    Countess de Charelle

  28. Mark of the Vampire

    Midwife

    69

  29. Les Misérables

    Madame Magloire

  30. Vanessa: Her Love Story

    Lady Mullion

  31. Enchanted April

    Mrs. Phoebe Fisher

  32. David Copperfield

    Clara Peggotty

  33. 1934

    Evelyn Prentice

    Mrs. Blake

  34. We Live Again

    Matrona Pavlovna

  35. The Affairs of Cellini

    Beatrice

  36. One Night of Love

    Angelina

  37. Murder at the Vanities

    Mrs. Helene Smith

  38. Coming Out Party

    Nora

  39. Nana

    Zoe

  40. 1933

    Cocktail Hour

    Princess

  41. Ann Carver's Profession

    Terry

  42. Elmer, the Great

    Sarah Crosby (uncredited)

  43. Child of Manhattan

    Aunt Minnie

1920s

  1. 1921

    Such a Little Queen

    Mary

1910s

  1. 1919

    The Madonna of the Slums

    Movie

Appearances2

1930s

  1. 1937

    The Romance of Celluloid

    Self