Biography
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 137
1960s
- 1964
The Big Parade of Comedy
Actress in 'Hollywood Party' (archive footage) (uncredited)
1940s
- 1947
Mourning Becomes Electra
Louisa Ames
- 1946
Big Town
Miss Lovelace (uncredited)
The Missing Lady
Miss Millie
Two Sisters from Boston
Mrs. Mulberry - Recital Guest (uncredited)
- 1945
Lady on a Train
Movie
- 1944
Hail the Conquering Hero
Train Ticket Clerk (uncredited)
- 1943
The Unknown Guest
Martha Williams
- 1942
Apache Trail
Passenger (uncredited)
The Wife Takes a Flyer
Miss Updike
Obliging Young Lady
Miss Hollyrod - Bird Lover (uncredited)
- 1941
Three Girls About Town
Casket Customer
A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob
Charwoman
- 1940
The Bank Dick
Lompoc Ladies Auxiliary (uncredited)
Little Men
Head of Orphanage
Young People
Righteous Old Lady (uncredited)
Lucky Partners
Women's Club President (uncredited)
Those Were the Days!
Mrs. Moffett
1930s
- 1939
What a Life
Miss Eggleston
Some Like It Hot
Mrs. Beckett (uncredited)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mrs. Shackleford (uncredited)
- 1938
Mr. Boggs Steps Out
Widow Peddie
International Settlement
English Woman
- 1937
Borrowing Trouble
Dressmaker
Blossoms On Broadway
Leader of Committee (uncredited)
Partners in Crime
Housekeeper
She Asked for It
Elderly lady (uncredited)
Night of Mystery
Movie
Three Smart Boys
Miss Witherspoon, Superintendent
Night Must Fall
Movie
Champagne Waltz
Train Passenger
The Mighty Treve
Old Maid at Dog Show
- 1936
College Holiday
Miss Elkins (uncredited)
Laughing at Trouble
Mrs. Wigby - Townswoman
Under Your Spell
School Teacher (uncredited)
The Big Broadcast of 1937
Home Economics Woman
Let's Make a Million
Movie
Girl of the Ozarks
Miss Trent
Little Miss Nobody
Mrs. Robinson
Fury
Albert's Mother (uncredited)
Dancing Pirate
Landlady (uncredited)
Two in the Dark
Mrs. Potter, Landlady (uncredited)
- 1935
Collegiate
Miss Curtiss
Way Down East
Townswoman at Party
Slightly Static
Beauty Products Announcer (uncredited)
Vagabond Lady
Miss Perkins (uncredited)
Gold Diggers of 1935
Housekeeper (uncredited)
Car 99
Granny Adams
Memories and Melodies
Customer (uncredited)
Biography of a Bachelor Girl
Ship's Matron (uncredited)
- 1934
The Merry Widow
Animal Woman (uncredited)
The Spectacle Maker
Duchess
Chained
Edith (uncredited)
Bachelor Bait
Mrs. Trutmanner (uncredited)
The Old-Fashioned Way
Mrs. Wendelschaffer
Upperworld
Stream's Housekeeper (uncredited)
Laughing Boy
Schoolteacher
You're Telling Me!
Mrs. Price
Once to Every Woman
Miss Baxter’s Sister (uncredited)
Mixed Nuts
Mrs. Twitchett
Search for Beauty
Miss Pettigrew
- 1933
Design for Living
Tom's Secretary (uncredited)
Going Hollywood
Briarcroft's Teacher
Meet the Baron
Professor Winterbottom (uncredited)
Stage Mother
Miss Gilford, Kitty's Music Store Boss (uncredited)
Doctor Bull
Aunt Emily Banning
Hold Your Man
Miss Campbell (uncredited)
Peg o' My Heart
Smythe (maid)
Nature in the Wrong
Muriel's mother
King of the Jungle
Spinster in park (uncredited)
Fast Workers
Tall Window-Shopper (Uncredited)
Asleep in the Feet
Female Police Officer
- 1932
Mr. Bride
Mrs. Cecil
Hot Saturday
Gossip on Telephone (Uncredited)
Girl Grief
Miss Tuttle, Principal
Amateur Daddy
Saleslady
Young Bride
Landlady (uncredited)
- 1931
Arrowsmith
Nurse (uncredited)
The Ruling Voice
Malcom's Nurse (uncredited)
Everything’s Rosie
Hotel Proprietress
East Lynne
Charity Bazaar Committee
Millie
Helen and Angie's Landlady (uncredited)
- 1930
Only Saps Work
Mrs. Partridge (uncredited)
Little Accident
Dr. Zernecke
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
Movie
1920s
- 1929
Footlights and Fools
(uncredited)
Seven Footprints to Satan
Old Witch
- 1928
The Cavalier
Lucia's Aunt
Driftwood
Mrs. Prouty
The Baby Cyclone
Mrs. Crandall
A Trick of Hearts
The Mayor
- 1927
The Devil Dancer
Julia
Born to Battle
Ma Cowan
Too Many Crooks
(uncredited)
Girls
Matron Helen Hunt
Sensation Seekers
Mrs. Lodge
The Demi-Bride
School Teacher
The Fortune Hunter
Betty Carpenter
The Silent Rider
Mrs. Randall
- 1926
Midnight Faces
Mrs. Hart
Chip of the Flying U
Dr. Cecil Grantham
- 1925
Three Weeks in Paris
Movie
His Majesty, Bunker Bean
Countess Casanova
- 1924
The Deadwood Coach
Matilda Shields - in play
Darwin Was Right
Aunt Priscilla
- 1922
The Town That Forgot God
(uncredited)
Manslaughter
Lydia's Chaperone (uncredited)
Timothy's Quest
Townswoman
- 1921
Footfalls
Movie
- 1920
The Daughter Pays
Movie
Red Foam
Movie
1910s
- 1919
Miss Crusoe
Miss Meeker (uncredited)
- 1918
Love Net
Miss Prudence Tilly
The Zero Hour
Mrs. Winslow (uncredited)
Appearance of Evil
Miss Spurgeon
By Hook or Crook
Aunt Marie
American Buds
Emily
Prunella
Movie
- 1917
The Wild Girl
Undetermined Role (uncredited)
A Royal Romance
Miss McPherson
The Poor Little Rich Girl
One of Gwendolyn's Teachers (uncredited)
Tillie Wakes Up
Gossip in Ice Cream Parlor / Woman Having Picture Taken
- 1916
The Social Secretary
Spinster (uncredited)
