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.

Cast

Night of Mystery

Big Town

(Miss Lovelace (uncredited))

His Majesty, Bunker Bean

(Countess Casanova)

Seven Footprints to Satan

(Old Witch)

The Deadwood Coach

(Matilda Shields - in play)

The Wild Girl

(Undetermined Role (uncredited))

The Thin Man Goes Home

(Miss Peavy)

The Silent Rider

(Mrs. Randall)

The Demi-Bride

(School Teacher)

Three Smart Boys

(Miss Witherspoon, Superintendent)

A Royal Romance

(Miss McPherson)

Manslaughter

(Lydia's Chaperone (uncredited))

Night Must Fall

Under Your Spell

(School Teacher (uncredited))

Nature in the Wrong

(Muriel's mother)

A Trick of Hearts

(The Mayor)

The Devil Dancer

(Julia)

Arrowsmith

(Nurse (uncredited))

Mixed Nuts

(Mrs. Twitchett)

Lady on a Train

Seven Days Leave

(Amelia Twymley)

Laughing Boy

(Schoolteacher)

Footfalls

Mr. Boggs Steps Out

(Widow Peddie)

College Holiday

(Miss Elkins (uncredited))

Girl Grief

(Miss Tuttle, Principal)

Little Miss Nobody

(Mrs. Robinson)

Car 99

(Granny Adams)

Partners in Crime

(Housekeeper)

Search for Beauty

(Miss Pettigrew)

The Unknown Guest

(Martha Williams)

Asleep in the Feet

(Female Police Officer)

American Buds

(Emily)

She Asked for It

(Elderly lady (uncredited))

The Daughter Pays

What a Life

(Miss Eggleston)

The Poor Little Rich Girl

(One of Gwendolyn's Teachers (uncredited))

Peg o' My Heart

(Smythe (maid))

Chip of the Flying U

(Dr. Cecil Grantham)

Sensation Seekers

(Mrs. Lodge)

One-Horse Farmers

(Subway Passenger (uncredited))

Opened by Mistake

(Head Nurse)

Easy Living

(Miss Swerf)

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

(Hospital Nurse (uncredited))

Hot Saturday

(Gossip on Telephone (Uncredited))

Slightly Static

(Beauty Products Announcer (uncredited))

Going Hollywood

(Briarcroft's Teacher)

East Lynne

(Charity Bazaar Committee)

Way Down East

(Townswoman at Party)

The Bank Dick

(Lompoc Ladies Auxiliary (uncredited))

Stage Mother

(Miss Gilford, Kitty's Music Store Boss)

Only Saps Work

(Mrs. Partridge (uncredited))

Everything’s Rosie

(Hotel Proprietress)

King of the Jungle

(Spinster in park (uncredited))

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

(Mrs. Shackleford (uncredited))

Stagecoach

(Boone's Landlady (uncredited))

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell

(Miss Jenkins)

Union Pacific

(Snoring Woman on Train (uncredited))

The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu

Fury

(Albert's Mother (uncredited))

International Settlement

(English Woman)

Fast Workers

(Tall Window-Shopper (Uncredited))

Some Like It Hot

(Mrs. Beckett (uncredited))

Design for Living

(Tom's Secretary (uncredited))

Mourning Becomes Electra

(Louisa Ames)

Amateur Daddy

(Saleslady)

The Fortune Hunter

(Betty Carpenter)

The Sea of Grass

(Mrs. Ryan - Nurse (uncredited))

The Social Secretary

(Spinster (uncredited))

Tillie Wakes Up

(Gossip in Ice Cream Parlor / Woman Having Picture Taken)

Timothy's Quest

(Townswoman)

Two in the Dark

(Mrs. Potter, Landlady (uncredited))

Wreckety Wrecks

(Miss Winterbottom)

A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob

(Charwoman)

Lucky Partners

(Women's Club President (uncredited))

Little Men

(Head of Orphanage)

Young People

(Righteous Old Lady)

Champagne Waltz

(Train Passenger)

Nothing Sacred

(Schoolteacher (uncredited))

Meet the Baron

(Professor Winterbottom (uncredited))

The Big Broadcast of 1937

(Home Economics Woman)

The Merry Widow

(Animal Woman (uncredited))

The Old-Fashioned Way

(Mrs. Wendelschaffer)

Doctor Bull

(Aunt Emily Banning)

I Married a Witch

(Harriet Wooley (uncredited))

Mr. Bride

(Mrs. Cecil)

Three Girls About Town

(Casket Customer)

Apache Trail

(Passenger (uncredited))

Footlights and Fools

((uncredited))

The Wife Takes a Flyer

(Miss Updike)

The Ruling Voice

(Malcom's Nurse (uncredited))

Biography of a Bachelor Girl

(Ship's Matron (uncredited))

Upperworld

(Housekeeper (uncredited))

A Model Husband

(Mrs Gossip)

Little Accident

(Dr. Zernecke)

Obliging Young Lady

(Miss Hollyrod - Bird Lover (uncredited))

Hell's Angels

(Helen's Maid (uncredited))

Memories and Melodies

(Customer (uncredited))

Gold Diggers of 1935

(Housekeeper (uncredited))

Young Bride

(Landlady (uncredited))

Street Scene

(Alice Simpson - Welfare Worker)

Pack Up Your Troubles

(Welfare Association Officer (uncredited))

Girls

(Matron Helen Hunt)

Chained

(Edith (uncredited))

Borrowing Trouble

(Dressmaker)

You're Telling Me!

(Mrs. Price)

The Baby Cyclone

(Mrs. Crandall)

The Spectacle Maker

(Duchess)

The Mighty Treve

(Old Maid at Dog Show)

The Cavalier

(Lucia's Aunt)

Prunella

The Big Parade of Comedy

(Actress in 'Hollywood Party' (archive footage) (uncredited))

Midnight Faces

(Mrs. Hart)

Bachelor Bait

(Mrs. Trutmanner (uncredited))

Millie

(Helen and Angie's Landlady (uncredited))

Blossoms On Broadway

(Leader of Committee (uncredited))

Two Sisters from Boston

(Mrs. Mulberry - Recital Guest (uncredited))

Dancing Pirate

(Landlady (uncredited))

The Missing Lady

(Miss Millie)

Let's Make a Million

Too Many Crooks

((uncredited))

Collegiate

(Miss Curtiss)

Love Net

(Miss Prudence Tilly)

By Hook or Crook

(Aunt Marie)

Vagabond Lady

(Miss Perkins (uncredited))

The Bitter Tea of General Yen

(Missionary)

The Arrival of Perpetua

(Abigail Majendrie)

Red Foam

An Amateur Widow

Hail the Conquering Hero

(Train Ticket Clerk (uncredited))

Hold Your Man

(Miss Campbell (uncredited))