
Jessie Ralph
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1864-11-04
Day of Death
1944-05-30 (79 years old)
Place of Birth
Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA
Jessie Ralph
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.
Known For
Acting
(1941)
They Met in Bombay
as Duchess of Beltravers
(1941)
The Lady from Cheyenne
as Mrs. McGuinness
(1940)
The Blue Bird
as Fairy Berylune
(1940)
I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
as Mama McGann
(1940)
The Bank Dick
as Mrs. Hermisillo Brunch
(1940)
I Want a Divorce
as Grandma Brokaw
(1940)
Star Dust
as Aunt Martha Parker
(1940)
The Girl from Avenue A
as Mrs. Van Dyne
(1939)
Drums Along the Mohawk
as Mrs. Weaver
(1939)
The Kid From Texas
as Aunt Minetta
(1939)
St. Louis Blues
as Aunt Tibbie
(1939)
Cafe Society
as Mrs. De Witt
(1939)
Four Girls in White
as Miss Tobias
(1939)
Mickey the Kid
as Veronica Hudson
(1938)
Hold That Kiss
as Aunt Lucy
(1938)
Port of Seven Seas
as Honorine
(1938)
Love Is a Headache
as Sheriff Janet Winfield
(1937)
The Good Earth
as Cuckoo
(1937)
Double Wedding
as Mrs. Kensington-Bly
(1937)
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
as The Duchess of Ebley
(1937)
The Romance of Celluloid
as Self
(1936)
Camille
as Nanine
(1936)
Little Lord Fauntleroy
as Applewoman
(1936)
After the Thin Man
as Aunt Katherine Forrest
(1936)
San Francisco
as Mrs. Maisie Burley
(1936)
The Unguarded Hour
as Lady Agatha Hathaway
(1936)
Bunker Bean
as Grandmother
(1936)
Yellow Dust
as Mrs. Brian
(1936)
Walking on Air
as Evelyn Bennett
(1936)
The Garden Murder Case
as Mrs. Hammle
(1935)
Paris in Spring
as Countess de Charelle
(1935)
David Copperfield
as Clara Peggotty
(1935)
Mark of the Vampire
as Midwife
(1935)
Les Misérables
as Madame Magloire
(1935)
Captain Blood
as Mrs. Barlow
(1935)
I Live My Life
as Mrs. O.H.B. Gage, Kay's Grandmother
(1935)
Enchanted April
as Mrs. Phoebe Fisher
(1935)
Metropolitan
as Charwoman
(1935)
Jalna
as Gran Whiteoaks
(1935)
Vanessa: Her Love Story
as Lady Mullion
(1935)
I Found Stella Parish
as Nana
(1934)
One Night of Love
as Angelina
(1934)
The Affairs of Cellini
as Beatrice
(1934)
We Live Again
as Matrona Pavlovna
(1934)
Evelyn Prentice
as Mrs. Blake
(1934)
Murder at the Vanities
as Mrs. Helene Smith
(1934)
Coming Out Party
as Nora
(1934)
Nana
as Zoe
(1933)
Child of Manhattan
as Aunt Minnie
(1933)
Elmer, the Great
as Sarah Crosby (uncredited)
(1933)
Ann Carver's Profession
as Terry
(1933)
Cocktail Hour
as Princess
(1921)
Such a Little Queen
as Mary
(1919)