Nora Cecil
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1878-09-24
Day of Death
1951-05-01 (72 years old)
Place of Birth
London, England, UK
Nora Cecil
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.
Known For
Acting
(1964)
The Big Parade of Comedy
as Actress in 'Hollywood Party' (archive footage) (uncredited)
(1947)
The Sea of Grass
as Mrs. Ryan - Nurse (uncredited)
(1947)
Mourning Becomes Electra
as Louisa Ames
(1946)
Two Sisters from Boston
as Mrs. Mulberry - Recital Guest (uncredited)
(1946)
Big Town
as Miss Lovelace (uncredited)
(1946)
The Missing Lady
as Miss Millie
(1945)
(1944)
Hail the Conquering Hero
as Train Ticket Clerk (uncredited)
(1944)
The Thin Man Goes Home
as Miss Peavy
(1944)
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
as Hospital Nurse (uncredited)
(1943)
The Unknown Guest
as Martha Williams
(1942)
I Married a Witch
as Harriet Wooley (uncredited)
(1942)
The Wife Takes a Flyer
as Miss Updike
(1942)
Obliging Young Lady
as Miss Hollyrod - Bird Lover (uncredited)
(1942)
Apache Trail
as Passenger (uncredited)
(1941)
Three Girls About Town
as Casket Customer
(1941)
A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob
as Charwoman
(1940)
Those Were the Days!
as Mrs. Moffett
(1940)
Young People
as Righteous Old Lady
(1940)
Little Men
as Head of Orphanage
(1940)
Lucky Partners
as Women's Club President (uncredited)
(1940)
The Bank Dick
as Lompoc Ladies Auxiliary (uncredited)
(1939)
Union Pacific
as Snoring Woman on Train (uncredited)
(1939)
Stagecoach
as Boone's Landlady (uncredited)
(1939)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
as Mrs. Shackleford (uncredited)
(1939)
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
as Miss Jenkins
(1939)
What a Life
as Miss Eggleston
(1939)
Some Like It Hot
as Mrs. Beckett (uncredited)
(1938)
International Settlement
as English Woman
(1938)
Mr. Boggs Steps Out
as Widow Peddie
(1937)
Nothing Sacred
as Schoolteacher (uncredited)
(1937)
Borrowing Trouble
as Dressmaker
(1937)
Champagne Waltz
as Train Passenger
(1937)
The Mighty Treve
as Old Maid at Dog Show
(1937)
Blossoms On Broadway
as Leader of Committee (uncredited)
(1937)
(1937)
Easy Living
as Miss Swerf
(1937)
She Asked for It
as Elderly lady (uncredited)
(1937)
Three Smart Boys
as Miss Witherspoon, Superintendent
(1937)
(1937)
Partners in Crime
as Housekeeper
(1936)
Laughing at Trouble
as Mrs. Wigby - Townswoman
(1936)
The Big Broadcast of 1937
as Home Economics Woman
(1936)
Dancing Pirate
as Landlady (uncredited)
(1936)
College Holiday
as Miss Elkins (uncredited)
(1936)
(1936)
Fury
as Albert's Mother (uncredited)
(1936)
Two in the Dark
as Mrs. Potter, Landlady (uncredited)
(1936)
Under Your Spell
as School Teacher (uncredited)
(1936)
Collegiate
as Miss Curtiss
(1936)
Little Miss Nobody
as Mrs. Robinson
(1936)
Girl of the Ozarks
as Miss Trent
(1935)
Gold Diggers of 1935
as Housekeeper (uncredited)
(1935)
Biography of a Bachelor Girl
as Ship's Matron (uncredited)
(1935)
Slightly Static
as Beauty Products Announcer (uncredited)
(1935)
Car 99
as Granny Adams
(1935)
Memories and Melodies
as Customer (uncredited)
(1935)
Way Down East
as Townswoman at Party
(1935)
Vagabond Lady
as Miss Perkins (uncredited)
(1934)
Mixed Nuts
as Mrs. Twitchett
(1934)
The Old-Fashioned Way
as Mrs. Wendelschaffer
(1934)
The Merry Widow
as Animal Woman (uncredited)
(1934)
Laughing Boy
as Schoolteacher
(1934)
One-Horse Farmers
as Subway Passenger (uncredited)
(1934)
Once to Every Woman
as Miss Baxter’s Sister (uncredited)
(1934)
Chained
as Edith (uncredited)
(1934)
The Spectacle Maker
as Duchess
(1934)
Upperworld
as Stream's Housekeeper (uncredited)
(1934)
Opened by Mistake
as Head Nurse
(1934)
Bachelor Bait
as Mrs. Trutmanner (uncredited)
(1934)
You're Telling Me!
as Mrs. Price
(1934)
Search for Beauty
as Miss Pettigrew
(1933)
Peg o' My Heart
as Smythe (maid)
(1933)
Stage Mother
as Miss Gilford, Kitty's Music Store Boss (uncredited)
(1933)
Hold Your Man
as Miss Campbell (uncredited)
(1933)
Fast Workers
as Tall Window-Shopper (Uncredited)
(1933)
King of the Jungle
as Spinster in park (uncredited)
(1933)
Going Hollywood
as Briarcroft's Teacher
(1933)
Meet the Baron
as Professor Winterbottom (uncredited)
(1933)
Design for Living
as Tom's Secretary (uncredited)
(1933)
Doctor Bull
as Aunt Emily Banning
(1933)
Asleep in the Feet
as Female Police Officer
(1933)
Nature in the Wrong
as Muriel's mother
(1933)
Wreckety Wrecks
as Miss Winterbottom
(1932)
The Millionaire Cat
as Aunt Mathilda
(1932)
Pack Up Your Troubles
as Welfare Association Officer (uncredited)
(1932)
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
as Missionary
(1932)
Young Bride
as Landlady (uncredited)
(1932)
Hot Saturday
as Gossip on Telephone (Uncredited)
(1932)
Girl Grief
as Miss Tuttle, Principal
(1932)
Mr. Bride
as Mrs. Cecil
(1932)
Amateur Daddy
as Saleslady
(1931)
East Lynne
as Charity Bazaar Committee
(1931)
Arrowsmith
as Nurse (uncredited)
(1931)
Millie
as Helen and Angie's Landlady (uncredited)
(1931)
Street Scene
as Alice Simpson - Welfare Worker
(1931)
Everything’s Rosie
as Hotel Proprietress
(1931)
The Ruling Voice
as Malcom's Nurse (uncredited)
(1930)
Hell's Angels
as Helen's Maid (uncredited)
(1930)
Seven Days Leave
as Amelia Twymley
(1930)
(1930)
Only Saps Work
as Mrs. Partridge (uncredited)
(1930)
Little Accident
as Dr. Zernecke
(1929)
Seven Footprints to Satan
as Old Witch
(1929)
Footlights and Fools
as (uncredited)
(1928)
The Cavalier
as Lucia's Aunt
(1928)
The Baby Cyclone
as Mrs. Crandall
(1928)
Driftwood
as Mrs. Prouty
(1928)
A Trick of Hearts
as The Mayor
(1927)
Sensation Seekers
as Mrs. Lodge
(1927)
The Devil Dancer
as Julia
(1927)
Too Many Crooks
as (uncredited)
(1927)
The Fortune Hunter
as Betty Carpenter
(1927)
The Demi-Bride
as School Teacher
(1927)
The Silent Rider
as Mrs. Randall
(1927)
Girls
as Matron Helen Hunt
(1927)
Born to Battle
as Ma Cowan
(1926)
Midnight Faces
as Mrs. Hart
(1926)
Chip of the Flying U
as Dr. Cecil Grantham
(1925)
His Majesty, Bunker Bean
as Countess Casanova
(1924)
The Deadwood Coach
as Matilda Shields - in play
(1922)
Manslaughter
as Lydia's Chaperone (uncredited)
(1922)
Timothy's Quest
as Townswoman
(1921)
(1920)
(1920)
(1919)
(1919)
Woman, Woman!
as Mrs. Lindsay
(1918)
By Hook or Crook
as Aunt Marie
(1918)
Love Net
as Miss Prudence Tilly
(1918)
(1918)
American Buds
as Emily
(1917)
The Wild Girl
as Undetermined Role (uncredited)
(1917)
The Poor Little Rich Girl
as One of Gwendolyn's Teachers (uncredited)
(1917)
Tillie Wakes Up
as Gossip in Ice Cream Parlor / Woman Having Picture Taken
(1917)
A Royal Romance
as Miss McPherson
(1916)
A Model Husband
as Mrs Gossip
(1916)
The Social Secretary
as Spinster (uncredited)
(1915)
The Arrival of Perpetua
as Abigail Majendrie