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)
The Missing Lady
as Miss Millie
(1946)
Big Town
as Miss Lovelace (uncredited)
(1945)
(1944)
The Thin Man Goes Home
as Miss Peavy
(1944)
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
as Hospital Nurse (uncredited)
(1944)
Hail the Conquering Hero
as Train Ticket Clerk (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)
Apache Trail
as Passenger (uncredited)
(1942)
Obliging Young Lady
as Miss Hollyrod - Bird Lover (uncredited)
(1941)
A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob
as Charwoman
(1941)
Three Girls About Town
as Casket Customer
(1940)
The Bank Dick
as Lompoc Ladies Auxiliary (uncredited)
(1940)
Young People
as Righteous Old Lady
(1940)
Lucky Partners
as Women's Club President (uncredited)
(1940)
Little Men
as Head of Orphanage
(1940)
Those Were the Days!
as Mrs. Moffett
(1939)
Stagecoach
as Boone's Landlady (uncredited)
(1939)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
as Mrs. Shackleford (uncredited)
(1939)
Union Pacific
as Snoring Woman on Train (uncredited)
(1939)
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
as Miss Jenkins
(1939)
Some Like It Hot
as Mrs. Beckett (uncredited)
(1939)
What a Life
as Miss Eggleston
(1938)
Mr. Boggs Steps Out
as Widow Peddie
(1938)
International Settlement
as English Woman
(1937)
Nothing Sacred
as Schoolteacher (uncredited)
(1937)
(1937)
Easy Living
as Miss Swerf
(1937)
She Asked for It
as Elderly lady (uncredited)
(1937)
The Mighty Treve
as Old Maid at Dog Show
(1937)
Three Smart Boys
as Miss Witherspoon, Superintendent
(1937)
Blossoms On Broadway
as Leader of Committee (uncredited)
(1937)
Champagne Waltz
as Train Passenger
(1937)
(1937)
Borrowing Trouble
as Dressmaker
(1937)
Partners in Crime
as Housekeeper
(1936)
Dancing Pirate
as Landlady (uncredited)
(1936)
Fury
as Albert's Mother (uncredited)
(1936)
Two in the Dark
as Mrs. Potter, Landlady (uncredited)
(1936)
Little Miss Nobody
as Mrs. Robinson
(1936)
College Holiday
as Miss Elkins (uncredited)
(1936)
Collegiate
as Miss Curtiss
(1936)
Under Your Spell
as School Teacher (uncredited)
(1936)
Girl of the Ozarks
as Miss Trent
(1936)
The Big Broadcast of 1937
as Home Economics Woman
(1936)
Laughing at Trouble
as Mrs. Wigby - Townswoman
(1936)
(1935)
Gold Diggers of 1935
as Housekeeper (uncredited)
(1935)
Car 99
as Granny Adams
(1935)
Vagabond Lady
as Miss Perkins (uncredited)
(1935)
Way Down East
as Townswoman at Party
(1935)
Slightly Static
as Beauty Products Announcer (uncredited)
(1935)
Memories and Melodies
as Customer (uncredited)
(1935)
Biography of a Bachelor Girl
as Ship's Matron (uncredited)
(1934)
Chained
as Edith (uncredited)
(1934)
The Merry Widow
as Animal Woman (uncredited)
(1934)
You're Telling Me!
as Mrs. Price
(1934)
Search for Beauty
as Miss Pettigrew
(1934)
Mixed Nuts
as Mrs. Twitchett
(1934)
Laughing Boy
as Schoolteacher
(1934)
The Old-Fashioned Way
as Mrs. Wendelschaffer
(1934)
Opened by Mistake
as Head Nurse
(1934)
Upperworld
as Housekeeper (uncredited)
(1934)
Once to Every Woman
as Miss Baxter’s Sister (uncredited)
(1934)
Bachelor Bait
as Mrs. Trutmanner (uncredited)
(1934)
The Spectacle Maker
as Duchess
(1934)
One-Horse Farmers
as Subway Passenger (uncredited)
(1933)
Design for Living
as Tom's Secretary (uncredited)
(1933)
Hold Your Man
as Miss Campbell (uncredited)
(1933)
Stage Mother
as Miss Gilford, Kitty's Music Store Boss (uncredited)
(1933)
Peg o' My Heart
as Smythe (maid)
(1933)
King of the Jungle
as Spinster in park (uncredited)
(1933)
Doctor Bull
as Aunt Emily Banning
(1933)
Fast Workers
as Tall Window-Shopper (Uncredited)
(1933)
Asleep in the Feet
as Female Police Officer
(1933)
Meet the Baron
as Professor Winterbottom (uncredited)
(1933)
Nature in the Wrong
as Muriel's mother
(1933)
Going Hollywood
as Briarcroft's Teacher
(1933)
Wreckety Wrecks
as Miss Winterbottom
(1932)
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
as Missionary
(1932)
Pack Up Your Troubles
as Welfare Association Officer (uncredited)
(1932)
Amateur Daddy
as Saleslady
(1932)
Hot Saturday
as Gossip on Telephone (Uncredited)
(1932)
Girl Grief
as Miss Tuttle, Principal
(1932)
The Millionaire Cat
as Aunt Mathilda
(1932)
Mr. Bride
as Mrs. Cecil
(1932)
Young Bride
as Landlady (uncredited)
(1931)
Street Scene
as Alice Simpson - Welfare Worker
(1931)
Millie
as Helen and Angie's Landlady (uncredited)
(1931)
Arrowsmith
as Nurse (uncredited)
(1931)
East Lynne
as Charity Bazaar Committee
(1931)
The Ruling Voice
as Malcom's Nurse (uncredited)
(1931)
Everything’s Rosie
as Hotel Proprietress
(1930)
Hell's Angels
as Helen's Maid (uncredited)
(1930)
Only Saps Work
as Mrs. Partridge (uncredited)
(1930)
Seven Days Leave
as Amelia Twymley
(1930)
(1930)
Little Accident
as Dr. Zernecke
(1929)
Seven Footprints to Satan
as Old Witch
(1929)
Footlights and Fools
as (uncredited)
(1928)
Driftwood
as Mrs. Prouty
(1928)
The Baby Cyclone
as Mrs. Crandall
(1928)
The Cavalier
as Lucia's Aunt
(1928)
A Trick of Hearts
as The Mayor
(1927)
Sensation Seekers
as Mrs. Lodge
(1927)
Too Many Crooks
as (uncredited)
(1927)
The Devil Dancer
as Julia
(1927)
The Demi-Bride
as School Teacher
(1927)
The Silent Rider
as Mrs. Randall
(1927)
Girls
as Matron Helen Hunt
(1927)
The Fortune Hunter
as Betty Carpenter
(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)
Love Net
as Miss Prudence Tilly
(1918)
American Buds
as Emily
(1918)
(1918)
By Hook or Crook
as Aunt Marie
(1917)
A Royal Romance
as Miss McPherson
(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)
The Wild Girl
as Undetermined Role (uncredited)
(1916)
The Social Secretary
as Spinster (uncredited)
(1916)
A Model Husband
as Mrs Gossip
(1915)
The Arrival of Perpetua
as Abigail Majendrie