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.
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)
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)
Obliging Young Lady
as Miss Hollyrod - Bird Lover (uncredited)
(1942)
Apache Trail
as Passenger (uncredited)
(1942)
The Wife Takes a Flyer
as Miss Updike
(1941)
Three Girls About Town
as Casket Customer
(1941)
A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob
as Charwoman
(1940)
Young People
as Righteous Old Lady
(1940)
Little Men
as Head of Orphanage
(1940)
The Bank Dick
as Lompoc Ladies Auxiliary (uncredited)
(1940)
Lucky Partners
as Women's Club President (uncredited)
(1940)
Those Were the Days!
as Mrs. Moffett
(1939)
Stagecoach
as Boone's Landlady (uncredited)
(1939)
Union Pacific
as Snoring Woman on Train (uncredited)
(1939)
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
as Miss Jenkins
(1939)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
as Mrs. Shackleford (uncredited)
(1939)
Some Like It Hot
as Mrs. Beckett (uncredited)
(1939)
What a Life
as Miss Eggleston
(1938)
International Settlement
as English Woman
(1938)
Mr. Boggs Steps Out
as Widow Peddie
(1937)
Nothing Sacred
as Schoolteacher (uncredited)
(1937)
Easy Living
as Miss Swerf
(1937)
(1937)
Champagne Waltz
as Train Passenger
(1937)
Three Smart Boys
as Miss Witherspoon, Superintendent
(1937)
(1937)
The Mighty Treve
as Old Maid at Dog Show
(1937)
Borrowing Trouble
as Dressmaker
(1937)
Blossoms On Broadway
as Leader of Committee (uncredited)
(1937)
She Asked for It
as Elderly lady (uncredited)
(1937)
Partners in Crime
as Housekeeper
(1936)
Fury
as Albert's Mother (uncredited)
(1936)
Dancing Pirate
as Landlady (uncredited)
(1936)
Two in the Dark
as Mrs. Potter, Landlady (uncredited)
(1936)
Laughing at Trouble
as Mrs. Wigby - Townswoman
(1936)
Under Your Spell
as School Teacher (uncredited)
(1936)
The Big Broadcast of 1937
as Home Economics Woman
(1936)
Little Miss Nobody
as Mrs. Robinson
(1936)
College Holiday
as Miss Elkins (uncredited)
(1936)
(1936)
Girl of the Ozarks
as Miss Trent
(1936)
Collegiate
as Miss Curtiss
(1935)
Gold Diggers of 1935
as Housekeeper (uncredited)
(1935)
Car 99
as Granny Adams
(1935)
Way Down East
as Townswoman at Party
(1935)
Vagabond Lady
as Miss Perkins (uncredited)
(1935)
Biography of a Bachelor Girl
as Ship's Matron (uncredited)
(1935)
Slightly Static
as Beauty Products Announcer (uncredited)
(1935)
Memories and Melodies
as Customer (uncredited)
(1934)
The Merry Widow
as Animal Woman (uncredited)
(1934)
Chained
as Edith (uncredited)
(1934)
Upperworld
as Housekeeper (uncredited)
(1934)
The Old-Fashioned Way
as Mrs. Wendelschaffer
(1934)
Bachelor Bait
as Mrs. Trutmanner (uncredited)
(1934)
Once to Every Woman
as Miss Baxter’s Sister (uncredited)
(1934)
You're Telling Me!
as Mrs. Price
(1934)
Search for Beauty
as Miss Pettigrew
(1934)
Laughing Boy
as Schoolteacher
(1934)
One-Horse Farmers
as Subway Passenger (uncredited)
(1934)
The Spectacle Maker
as Duchess
(1934)
Opened by Mistake
as Head Nurse
(1934)
Mixed Nuts
as Mrs. Twitchett
(1933)
King of the Jungle
as Spinster in park (uncredited)
(1933)
Design for Living
as Tom's Secretary (uncredited)
(1933)
Hold Your Man
as Miss Campbell (uncredited)
(1933)
Meet the Baron
as Professor Winterbottom (uncredited)
(1933)
Fast Workers
as Tall Window-Shopper (Uncredited)
(1933)
Doctor Bull
as Aunt Emily Banning
(1933)
Asleep in the Feet
as Female Police Officer
(1933)
Stage Mother
as Miss Gilford, Kitty's Music Store Boss (uncredited)
(1933)
Peg o' My Heart
as Smythe (maid)
(1933)
Going Hollywood
as Briarcroft's Teacher
(1933)
Nature in the Wrong
as Muriel's mother
(1933)
Wreckety Wrecks
as Miss Winterbottom
(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)
Amateur Daddy
as Saleslady
(1932)
Mr. Bride
as Mrs. Cecil
(1932)
The Millionaire Cat
as Aunt Mathilda
(1932)
Girl Grief
as Miss Tuttle, Principal
(1931)
Street Scene
as Alice Simpson - Welfare Worker
(1931)
Arrowsmith
as Nurse (uncredited)
(1931)
Millie
as Helen and Angie's Landlady (uncredited)
(1931)
East Lynne
as Charity Bazaar Committee
(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)
Only Saps Work
as Mrs. Partridge (uncredited)
(1930)
(1930)
Little Accident
as Dr. Zernecke
(1929)
Footlights and Fools
as (uncredited)
(1929)
Seven Footprints to Satan
as Old Witch
(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)
The Devil Dancer
as Julia
(1927)
Girls
as Matron Helen Hunt
(1927)
Too Many Crooks
as (uncredited)
(1927)
The Demi-Bride
as School Teacher
(1927)
The Silent Rider
as Mrs. Randall
(1927)
The Fortune Hunter
as Betty Carpenter
(1927)
Born to Battle
as Ma Cowan
(1926)
Chip of the Flying U
as Dr. Cecil Grantham
(1926)
Midnight Faces
as Mrs. Hart
(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)
Woman, Woman!
as Mrs. Lindsay
(1919)
(1918)
By Hook or Crook
as Aunt Marie
(1918)
American Buds
as Emily
(1918)
(1918)
Love Net
as Miss Prudence Tilly
(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
(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