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