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