Nora Cecil
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- 24 September 1878 · London, England, UK
- Died
- 1 May 1951
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 145
- 1964The Big Parade of Comedy as Actress in 'Hollywood Party' (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1947Mourning Becomes Electra as Louisa Ames
- 1947The Sea of Grass as Mrs. Ryan - Nurse (uncredited)
- 1946Big Town as Miss Lovelace (uncredited)
- 1946The Missing Lady as Miss Millie
- 1946Two Sisters from Boston as Mrs. Mulberry - Recital Guest (uncredited)
- 1945Lady on a Train
- 1944The Thin Man Goes Home as Miss Peavy
- 1944The Miracle of Morgan's Creek as Hospital Nurse (uncredited)
- 1944Hail the Conquering Hero as Train Ticket Clerk (uncredited)
- 1943The Unknown Guest as Martha Williams
- 1942I Married a Witch as Harriet Wooley (uncredited)
- 1942Apache Trail as Passenger (uncredited)
- 1942The Wife Takes a Flyer as Miss Updike
- 1942Obliging Young Lady as Miss Hollyrod - Bird Lover (uncredited)
- 1941Three Girls About Town as Casket Customer
- 1941A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob as Charwoman
- 1940Little Men as Head of Orphanage
- 1940The Bank Dick as Lompoc Ladies Auxiliary (uncredited)
- 1940Young People as Righteous Old Lady (uncredited)
- 1940Lucky Partners as Women's Club President (uncredited)
- 1940Those Were the Days! as Mrs. Moffett
- 1939What a Life as Miss Eggleston
- 1939Some Like It Hot as Mrs. Beckett (uncredited)
- 1939Union Pacific as Snoring Woman on Train (uncredited)
- 1939The Story of Alexander Graham Bell as Miss Jenkins
- 1939Stagecoach as Boone's Landlady (uncredited)
- 1939The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as Mrs. Shackleford (uncredited)
- 1938Mr. Boggs Steps Out as Widow Peddie
- 1938International Settlement as English Woman
- 1937Borrowing Trouble as Dressmaker
- 1937Nothing Sacred as Schoolteacher (uncredited)
- 1937Blossoms On Broadway as Leader of Committee (uncredited)
- 1937Partners in Crime as Housekeeper
- 1937She Asked for It as Elderly lady (uncredited)
- 1937Easy Living as Miss Swerf
- 1937Night of Mystery
- 1937Three Smart Boys as Miss Witherspoon, Superintendent
- 1937Night Must Fall
- 1937Champagne Waltz as Train Passenger
- 1937The Mighty Treve as Old Maid at Dog Show
- 1936College Holiday as Miss Elkins (uncredited)
- 1936Laughing at Trouble as Mrs. Wigby - Townswoman
- 1936Under Your Spell as School Teacher (uncredited)
- 1936The Big Broadcast of 1937 as Home Economics Woman
- 1936Let's Make a Million
- 1936Girl of the Ozarks as Miss Trent
- 1936Fury as Albert's Mother (uncredited)
- 1936Little Miss Nobody as Mrs. Robinson
- 1936Dancing Pirate as Landlady (uncredited)
- 1936Two in the Dark as Mrs. Potter, Landlady (uncredited)
- 1935Collegiate as Miss Curtiss
- 1935Way Down East as Townswoman at Party
- 1935Slightly Static as Beauty Products Announcer (uncredited)
- 1935Vagabond Lady as Miss Perkins (uncredited)
- 1935Gold Diggers of 1935 as Housekeeper (uncredited)
- 1935Car 99 as Granny Adams
- 1935Memories and Melodies as Customer (uncredited)
- 1935Biography of a Bachelor Girl as Ship's Matron (uncredited)
- 1934The Merry Widow as Animal Woman (uncredited)
- 1934Opened by Mistake as Head Nurse
- 1934The Spectacle Maker as Duchess
- 1934Chained as Edith (uncredited)
- 1934One-Horse Farmers as Subway Passenger (uncredited)
- 1934Bachelor Bait as Mrs. Trutmanner (uncredited)
- 1934The Old-Fashioned Way as Mrs. Wendelschaffer
- 1934Upperworld as Stream's Housekeeper (uncredited)
- 1934Laughing Boy as Schoolteacher
- 1934You're Telling Me! as Mrs. Price
- 1934Once to Every Woman as Miss Baxter’s Sister (uncredited)
- 1934Mixed Nuts as Mrs. Twitchett
- 1934Search for Beauty as Miss Pettigrew
- 1933Design for Living as Tom's Secretary (uncredited)
- 1933Going Hollywood as Briarcroft's Teacher
- 1933Meet the Baron as Professor Winterbottom (uncredited)
- 1933Stage Mother as Miss Gilford, Kitty's Music Store Boss (uncredited)
- 1933Doctor Bull as Aunt Emily Banning
- 1933Hold Your Man as Miss Campbell (uncredited)
- 1933Peg o' My Heart as Smythe (maid)
- 1933Nature in the Wrong as Muriel's mother
- 1933Fast Workers as Tall Window-Shopper (Uncredited)
- 1933King of the Jungle as Spinster in park (uncredited)
- 1933Wreckety Wrecks as Miss Winterbottom
- 1933Asleep in the Feet as Female Police Officer
- 1932The Bitter Tea of General Yen as Missionary
- 1932Mr. Bride as Mrs. Cecil
- 1932Hot Saturday as Gossip on Telephone (Uncredited)
- 1932The Millionaire Cat as Aunt Mathilda
- 1932Girl Grief as Miss Tuttle, Principal
- 1932Pack Up Your Troubles as Welfare Association Officer (uncredited)
- 1932Amateur Daddy as Saleslady
- 1932Young Bride as Landlady (uncredited)
- 1931Arrowsmith as Nurse (uncredited)
- 1931The Ruling Voice as Malcom's Nurse (uncredited)
- 1931Street Scene as Alice Simpson - Welfare Worker
- 1931Everything’s Rosie as Hotel Proprietress
- 1931East Lynne as Charity Bazaar Committee
- 1931Millie as Helen and Angie's Landlady (uncredited)
- 1930Only Saps Work as Mrs. Partridge (uncredited)
- 1930Hell's Angels as Helen's Maid (uncredited)
- 1930Little Accident as Dr. Zernecke
- 1930The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
- 1930Seven Days Leave as Amelia Twymley
- 1929Footlights and Fools as (uncredited)
- 1929Seven Footprints to Satan as Old Witch
- 1928The Cavalier as Lucia's Aunt
- 1928Driftwood as Mrs. Prouty
- 1928The Baby Cyclone as Mrs. Crandall
- 1928A Trick of Hearts as The Mayor
- 1927The Devil Dancer as Julia
- 1927Born to Battle as Ma Cowan
- 1927Too Many Crooks as (uncredited)
- 1927Girls as Matron Helen Hunt
- 1927Sensation Seekers as Mrs. Lodge
- 1927The Demi-Bride as School Teacher
- 1927The Fortune Hunter as Betty Carpenter
- 1927The Silent Rider as Mrs. Randall
- 1926Midnight Faces as Mrs. Hart
- 1926Chip of the Flying U as Dr. Cecil Grantham
- 1925Three Weeks in Paris
- 1925His Majesty, Bunker Bean as Countess Casanova
- 1924The Deadwood Coach as Matilda Shields - in play
- 1924Darwin Was Right as Aunt Priscilla
- 1922The Town That Forgot God as (uncredited)
- 1922Manslaughter as Lydia's Chaperone (uncredited)
- 1922Timothy's Quest as Townswoman
- 1921Footfalls
- 1920The Daughter Pays
- 1920Red Foam
- 1919Woman, Woman! as Mrs. Lindsay
- 1919Miss Crusoe as Miss Meeker (uncredited)
- 1919An Amateur Widow
- 1918Love Net as Miss Prudence Tilly
- 1918The Zero Hour as Mrs. Winslow (uncredited)
- 1918Appearance of Evil as Miss Spurgeon
- 1918By Hook or Crook as Aunt Marie
- 1918American Buds as Emily
- 1918Prunella
- 1917The Wild Girl as Undetermined Role (uncredited)
- 1917A Royal Romance as Miss McPherson
- 1917The Poor Little Rich Girl as One of Gwendolyn's Teachers (uncredited)
- 1917Tillie Wakes Up as Gossip in Ice Cream Parlor / Woman Having Picture Taken
- 1916The Social Secretary as Spinster (uncredited)
- 1916A Model Husband as Mrs Gossip
- 1915The Arrival of Perpetua as Abigail Majendrie