Nora Cecil

Nora Cecil

1878-09-24 – 1951-05-01 (age 72) London, England, UK
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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 Γ‰mile 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.

Photos

Known For

Stagecoach
Stagecoach

1939

as Boone's Landlady (uncredited)

I Married a Witch
I Married a Witch

1942

as Harriet Wooley (uncredited)

Hell's Angels
Hell's Angels

1930

as Helen's Maid (uncredited)

Fury
Fury

1936

as Albert's Mother (uncredited)

Union Pacific
Union Pacific

1939

as Snoring Woman on Train (uncredited)

The Thin Man Goes Home
The Thin Man Goes Home

1944

as Miss Peavy

Young People
Young People

1940

as Righteous Old Lady (uncredited)

The Sea of Grass
The Sea of Grass

1947

as Mrs. Ryan - Nurse (uncredited)

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

1944

as Hospital Nurse (uncredited)

Millie
Millie

1931

as Helen and Angie's Landlady (uncredited)

Chained
Chained

1934

as Edith (uncredited)

Three Girls About Town
Three Girls About Town

1941

as Casket Customer

Nothing Sacred
Nothing Sacred

1937

as Schoolteacher (uncredited)

The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow

1934

as Animal Woman (uncredited)

The Bitter Tea of General Yen
Lady on a Train
Hail the Conquering Hero
Hail the Conquering Hero

1944

as Train Ticket Clerk (uncredited)

Street Scene
Street Scene

1931

as Alice Simpson - Welfare Worker

Easy Living
Easy Living

1937

as Miss Swerf

Big Town
Big Town

1946

as Miss Lovelace (uncredited)