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 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.

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Known For

Stagecoach
Stagecoach

1939

as Boone's Landlady (uncredited)

I Married a Witch
I Married a Witch

1942

as Harriet Wooley (uncredited)

Union Pacific
Union Pacific

1939

as Snoring Woman on Train (uncredited)

Hell's Angels
Hell's Angels

1930

as Helen's Maid (uncredited)

Pack Up Your Troubles
Pack Up Your Troubles

1932

as Welfare Association Officer (uncredited)

The Bank Dick
The Bank Dick

1940

as Lompoc Ladies Auxiliary (uncredited)

The Thin Man Goes Home
The Thin Man Goes Home

1944

as Miss Peavy

The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow

1934

as Animal Woman (uncredited)

Fury
Fury

1936

as Albert's Mother (uncredited)

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

1944

as Hospital Nurse (uncredited)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

1939

as Mrs. Shackleford (uncredited)

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
Easy Living
Easy Living

1937

as Miss Swerf

Design for Living
Design for Living

1933

as Tom's Secretary (uncredited)

Hold Your Man
Hold Your Man

1933

as Miss Campbell (uncredited)

Hail the Conquering Hero
Hail the Conquering Hero

1944

as Train Ticket Clerk (uncredited)

Arrowsmith
Arrowsmith

1931

as Nurse (uncredited)

Some Like It Hot
Some Like It Hot

1939

as Mrs. Beckett (uncredited)

Mourning Becomes Electra
Mourning Becomes Electra

1947

as Louisa Ames

Nothing Sacred
Nothing Sacred

1937

as Schoolteacher (uncredited)