Nora Cecil

Born: 1878-09-24

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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Stagecoach

as Boone's Landlady (uncredited)
Released: 1939-03-03

A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of...

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I Married a Witch

as Harriet Wooley (uncredited)
Released: 1942-10-30

A 17th-century witch returns to wreak havoc in the life of a descendant of the Puritan witch...

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Pack Up Your Troubles

as Welfare Association Officer (uncredited)
Released: 1932-09-16

The story begins in 1917 with Stan and Ollie being drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in World...

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The Merry Widow

as Animal Woman (uncredited)
Released: 1934-11-02

A prince from a small kingdom courts a wealthy widow to keep her money in the country.

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Design for Living

as Tom's Secretary (uncredited)
Released: 1933-12-29

An independent woman can't choose between the two men she loves.

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The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

as Hospital Nurse (uncredited)
Released: 1943-12-12

A small-town girl with a soft spot for American soldiers wakes up the morning after a wild...

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Hell's Angels

as Helen's Maid (uncredited)
Released: 1930-11-15

When the Great War breaks out, brothers Roy and Monte Rutledge, each attending Oxford...

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Fury

as Albert's Mother (uncredited)
Released: 1936-06-05

Joe, who owns a gas station along with his brothers and is about to marry Katherine, travels to...

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The Thin Man Goes Home

as Miss Peavy
Released: 1944-12-24

On a trip to visit his parents, detective Nick Charles gets mixed up in a murder investigation.

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Union Pacific

as Snoring Woman on Train (uncredited)
Released: 1939-05-05

One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad...

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East Lynne

as Charity Bazaar Committee
Released: 1931-03-01

The refined Lady Isabel Carlisle, after leaving her family and enduring nearly a decade of...

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Bachelor Bait

as Mrs. Trutmanner (uncredited)
Released: 1934-07-27

After being fired from his job at the Marriage License Bureau, a clerk turns to matchmaking.

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Nothing Sacred

as Schoolteacher (uncredited)
Released: 1937-11-25

When a small-town girl is incorrectly diagnosed with a rare, deadly disease, an unknowing...

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The Sea of Grass

as Mrs. Ryan - Nurse (uncredited)
Released: 1947-04-25

On America's frontier, a St. Louis woman marries a New Mexico cattleman who is seen as a tyrant...

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Street Scene

as Alice Simpson - Welfare Worker
Released: 1931-09-05

The setting is a city block during a sweltering summer, where the residents serve as...

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Gold Diggers of 1935

as Housekeeper (uncredited)
Released: 1935-03-15

Romance strikes when a vacationing millionairess and her daughter and son spend their vacation...

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Lady on a Train

as uncredited
Released: 1945-08-03

While watching from her train window, Nikki Collins witnesses a murder in a nearby building....

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Mourning Becomes Electra

as Louisa Ames
Released: 1947-11-19

Near the end of the Civil War, the proud residents of Mannon Manor await the return of shipping...

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

as Mrs. Shackleford (uncredited)
Released: 1939-02-10

Huckleberry Finn, a rambunctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes...

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The Bank Dick

as Lompoc Ladies Auxiliary (uncredited)
Released: 1940-11-29

Egbert Sousé becomes an unexpected hero when a bank robber falls over a bench he's occupying....

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Arrowsmith

as Nurse (uncredited)
Released: 1931-12-07

A medical researcher is sent to a plague outbreak, where he has to decide priorities for the use...

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The Poor Little Rich Girl

as One of Gwendolyn's Teachers (uncredited)
Released: 1917-03-05

Gwen's family is rich, but her parents ignore her and most of the servants push her around, so...

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Night Must Fall

as uncredited
Released: 1937-04-30

Wealthy widow Mrs. Bramson notices that her maid is distracted, and when she learns the girl's...

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Dancing Pirate

as Landlady (uncredited)
Released: 1936-05-22

Jonathan Pride is a mild-mannered dance instructor in 1820 Boston. En route to visit relatives,...

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Chained

as Edith (uncredited)
Released: 1934-08-31

Richard, a millionaire in love with his secretary, Diane, is dispirited when his wife refuses to...

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Going Hollywood

as Briarcroft's Teacher
Released: 1933-12-22

The film tells the story of Sylvia, a French teacher at an all-girl school, who wants to find...

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The Story of Alexander Graham Bell

as Miss Jenkins
Released: 1939-04-04

Alexander Graham Bell falls in love with deaf girl Mabel Hubbard while teaching the deaf and...

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The Big Parade of Comedy

as Actress in 'Hollywood Party' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: 1964-09-02

Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.

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Three Girls About Town

as Casket Customer
Released: 1941-10-23

Faith and Hope Banner, sisters, are "convention hostesses" in a hotel. A body is discovered next...

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Easy Living

as Miss Swerf
Released: 1937-07-16

J.B. Ball, a rich financier, gets fed up with his free-spending family. He takes his wife's...

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Some Like It Hot

as Mrs. Beckett (uncredited)
Released: 1939-05-19

Nicky Nelson is a fast-talking sideshow barker with a wax-and-alive concession on Atlantic...

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Two Sisters from Boston

as Mrs. Mulberry - Recital Guest (uncredited)
Released: 1946-06-06

Abigail Chandler has written her stuffy Boston relatives that she's a successful opera singer in...

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Young People

as Righteous Old Lady
Released: 1940-08-30

Wendy Ballantine's parents decide to retire from show biz so she can have a normal life. They...

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King of the Jungle

as Spinster in park (uncredited)
Released: 1933-03-10

A white youth raised in the jungle by animals is captured by a safari and brought back to...

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Stage Mother

as Miss Gilford, Kitty's Music Store Boss
Released: 1933-09-29

Kitty Lorraine has one purpose in life: turning her daughter Shirley into a star. Kitty controls...

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Millie

as Helen and Angie's Landlady (uncredited)
Released: 1931-02-06

After a tumultuous first marriage, Millie Blake learns to love her newfound independence and...

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Mr. Boggs Steps Out

as Widow Peddie
Released: 1938-02-18

A dull statistician changes his life after winning a pile of money after successfully...

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International Settlement

as English Woman
Released: 1938-02-04

In Shanghai amidst Sino-Japanese warfare an adventurer (Sanders) collecting money from gun...

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The Ruling Voice

as Malcom's Nurse (uncredited)
Released: 1931-09-10

A mob boss has a change of heart when his daughter convinces him to move on from crime.

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Biography of a Bachelor Girl

as Ship's Matron (uncredited)
Released: 1935-01-04

Everyweek Newsmagazine editor Richard Kurt pursues famous free-spirited portrait artist Marion...

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Seven Days Leave

as Amelia Twymley
Released: 1930-01-24

In London, during WWI, a lonely woman who wants to feel a part of the war effort pretends to her...

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Hot Saturday

as Gossip on Telephone (Uncredited)
Released: 1932-10-28

A pretty but virtuous small-town bank clerk is the victim of a vicious rumor from an...

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Search for Beauty

as Miss Pettigrew
Released: 1934-02-02

Three con artists dupe two Olympians into serving as editors of a new health and beauty magazine...

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You're Telling Me!

as Mrs. Price
Released: 1934-04-06

Sam Bisbee is an inventor whose works (e.g., a keyhole finder for drunks) have brought him only...

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Doctor Bull

as Aunt Emily Banning
Released: 1933-09-22

In this engaging adaptation of James Gould Cozzen's novel The Last Adam, film icon Will Rogers...

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Two in the Dark

as Mrs. Potter, Landlady
Released: 1936-01-10

Ford Adams regains consciousness in Boston, bloody and suffering from amnesia. Information he...

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Chip of the Flying U

as Dr. Cecil Grantham
Released: 1926-03-14

A remake of a 1915 Tom Mix/Selig Western, this film was yet another silent oater (loosely) based...

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Manslaughter

as Lydia's Chaperone (uncredited)
Released: 1922-09-24

Society-girl thrillseeker Lydia's fun comes to an end when she accidentally causes the death of...

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Too Many Crooks

as (uncredited)
Released: 1927-04-02

Too Many Crooks is a lost 1927 American comedy silent film directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, written...

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The Unknown Guest

as Martha Williams
Released: 1943-10-22

Residents get suspicious when a shady character takes over the local hunting lodge right after...

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The Daughter Pays

as uncredited
Released: 1920-11-10

For revenge, wealthy Osbert Gault marries Virginia Mynors, the daughter of a woman who had...

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The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu

as uncredited
Released: 1930-05-02

The sinister Dr. Fu Manchu returns to destroy the people he holds responsible for the death of...

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Way Down East

as Townswoman at Party
Released: 1935-10-25

A family living on a farm in Maine takes in a young woman to stay with them, not knowing that...

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The Old-Fashioned Way

as Mrs. Wendelschaffer
Released: 1934-07-13

The Great McGonigle and his troupe of third-rate vaudevillians manage to stay one step ahead of...

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Lucky Partners

as Women's Club President (uncredited)
Released: 1940-08-02

Two strangers split a sweepstake prize to go on a fake honeymoon with predictable results.

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Little Men

as Head of Orphanage
Released: 1940-11-29

Jo March and her husband Professor Bhaer operate the Plumfield School for poor boys. When Dan, a...

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A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob

as Charwoman
Released: 1941-03-14

Steve is a shy quiet man who is an executive for a shipping firm. He meets Dot at the Opera...

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Seven Footprints to Satan

as Old Witch
Released: 1929-01-27

A young man of society wants to make an expedition to Africa, but his fiancée asks him for help...

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Meet the Baron

as Professor Winterbottom (uncredited)
Released: 1933-10-20

A charlatan posing as Baron Munchhausen is invited to be guest speaker at a girls' school.

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Fast Workers

as Tall Window-Shopper (Uncredited)
Released: 1933-03-10

Gunner and Bucker are friends who work as riveters. Whenever Bucker gets the urge to marry,...

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The Social Secretary

as Spinster (uncredited)
Released: 1916-09-16

An attractive young girl struggles to hold a job as she deals with unwanted romantic advances...

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Obliging Young Lady

as Miss Hollyrod - Bird Lover (uncredited)
Released: 1942-04-01

A woman attempts to shelter a young girl from the publicity surrounding her socialite parents'...

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Peg o' My Heart

as Smythe (maid)
Released: 1933-05-26

Peg and her father live a simple life in an Irish fishing village. One day Sir Gerald arrives at...

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Little Accident

as Dr. Zernecke
Released: 1930-08-03

On the day before his second wedding, a man finds out that his bride-to-be has had a baby.

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Let's Make a Million

as uncredited
Released: 1936-09-01

A wealthy mama's boy finds himself the victim of con artists involved in an oil stocks racket.

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Only Saps Work

as Mrs. Partridge
Released: 1930-12-05

Rubber-legged comedian Leon Errol made his talkie starring bow in Paramount's Only Saps Work....

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The Missing Lady

as Miss Millie
Released: 1946-08-17

While investigating the theft of a valuable jade statue known as "The Missing Lady" -- and the...

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Young Bride

as Landlady (uncredited)
Released: 1932-04-08

A newlywed discovers her husband is a cheating phony.

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The Wife Takes a Flyer

as Miss Updike
Released: 1942-04-28

Christopher Reynolds, an American flying with the R.A.F, is shot down over German-occupied...

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What a Life

as Miss Eggleston
Released: 1939-10-05

Jackie Cooper stars in this first film in the wholesome "Henry Aldrich" series of teen comedies.

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Car 99

as Granny Adams
Released: 1935-03-02

A story of the Michigan State Police and the strong sense of loyalty and duty it instills in its...

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Partners in Crime

as Housekeeper
Released: 1937-10-08

Detective Hank Hyer investigates a blackmail case involving a candidate for mayor.

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Mr. Bride

as Mrs. Cecil
Released: 1932-12-24

Charley's boss "rehearses" for his honeymoon--with Charley.

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Slightly Static

as Beauty Products Announcer (uncredited)
Released: 1935-09-07

Thelma and Patsy get jobs at a radio station.

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Night of Mystery

as uncredited
Released: 1937-05-21

One of a series of movies based on the character Philo Vance

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College Holiday

as Miss Elkins (uncredited)
Released: 1936-12-19

College students rally to save a struggling hotel from closing. Comedy.

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Blossoms On Broadway

as Leader of Committee (uncredited)
Released: 1937-11-19

A young singer hopes to become a success on Broadway.

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Under Your Spell

as School Teacher (uncredited)
Released: 1936-11-06

A famous singer, bored with music and fans, goes to live in Mexico. His manager sends a woman to...

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The Baby Cyclone

as Mrs. Crandall
Released: 1928-09-26

A woman thinks a small dog is an angel pet in this silent comedy.

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The Devil Dancer

as Julia
Released: 1927-11-03

An English explorer disturbed by the practices of an isolated tribe attempts to rescue a native...

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Footlights and Fools

as (uncredited)
Released: 1929-11-08

Moore plays the "dual" role of a French singer in America who was originally an American chorus...

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Asleep in the Feet

as Female Police Officer
Released: 1933-01-21

The girls moonlight as taxi dancers in order to earn some extra money.

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Everything’s Rosie

as Hotel Proprietress
Released: 1931-05-22

A little orphan girl walks into the life of a hand-to-mouth carnival huckster. He teaches her...

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Big Town

as Miss Lovelace (uncredited)
Released: 1946-08-23

A newspaper editor goes on an anti-crime crusade, but gets carried away.

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Amateur Daddy

as Saleslady
Released: 1932-04-10

Jim Gladden, a construction site foreman, is partially responsible for the accidental death of...

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Borrowing Trouble

as Dressmaker
Released: 1937-12-10

The Jones family drugstore is robbed and it looks like the culprit is a boy the family has taken...

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Laughing Boy

as Schoolteacher
Released: 1934-04-13

A young Navajo defies tribal custom to marry an outcast.

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Three Smart Boys

as Miss Witherspoon, Superintendent
Released: 1937-05-13

When they overhear Miss Witherspoon, the school superintendent, say that nothing short of an...

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Mixed Nuts

as Mrs. Twitchett
Released: 1934-02-16

Oddly enough for a Roach comedy the premise of MIXED NUTS is grounded in topical political...

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Collegiate

as Miss Curtiss
Released: 1936-01-22

A Broadway playboy inherits an almost bankrupt girls' school and tries to save it by a big show.

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The Big Broadcast of 1937

as Home Economics Woman
Released: 1936-10-05

The employees of a failing radio station must put on a huge ratings winner to have any chance of...

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The Spectacle Maker

as Duchess
Released: 1934-09-20

A parable about magic glasses involving on the nature of beauty, truth, good, and evil set in...

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His Majesty, Bunker Bean

as Countess Casanova
Released: 1925-09-14

His Majesty, Bunker Bean is a 1925 silent film comedy directed by Harry Beaumont and starring...

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Champagne Waltz

as Train Passenger
Released: 1937-02-05

In Vienna, a new jazz club featuring American trumpeter Buzzy Bellew threatens the existence of...

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The Mighty Treve

as Old Maid at Dog Show
Released: 1937-01-17

Story of a dog that is fanatically devoted to its master.

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Upperworld

as Housekeeper (uncredited)
Released: 1934-04-28

A railroad tycoon, disillusioned with his marriage, starts seeing a showgirl. Things go...

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Apache Trail

as Passenger (uncredited)
Released: 1942-09-01

The brother of a notorious outlaw is put in a charge of a stagecoach line way station in...

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American Buds

as Emily
Released: 1918-02-24

Letters from the late mother of orphaned sisters Jane and Katherine seem to indicate that their...

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Little Miss Nobody

as Mrs. Robinson
Released: 1936-06-05

A runaway orphan is befriended by a kind-hearted pet store owner with a criminal past.

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Girl Grief

as Miss Tuttle, Principal
Released: 1932-10-08

Although terrified of girls, Charley must take a job teaching at a girls school.

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The Silent Rider

as Mrs. Randall
Released: 1927-01-02

Cowboy Jerry Alton is content with life on the Bar Z Ranch until Mrs. Randall hires pretty...

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Sensation Seekers

as Mrs. Lodge
Released: 1927-03-21

Ray Sturgis, leader of the fashionable Long Island jazz set, is engaged to "Egypt" Hagen, an...

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Nature in the Wrong

as Muriel's mother
Released: 1933-03-18

Charley, hoping to find cultured people in his ancestry in order to be suitable to Muriel's...

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Footfalls

as uncredited
Released: 1921-09-08

A blind cobbler is able, by dint of his extraordinary hearing, to recognize the identity of a...

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She Asked for It

as Elderly lady (uncredited)
Released: 1937-09-17

Dwight Stanford and his wife, Penny, are a pair of spendthrifts who can't hold on to money,...

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The Cavalier

as Lucia's Aunt
Released: 1928-11-01

In old Mexico a masked rider (Talmadge) and an impoverished girl (Bedford) fall in love, against...

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The Demi-Bride

as School Teacher
Released: 1927-02-19

Trouble begins when Mme. Girard steps out on her husband, Criquette's father, to fool around...

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The Deadwood Coach

as Matilda Shields - in play
Released: 1924-12-07

A man searches for the villains who murdered his parents

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Girls

as Matron Helen Hunt
Released: 1927-03-27

When the girls on campus learn that Tom Drake is so super-shy that he never kissed a girl, they...

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Timothy's Quest

as Townswoman
Released: 1922-09-16

Timothy and Gay, orphans from the slums of Boston, escape to Maine in search of a home and...

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The Wild Girl

as Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Released: 1917-09-01

A dying stranger abandons a baby girl in a gypsy camp, with a note explaining that on her...

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Memories and Melodies

as Customer (uncredited)
Released: 1935-02-16

This Technicolor short features the songs of the great American popular composer Stephen Collins...

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The Fortune Hunter

as Betty Carpenter
Released: 1927-01-18

The Fortune Hunter is a lost 1927 silent film comedy directed by Charles Reisner and starring...

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Midnight Faces

as Mrs. Hart
Released: 1926-03-24

A young man inherits a mansion in a Florida swamp from an uncle he never knew he had. When he,...

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Prunella

as uncredited
Released: 1918-01-01

When Tourneur adapted the allegorical plays The Blue Bird by Belgian symbolist Maurice...

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A Trick of Hearts

as The Mayor
Released: 1928-03-18

In this comedy-western, based on the life of Henry Irving Dodge, our cowboy hero keeps his...

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A Royal Romance

as Miss McPherson
Released: 1917-04-30

Princess Sylvia refuses to marry the Emperor Maximilian of Rhaetia because his proposal has been...

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