Jessie Ralph
Acting • Born 1864-11-04 – Died 1944-05-30
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jessie Ralph (born Jessie Ralph Chambers, November 5, 1864 – May 30, 1944) was an American stage and screen actress, best known for her matronly roles in many classic motion pictures. She was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1864. She made her acting debut in 1880, at the age of sixteen. She made it to Broadway, where George M. Cohan cast her in many of his musicals, but she also excelled at dramatic roles. Although she made her Hollywood debut in 1916, in a motion picture career that would eventually span 25 years, she only became a permanent Hollywood actress in 1933. She was nearly 70 at this time, so her roles were limited to matronly roles, but her expertise at stealing scenes captured the imagination of cinema-goers of the time. Her best-known roles are as Greta Garbo's maid in Camille, as W.C. Fields' battle-axe of a mother-in-law in The Bank Dick, as Myrna Loy's supercilious aunt Katherine in After the Thin Man, and as Nurse Peggotty in David Copperfield. She starred in 55 movies altogether, 52 between 1933 and 1941. Jessie Ralph retired from Hollywood in 1941, after her leg was amputated. She died four years later in her home town of Gloucester at the age of 79. She was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Filmography
55 credits
The Bank Dick
Movie • 1940
Mrs. Hermisillo Brunch
Double Wedding
Movie • 1937
Mrs. Kensington-Bly
The Madonna of the Slums
Movie • 1919
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Movie • 1936
Applewoman
After the Thin Man
Movie • 1936
Aunt Katherine Forrest
Camille
Movie • 1936
Nanine
Les Misérables
Movie • 1935
Madame Magloire
Elmer, the Great
Movie • 1933
Sarah Crosby (uncredited)
Captain Blood
Movie • 1935
Mrs. Barlow
Murder at the Vanities
Movie • 1934
Mrs. Helene Smith
Drums Along the Mohawk
Movie • 1939
Mrs. Weaver
Cocktail Hour
Movie • 1933
Princess
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Movie • 1937
The Duchess of Ebley
Evelyn Prentice
Movie • 1934
Mrs. Blake
One Night of Love
Movie • 1934
Angelina
Child of Manhattan
Movie • 1933
Aunt Minnie
The Affairs of Cellini
Movie • 1934
Beatrice
The Lady from Cheyenne
Movie • 1941
Mrs. McGuinness
Port of Seven Seas
Movie • 1938
Honorine
The Kid From Texas
Movie • 1939
Aunt Minetta
Enchanted April
Movie • 1935
Mrs. Phoebe Fisher
The Unguarded Hour
Movie • 1936
Lady Agatha Hathaway
Bunker Bean
Movie • 1936
Grandmother
Love Is a Headache
Movie • 1938
Sheriff Janet Winfield
I Want a Divorce
Movie • 1940
Grandma Brokaw
Metropolitan
Movie • 1935
Charwoman
Ann Carver's Profession
Movie • 1933
Terry
Hold That Kiss
Movie • 1938
Aunt Lucy
I Found Stella Parish
Movie • 1935
Nana
David Copperfield
Movie • 1935
Clara Peggotty
Walking on Air
Movie • 1936
Evelyn Bennett
We Live Again
Movie • 1934
Matrona Pavlovna
Nana
Movie • 1934
Zoe
Yellow Dust
Movie • 1936
Mrs. Brian
The Blue Bird
Movie • 1940
Fairy Berylune
Star Dust
Movie • 1940
Aunt Martha Parker
Paris in Spring
Movie • 1935
Countess de Charelle
Cafe Society
Movie • 1939
Mrs. De Witt
Four Girls in White
Movie • 1939
Miss Tobias
Jalna
Movie • 1935
Gran Whiteoaks
Mickey the Kid
Movie • 1939
Veronica Hudson
I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
Movie • 1940
Mama McGann
St. Louis Blues
Movie • 1939
Aunt Tibbie
I Live My Life
Movie • 1935
Mrs. O.H.B. Gage, Kay's Grandmother
Vanessa: Her Love Story
Movie • 1935
Lady Mullion
The Good Earth
Movie • 1937
Cuckoo
The Garden Murder Case
Movie • 1936
Mrs. Hammle
The Romance of Celluloid
Movie • 1937
Self
They Met in Bombay
Movie • 1941
Duchess of Beltravers
San Francisco
Movie • 1936
Mrs. Maisie Burley
Mark of the Vampire
Movie • 1935
Midwife
Coming Out Party
Movie • 1934
Nora
The Girl from Avenue A
Movie • 1940
Mrs. Van Dyne
Such a Little Queen
Movie • 1921
Mary
MGM Parade
TV • 1955
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