
Zeffie Tilbury
Acting • Born 1863-11-18 – Died 1950-07-24
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Zeffie Agnes Lydia Tilbury (November 20, 1863 – July 24, 1950) was an English actress. Tilbury was known first on the London stage and on Broadway in New York City. In 1881, she debuted on stage in Nine Points of the Law at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, England. She is today best known for playing wise or evil older characters in films, such as the distinguished lady gambler at dinner with Garbo in The Single Standard, as the pitiful Grandma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath and Grandma Lester in Tobacco Road. She appeared in over 70 films. Her earliest surviving silent film is the Valentino / Nazimova 1921 production of Camille. Tilbury is probably best remembered as the old lady who is befriended by Spanky and his friends on her birthday and, as a result, is transformed from a lonely, disagreeable recluse to a happy and loving carefree soul in the 1936 Hal Roach Our Gang comedy Second Childhood. In the same year she also portrayed the Gypsy Queen in the Laurel and Hardy film The Bohemian Girl. Tilbury was married twice. First to Arthur Frederick Lewis in June, 1887, and later to L. E. Woodthorpe, who died on April 8, 1915. She died in Los Angeles, California in 1950 at the age of 86.
Filmography
74 credits
The Grapes of Wrath
Movie • 1940
Grandma Joad

Werewolf of London
Movie • 1935
Mrs. Moncaster

Arrest Bulldog Drummond
Movie • 1938
Aunt Meg

Bulldog Drummond Comes Back
Movie • 1937
Zeffie

Bulldog Drummond Escapes
Movie • 1937
Drunk in Jail Cell

Tobacco Road
Movie • 1941
Grandma Lester

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
Movie • 1939
Mrs. Sanders

The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Movie • 1935
The Opium Woman

Desire
Movie • 1936
Aunt Olga

The Single Standard
Movie • 1929
Mrs. Handley

The Gorgeous Hussy
Movie • 1936
Mrs. Daniel Beall

Bulldog Drummond's Peril
Movie • 1938
Mrs. Weevens

Rhythm in the Clouds
Movie • 1937
The Duchess de Lovely

She Couldn't Say No
Movie • 1940
Ma Hawkins

A Society Exile
Movie • 1919
Mrs. Stanley Shelby

The Avalanche
Movie • 1919
Mrs. Ruyler

The King Without a Crown
Movie • 1937
Dying Duchess Marie (uncredited)

The Fuller Gush Man
Movie • 1934
Grandma

Boy Trouble
Movie • 1939
Mrs. Jepson

The Ship from Shanghai
Movie • 1930
Lady Daley

Alice Adams
Movie • 1935
Mrs. Dresser (uncredited)

Women Must Dress
Movie • 1935
Peg Martin

Mothers of Men
Movie • 1920
Mrs. De La Motte

It Happened in Hollywood
Movie • 1937
Miss Gordon

Camille
Movie • 1921
Prudence

Woman Against Woman
Movie • 1938
Grandma

Tell No Tales
Movie • 1939
Miss Mary

Give Me Your Heart
Movie • 1936
Esther Warren

Midnight Taxi
Movie • 1937
Mrs. Lane

The White Angel
Movie • 1936
Woman Donating Sheets (uncredited)

Ocean Swells
Movie • 1934
Auntie

Lady of the Tropics
Movie • 1939
Woman Congratulating Manon

Balalaika
Movie • 1939
Natalya Petrovna

Charlie Chan Carries On
Movie • 1931
Mrs. Luce

Hideaway
Movie • 1937
Mrs. Beamish

Kidnapped
Movie • 1938
Old Woman

Maid of Salem
Movie • 1937
Goody Hodgers

The Earl of Chicago
Movie • 1940
Miss Nana (uncredited)

Emergency Squad
Movie • 1940
Mrs. Cobb

Federal Bullets
Movie • 1937
Mrs. Crippen

Grandma's Buoys
Movie • 1936
Grandma

Mystery Liner
Movie • 1934
Granny Plimpton

Two Alone
Movie • 1934
Rogers' Neighbor (uncredited)

Sheriff of Tombstone
Movie • 1941
Granny Carson

After the Thin Man
Movie • 1936
Aunt Lucy (uncredited)

Under Cover of Night
Movie • 1937
Mrs. Nash

Navy Wife
Movie • 1935
Bridge Player

Stranded
Movie • 1935
Old Hag (uncredited)

The Last Days of Pompeii
Movie • 1935
The Wise Woman (uncredited)

Bachelor Bait
Movie • 1934
Miss Turner (uncredited)

Public Hero Number 1
Movie • 1935
Deaf Woman in Scottsdale Bar (uncredited)

Marie Antoinette
Movie • 1938
Dowager at Birth of Dauphin (uncredited)

Vamp Till Ready
Movie • 1936
Woman

Second Childhood
Movie • 1936
Grandma

Another Scandal
Movie • 1924
Brownie

Flying with Music
Movie • 1942
Fortune Teller

Comin' Round the Mountain
Movie • 1940
Granny Stokes

Hunted Men
Movie • 1938
Flower Woman

Parnell
Movie • 1937
Old Lady

Camille
Movie • 1936
Old Duchess Bidding 3750 Francs

Old Hutch
Movie • 1936
Elderly Woman in Bank

Parole!
Movie • 1936
Molly Smith

Anthony Adverse
Movie • 1936
Old Woman at Chalet

The Bohemian Girl
Movie • 1936
Gypsy Queen

Bad Boy
Movie • 1935
Deaf Woman

The Farmer Takes a Wife
Movie • 1935
Old Townswoman

Blind Adventure
Movie • 1933

Made on Broadway
Movie • 1933
Aunt Ada

The Night of Love
Movie • 1927
Lady in Waiting

Big Game
Movie • 1921
Aunt Sarah Winthrop

The Marriage of William Ashe
Movie • 1921
Lady Tranmore

Clothes
Movie • 1920
Mrs. Cathcart

Blind Man's Luck
Movie • 1917
Mrs. Guerton

MGM Parade
TV • 1955
Self