Jessie Ralph
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.
Acting
Movie
Captain Blood
as Mrs. Barlow
1935
Movie
After the Thin Man
as Katherine Forrest
1936
Movie
Camille
as Nanine
1936
Movie
Mark of the Vampire
as Midwife
1935
Movie
The Bank Dick
as Mrs. Hermisillo Brunch
1940
Movie
Drums Along the Mohawk
as Mrs. Weaver
1939
Movie
San Francisco
as Mrs. Maisie Burley
1936
Movie
The Good Earth
as Cuckoo
1937
Movie
David Copperfield
as Clara Peggotty
1935
Movie
Little Lord Fauntleroy
as Applewoman
1936
Movie
Les Misérables
as Madame Magloire
1935
Movie
The Blue Bird
as Fairy Berylune
1940
Movie
Double Wedding
as Mrs. Kensington-Bly
1937
Movie
Evelyn Prentice
as Mrs. Blake
1934
Movie
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
as The Duchess of Ebley
1937
Movie
They Met in Bombay
as Duchess of Beltravers
1941
Movie
One Night of Love
as Angelina
1934
Movie
The Garden Murder Case
as Mrs. Hammle
1936
Movie
The Affairs of Cellini
as Beatrice
1934
Movie
Murder at the Vanities
as Mrs. Helene Smith
1934
Movie
Elmer, the Great
as Sarah Crosby (uncredited)
1933
Movie
Cocktail Hour
as Princess
1933
Movie
I Live My Life
as Mrs. O.H.B. Gage, Kay's Grandmother
1935
Movie
Bunker Bean
as Grandmother
1936