Jessie Ralph
Known for: Acting
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
Series
MGM Parade
self
1955
Film
Captain Blood
Mrs. Barlow
1935
Film
Camille
Nanine
1936
Film
David Copperfield
Clara Peggotty
1935
Film
After the Thin Man
Katherine Forrest
1936
Film
San Francisco
Mrs. Maisie Burley
1936
Film
The Bank Dick
Mrs. Hermisillo Brunch
1940
Film
The Good Earth
Cuckoo
1937
Film
Les Misérables
Madame Magloire
1935
Film
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Applewoman
1936
Film
One Night of Love
Angelina
1934
Film
Evelyn Prentice
Mrs. Blake
1934
Film
The Blue Bird
Fairy Berylune
1940
Film
Drums Along the Mohawk
Mrs. Weaver
1939
Film
Mark of the Vampire
Midwife
1935
Film
The Romance of Celluloid
Self
1937
Film
I Live My Life
Mrs. O.H.B. Gage, Kay's Grandmother
1935
Film
Port of Seven Seas
Honorine
1938
Film
I Found Stella Parish
Nana
1935
Film
Double Wedding
Mrs. Kensington-Bly
1937
Film
Cocktail Hour
Princess
1933
Film
Murder at the Vanities
Mrs. Helene Smith
1934
Film
I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
Mama McGann
1940
Film
The Affairs of Cellini
Beatrice
1934
Film
We Live Again
Matrona Pavlovna
1934
Film
Hold That Kiss
Aunt Lucy
1938
Film
Cafe Society
Mrs. De Witt
1939
Film
The Girl from Avenue A
Mrs. Van Dyne
1940
Film
The Kid From Texas
Aunt Minetta
1939
Film
Love Is a Headache
Sheriff Janet Winfield
1938
Film
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
The Duchess of Ebley
1937
Film
Enchanted April
Mrs. Phoebe Fisher
1935
Film
Walking on Air
Evelyn Bennett
1936
Film
The Garden Murder Case
Mrs. Hammle
1936
Film
They Met in Bombay
Duchess of Beltravers
1941
Film
Elmer, the Great
Sarah Crosby (uncredited)
1933
Film
Yellow Dust
Mrs. Brian
1936
Film
Child of Manhattan
Aunt Minnie
1933
Film
Vanessa: Her Love Story
Lady Mullion
1935
Film
The Lady from Cheyenne
Mrs. McGuinness
1941
Film
I Want a Divorce
Grandma Brokaw
1940
Film
St. Louis Blues
Aunt Tibbie
1939
Film
Nana
Zoe
1934
Film
Four Girls in White
Miss Tobias
1939
Film
Ann Carver's Profession
Terry
1933
Film
Mickey the Kid
Veronica Hudson
1939
Film
Bunker Bean
Grandmother
1936
Film
Jalna
Gran Whiteoaks
1935
Film
Star Dust
Aunt Martha Parker
1940
Film
Paris in Spring
Countess de Charelle
1935
Film
The Unguarded Hour
Lady Agatha Hathaway
1936
Film
Coming Out Party
Nora
1934
Film
Such a Little Queen
Mary
1921
Film
Metropolitan
Charwoman
1935
Film
The Madonna of the Slums
1919