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.
Photos
Movies (54)
They Met in Bombay
1941 · Duchess of Beltravers
The Lady from Cheyenne
1941 · Mrs. McGuinness
The Bank Dick
1940 · Mrs. Hermisillo Brunch
I Want a Divorce
1940 · Grandma Brokaw
The Girl from Avenue A
1940 · Mrs. Van Dyne
I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
1940 · Mama McGann
Star Dust
1940 · Aunt Martha Parker
The Blue Bird
1940 · Fairy Berylune
Drums Along the Mohawk
1939 · Mrs. Weaver
Mickey the Kid
1939 · Veronica Hudson
The Kid From Texas
1939 · Aunt Minetta
Cafe Society
1939 · Mrs. De Witt
St. Louis Blues
1939 · Aunt Tibbie
Four Girls in White
1939 · Miss Tobias
Port of Seven Seas
1938 · Honorine
Hold That Kiss
1938 · Aunt Lucy
Love Is a Headache
1938 · Sheriff Janet Winfield
Double Wedding
1937 · Mrs. Kensington-Bly
The Romance of Celluloid
1937 · Self
The Good Earth
1937 · Cuckoo
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
1937 · The Duchess of Ebley
Camille
1936 · Nanine
After the Thin Man
1936 · Katherine Forrest
Walking on Air
1936 · Evelyn Bennett
Bunker Bean
1936 · Grandmother
San Francisco
1936 · Mrs. Maisie Burley
The Unguarded Hour
1936 · Lady Agatha Hathaway
Yellow Dust
1936 · Mrs. Brian
Little Lord Fauntleroy
1936 · Applewoman
The Garden Murder Case
1936 · Mrs. Hammle
Captain Blood
1935 · Mrs. Barlow
I Found Stella Parish
1935 · Nana
Metropolitan
1935 · Charwoman
I Live My Life
1935 · Mrs. O.H.B. Gage, Kay's Grandmother
Jalna
1935 · Gran Whiteoaks
Paris in Spring
1935 · Countess de Charelle
Mark of the Vampire
1935 · Midwife
Les Misérables
1935 · Madame Magloire
Vanessa: Her Love Story
1935 · Lady Mullion
Enchanted April
1935 · Mrs. Phoebe Fisher
David Copperfield
1935 · Clara Peggotty
Evelyn Prentice
1934 · Mrs. Blake
We Live Again
1934 · Matrona Pavlovna
The Affairs of Cellini
1934 · Beatrice
One Night of Love
1934 · Angelina
Murder at the Vanities
1934 · Mrs. Helene Smith
Coming Out Party
1934 · Nora
Nana
1934 · Zoe
Cocktail Hour
1933 · Princess
Ann Carver's Profession
1933 · Terry
Elmer, the Great
1933 · Sarah Crosby (uncredited)
Child of Manhattan
1933 · Aunt Minnie
Such a Little Queen
1921 · Mary
The Madonna of the Slums
1919
