Jessie Ralph
Jessie Ralph | |
---|---|
Born | Jessie Ralph Chambers November 5, 1864 |
Died | May 30, 1944 | (aged 79)
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1880–1941 |
Spouse | William Patton (his death) |
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.[citation needed]
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.
Complete filmography
- A Ringer for Max (1915 short)
- The Galloper (1915)
- Mary's Lamb (1915)
- New York (1916)
- The Madonna of the Slums (1919 short)
- Such a Little Queen (1921)
- Child of Manhattan (1933)
- Elmer, the Great (1933) (uncredited)
- Cocktail Hour (1933)
- Ann Carver's Profession (1933)
- Nana (1934)
- Coming Out Party (1934)
- Murder at the Vanities (1934)
- The Affairs of Cellini (1934)
- One Night of Love (1934)
- We Live Again (1934)
- Evelyn Prentice (1934)
- David Copperfield (1935)
- Enchanted April (1935)
- Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935)
- Les Misérables (1935)
- Mark of the Vampire (1935)
- Paris in Spring (1935)
- Jalna (1935)
- I Live My Life (1935)
- Metropolitan (1935)
- I Found Stella Parish (1935)
- Captain Blood (1935)
- The Garden Murder Case (1936)
- Yellow Dust (1936)
- Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
- The Unguarded Hour (1936)
- San Francisco (1936)
- Bunker Bean (1936)
- Walking on Air (1936)
- Camille (1936)
- After the Thin Man (1936)
- The Good Earth (1937)
- The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937)
- Double Wedding (1937)
- Love Is a Headache (1938)
- Hold That Kiss (1938)
- Port of Seven Seas (1938)
- Four Girls in White (1939)
- St. Louis Blues (1939)
- Cafe Society (1939)
- The Kid from Texas (1939)
- Mickey the Kid (1939)
- Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
- The Blue Bird (1940)
- Star Dust (1940)
- I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby (1940)
- Girl from Avenue A (1940)
- I Want a Divorce (1940)
- The Bank Dick (1940)
- The Lady from Cheyenne (1941)
- They Met in Bombay (1941)
External links
- Jessie Ralph at IMDb
- Jessie Ralph at the Internet Broadway Database
- Jessie Ralph portrait at NY Public Library Billy Rose Collection