Cast & creator
Jessie Ralph
Best known for MGM Parade, Captain Blood, After the Thin Man
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.
Also known as: Jessie Ralph Chambers, Jessie Rolph, Jessie Ralph Patton
54
film credits
1
television credits
55
1919–1955 · acting roles
6.7
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (55)
Showing 55 of 55 credits
MGM Parade
self
1955
Captain Blood
Mrs. Barlow
1935
After the Thin Man
Katherine Forrest
1936
Camille
Nanine
1936
Mark of the Vampire
Midwife
1935
Drums Along the Mohawk
Mrs. Weaver
1939
David Copperfield
Clara Peggotty
1935
They Met in Bombay
Duchess of Beltravers
1941
San Francisco
Mrs. Maisie Burley
1936
Les Misérables
Madame Magloire
1935
Evelyn Prentice
Mrs. Blake
1934
Murder at the Vanities
Mrs. Helene Smith
1934
I Live My Life
Mrs. O.H.B. Gage, Kay's Grandmother
1935
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
The Duchess of Ebley
1937
The Blue Bird
Fairy Berylune
1940
The Kid From Texas
Aunt Minetta
1939
One Night of Love
Angelina
1934
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Applewoman
1936
The Bank Dick
Mrs. Hermisillo Brunch
1940
I Found Stella Parish
Nana
1935
Love Is a Headache
Sheriff Janet Winfield
1938
I Want a Divorce
Grandma Brokaw
1940
I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
Mama McGann
1940
The Romance of Celluloid
Self
1937
The Good Earth
Cuckoo
1937
Port of Seven Seas
Honorine
1938
Four Girls in White
Miss Tobias
1939
Vanessa: Her Love Story
Lady Mullion
1935
The Affairs of Cellini
Beatrice
1934
The Lady from Cheyenne
Mrs. McGuinness
1941
The Garden Murder Case
Mrs. Hammle
1936
The Girl from Avenue A
Mrs. Van Dyne
1940
We Live Again
Matrona Pavlovna
1934
Hold That Kiss
Aunt Lucy
1938
Ann Carver's Profession
Terry
1933
Elmer, the Great
Sarah Crosby (uncredited)
1933
Such a Little Queen
Mary
1921
Double Wedding
Mrs. Kensington-Bly
1937
Walking on Air
Evelyn Bennett
1936
Metropolitan
Charwoman
1935
Paris in Spring
Countess de Charelle
1935
Enchanted April
Mrs. Phoebe Fisher
1935
The Madonna of the Slums
1919
Bunker Bean
Grandmother
1936
St. Louis Blues
Aunt Tibbie
1939
Cocktail Hour
Princess
1933
Nana
Zoe
1934
The Unguarded Hour
Lady Agatha Hathaway
1936
Child of Manhattan
Aunt Minnie
1933
Cafe Society
Mrs. De Witt
1939
Yellow Dust
Mrs. Brian
1936
Jalna
Gran Whiteoaks
1935
Star Dust
Aunt Martha Parker
1940
Coming Out Party
Nora
1934
Mickey the Kid
Veronica Hudson
1939