{{Short description|English-American actress (1878–1951)}} {{Use American English|date=October 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Nora Cecil | image = Nora Cecil in The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917).jpg | caption = Cecil in ''The Poor Little Rich Girl'' (1917) | birth_date = {{Birth date|1878|09|26|mf=yes}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1951|05|01|1878|09|26|mf=yes}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1915–1947 | children = 2 }}
'''Nora Cecil''' (September 26, 1878 – May 1, 1951) was an English-born American actress whose 30-year career spanned both the silent and sound film eras.
== Career ==
===Stage=== Cecil's career began on the stage, when she debuted in London at age 19.<ref>{{cite news |title=Daughter in mother's steps |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44798802/nora_cecil/ |accessdate=February 17, 2020 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=September 20, 1929 |location=California, Los Angeles |page=23|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> She appeared in the Broadway production ''The Sleeping Beauty and the Beast'', which ran for more than 240 performances at the Broadway Theatre in 1901–1902.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=5510|publisher=Internet Broadway Database|title=The Sleeping Beauty and the Beast|accessdate=May 22, 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150424091533/http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=5510|archivedate=April 24, 2015}}</ref> (A 1930 newspaper article says that Cecil "made her debut, three decades ago, on the London stage.")<ref name="snd">{{cite news|title=Pianist Starts Music Dispute with Composer|newspaper=Shamokin News-Dispatch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4736488/shamokin_newsdispatch/|agency=Shamokin News-Dispatch|date=January 3, 1930|location=Pennsylvania, Shamokin|page=3|via= Newspapers.com|accessdate=March 24, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>
===Film=== Cecil appeared in well over 100 feature films and film shorts.<ref name=AFIF>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&Type=CA&Tbl=PN&CatID=&ID=118111&searchedFor=Nora_Cecil_&SortType=ASC&SortCol=RELEASE_YEAR|publisher=American Film Institute|title=Nora Cecil profile|accessdate=May 22, 2015}}</ref> In 1915, she moved from the stage into films, her first appearance being in a starring role in ''The Arrival of Perpetua'', directed by Émile Chautard.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=13677|title=The Arrival of Perpetua: Detail View|publisher=American Film Institute|accessdate=May 22, 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402013418/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=13677|archivedate=April 2, 2014}}</ref> She often played "welfare workers, landladies, schoolmistresses and maiden aunts".<ref name=am>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/artist/nora-cecil-p11933|publisher=AllMovie|title=Nora Cecil profile|accessdate=June 27, 2015}}</ref> [[File:Nora Cecil in Street Scene.jpg|thumb|right|Cecil in ''Street Scene'' (1931)]] [[File:Nora Cecil in Nothing Sacred.jpg|thumb|right|Cecil in ''Nothing Sacred'' (1937)]]
One of the most significant roles was in the W.C. Fields vehicle ''The Old Fashioned Way'' in 1934.<ref name=am/> Some of the other notable films in which Cecil appeared include Ernst Lubitsch's historical romance ''The Merry Widow'', starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=7352|title=The Merry Widow: Detail View|publisher=American Film Institute|accessdate= May 22, 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402034536/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=7352|archivedate=April 2, 2014}}</ref> the 1939 version of ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', starring Mickey Rooney;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=1896|title=The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Detail View|publisher=American Film Institute|accessdate=May 22, 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329190601/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=1896|archivedate=March 29, 2014}}</ref> and the John Ford classic ''Stagecoach'', with John Wayne.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=4173|title=Stagecoach: Detail View|publisher=American Film Institute|accessdate=May 22, 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417132322/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=4173|archivedate=April 17, 2015}}</ref>
Her final acting performance was in a small role as Louisa Ames in ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' in 1947, starring Rosalind Russell.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=25275|title=Mourning Becomes Electra: Detail View|publisher=American Film Institute|accessdate= May 22, 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328190326/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=25275|archivedate= March 28, 2014}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== Cecil was married to real estate broker Russell Evans, who died in 1949. They had two children: Dorothy Cecil, who was also an actress, with a short stage-career, and Kenneth Russell Evans, who became a petroleum engineer.<ref name=snd/>
She was cremated.{{Citation needed |date=April 2023}}
==Filmography== <!-- Please leave redlinks. They are for film titles which already either have a redlink on a disambiguation page, or there is another film with the same title which already has an article. It will aid anyone who creates an article for that film. Thank you! --> (Per AFI database)<ref name=AFIF />
{{div col|colwidth=30em}} * ''The Arrival of Perpetua'' (1915) * ''Alias Jimmy Valentine'' (1915) * ''The Wild Girl'' (1917, as Norah Cecile) * ''Royal Romance'' (1917) * ''The Little Duchess'' (1917) * ''American Buds'' (1918) * ''By Hook or Crook'' (1918) * ''The Love Net'' (1918) * ''The Zero Hour'' (1918) * ''The Appearance of Evil'' (1918) * ''The Power and the Glory'' (1918) * ''Prunella'' (1918) * ''Miss Crusoe'' (1919) * ''Woman, Woman!'' (1919) * ''Red Foam'' (1920) * ''The Daughter Pays'' (1920) * ''Footfalls'' (1921, uncredited) * ''Manslaughter'' (1922) * ''Darwin Was Right'' (1924) * ''The Deadwood Coach'' (1924) * ''Lightnin''' (1925, uncredited) * ''His Majesty, Bunker Bean'' (1925) * ''Born to Battle'' (1926, uncredited) * ''Chip of the Flying U'' (1926) * ''Midnight Faces'' (1926) * ''The Passionate Quest'' (1926) * ''The Demi-Bride'' (1927) * ''The Devil Dancer'' (1927) * ''The Fortune Hunter'' (1927) * ''Sensation Seekers'' (1927) * ''Born to Battle'' (1927) * ''The Silent Rider'' (1927) * ''A Trick of Hearts'' (1928) * ''The Big City'' (1928) * ''The Cavalier'' (1928) * ''The Baby Cyclone'' (1928) * ''Driftwood'' (1928) * ''Seven Footprints to Satan'' (1929) * ''The Little Accident'' (1930) * ''Only Saps Work'' (1930) * ''Outward Bound'' (1930) * ''Seven Days Leave'' (1930) * ''Street Scene'' (1931) * ''Caught Plastered'' (1931) * ''The Ruling Voice'' (1931) * ''Stepping Sisters'' (1932) * ''Doctor Bull'' (1933) * ''The Bitter Tea of General Yen'' (1933) * ''Peg O' My Heart'' (1933) * ''Design for Living'' (1933) * ''Laughing Boy'' (1934) * ''The Old Fashioned Way'' (1934) * ''You're Telling Me!'' (1934) * ''Upperworld'' (1934) * ''6 Day Bike Rider'' (1934) * ''Glamour'' (1934) * ''Chained'' (1934) * ''The Merry Widow'' (1934) * ''Pursued'' (1934) * ''Search for Beauty'' (1934) * ''Once to Every Woman'' (1934) * ''Gold Diggers of 1935'' (1935) * ''Collegiate'' (1935) * ''Car 99'' (1935) * ''Way Down East'' (1935) * ''Vagabond Lady'' (1935) * ''Woman Wanted'' (1935) * ''Grand Exit'' (1935) * ''Memories and Melodies'' (1935), a short about American composer Stephen Foster of Kentucky trying to sell a song at a local shop. She played a grumpy customer. * ''Dancing Pirate'' (1936) * ''Poppy'' (1936) * ''Fury'' (1936) * ''Career Woman'' (1936) * ''College Holiday'' (1936) * ''Girl of the Ozarks'' (1936) * ''Little Miss Nobody'' (1936) * ''Laughing at Trouble'' (1936) * ''We Went to College'' (1936) * ''Nothing Sacred'' (1937) * ''Champagne Waltz'' (1937) * ''The Mighty Treve'' (1937) * ''Easy Living'' (1937) * ''Night of Mystery'' (1937) * ''Blossoms on Broadway'' (1937) * ''Borrowing Trouble'' (1937) * ''She Asked for It'' (1937) * ''Partners in Crime'' (1937) * ''King of Alcatraz'' (1938) * ''Mr. Boggs Steps Out'' (1938) * ''International Settlement'' (1938) * ''No Time to Marry'' (1938) * ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1939) * ''Stagecoach'' (1939) as Boone's Landlady (uncredited) * ''The Story of Alexander Graham Bell'' (1939) * ''Union Pacific'' (1939) * ''Saint Louis Blues'' (1939) * ''What a Life'' (1939) * ''Anne of Windy Poplars'' (1940) * ''Lucky Partners'' (1940) * ''Those Were the Days!'' (1940) * ''The Captain Is a Lady'' (1940) * ''Young People'' (1940) * ''Queen of the Mob'' (1940) * ''A Girl, a Guy and a Gob'' (1941) * ''It Started with Eve'' (1941) * ''Three Girls About Town'' (1941) * ''Unexpected Uncle'' (1941) * ''Little Men'' (1941) * ''Apache Trail'' (1942) * ''Call Out the Marines'' (1942) * ''Daring Young Man'' (1942) * ''I Married a Witch'' (1942) as Harriet Wooley * ''Jail House Blues'' (1942) * ''Obliging Young Lady'' (1942) * ''Tish'' (1942) * ''The Wife Takes a Flyer'' (1942) * ''The Unknown Guest'' (1943) * ''The Miracle of Morgan's Creek'' (1944) * ''Together Again'' (1944) * ''The Thin Man Goes Home'' (1945) * ''Lady on a Train'' (1945) * ''Molly and Me'' (1945) * ''Johnny Comes Flying Home'' (1946) * ''The Kid from Brooklyn'' (1946) * ''The Missing Lady'' (1946) * ''No Leave, No Love'' (1946) * ''Two Sisters from Boston'' (1946) * ''Hollywood Bound'' (1946) * ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' (1947) * ''The Sea of Grass'' (1947)
{{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist|40em}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{IBDB name}} * {{IMDb name|0147704}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cecil, Nora}} Category:1878 births Category:1951 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses Category:20th-century English actresses Category:American film actresses Category:American silent film actresses Category:Actresses from London Category:English film actresses Category:English silent film actresses Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:Western (genre) film actresses