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Biography
Jessie Ralph Patton (born Chambers, November 5, 1864 – May 30, 1944), known as Jessie Ralph, was an American stage and screen actress, best known for her matronly roles in many classic movies.
She was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1864 and made her acting debut in stock theater in 1880 at age 16. On Broadway, George M. Cohan cast her in many of his musicals, but she also appeared in dramatic roles. Her Broadway debut came in The Kreutzer Sonata (1906), and her final appearance on Broadway came in The Good Earth (1932).Ralph debuted in two-reel films in New York in 1915 and went to Hollywood in 1933. in a motion picture career that eventually spanned 25 years, she became a permanent Hollywood actress in 1933. She was nearly 70 at this time, so her parts 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.
Personal Life
She was married to actor William Patton.
Movies & TV shows
1941.
2 Movies
The Lady from Cheyenne
1941
Fictionalized story of the 1869 adoption of women's suffrage in Wyoming Territory. In the new-founded railroad town of Laraville, Boss Jim Cork hopes to manipulate the sale of town lots to give him co...
They Met in Bombay
1941
A jewel thief and a con artist are rivals in the theft of a valuable gem as the Japanese army invades China.
1940.
4 Movies
Star Dust
1940
When the studios reject her because she"s too young, a young actress sets out to build a career on her own.
The Bank Dick
1940
Egbert Sousé becomes an unexpected hero when a bank robber falls over a bench he's occupying. Now considered brave, Egbert is given a job as a bank guard. Soon, he is approached by charlatan J. Frothi...
The Blue Bird
1940
An ungrateful girl and her little brother are transported in their dreams by a fairy to a wonderland, tasked with finding the mythical blue bird of happiness, and meeting friends and foes along the wa...
1939.
6 Movies
Mickey the Kid
1939
A bank robber and his boy make a run for it during winter in a bus full of children.
Four Girls in White
1939
Young Women go through Nursing School together, each with there own motivation for being there. They learn more than how to be a Nurse.
Drums Along the Mohawk
4
1939
The state of New York was founded in the 17th century. After marrying, Gil and Lana travel north to settle on a small farm in the Mohawk River Valley, but soon their growing prosperity and happiness a...
St. Louis Blues
1939
A Broadway musical comedy star tires of the same old grind and flees the city. She runs into the skipper of a showboat who befriends her, and they make plans to put together a musical revue. But a com...
Cafe Society
1939
A pampered heiress (Madeleine Carroll) elopes with a shipboard reporter (Fred MacMurray) just to get her name in a society column.
The Kid From Texas
1939
A loud-mouthed Texas cowpuncher tries his hand at polo finding himself at odds with high society and trying to save a floundering Wild West show.
1938.
3 Movies
Hold That Kiss
1938
Two young people meet at a wedding and begin dating, each thinking the other is wealthy. There is a lot of comedy.
Love Is a Headache
1938
A press agent for a Broadway actress whose career is going downhill is trying to get her some publicity by having her adopt two orphans without her knowledge.
Port of Seven Seas
1938
In the French port of Marseille, a young woman named Madelon is in love with a young sailor, Marius. Discovering she is pregnant after Marius sets out to sea for several years, she marries another man...
1937.
4 Movies
Double Wedding
1937
A bohemian free spirit helps meek Waldo win back his fiancée and falls in love with her over-controlling sister in the process.
The Romance of Celluloid
1937
Several behind the scenes aspects of the movie-making business, which results in the enjoyment the movie going public has in going to the theater, are presented. They include: the production of cellul...
The Good Earth
1937
China, during the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The arranged marriage between Wang Lung, a humble farmer, and O-Lan, a domestic slave, will endure the many hardships of life over the years; but the tempta...
1936.
9 Movies
Yellow Dust
1936
After he's accused of a series of stagecoach robberies, an innocent man has to find the real crooks.
The Garden Murder Case
4.5
1936
Detective Philo Vance is in charge of the investigation of several murders. Things take a turn when he gets evidence against Major Fenwicke- Ralston.
Camille
1936
The gray morning after 1847 Paris is as unforgiving as the spirited life of the year before. In gambling dens and lavish soirees, men of means exert their wills and women of means enjoy themselves. On...
San Francisco
1936
In the days before the big earthquake, a beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner.
Little Lord Fauntleroy
1936
An American boy becomes the heir of a wealthy British earl. He was sent to live with his grandfather, who was an angry and unsentimental person.
After the Thin Man
5.28
1936
The shady owners of a popular nightclub, a singer and her dark brother, the cousin's true love, and a domineering aunt are all involved in the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a disreputable h...
The Unguarded Hour
1936
A blackmailer is trying to stop a woman from revealing information that could save a man's life.
Walking on Air
1936
A strong-willed young woman hires a student to impersonate a boorish French count and brings him home to meet her parents.
1935.
11 Movies
Paris in Spring
1935
Afraid of marriage, Simone (Mary Ellis) breaks off her long term engagement with her fiancé Paul de Lille (Tullio Carminati). Paul heads to the top of The Eiffel Tower with thoughts of suicide. In ano...
I Found Stella Parish
1935
A blackmailer preys on an actress who is trying to protect her daughter from her past.
Vanessa: Her Love Story
1935
The Victorian wife of a mad baron waits years for a British soldier sent to Egypt.
Metropolitan
1935
Opera prima donna leaves the Metropolitan to form her own company with Tibbett as leading man. She leaves this company too which means Tibbett and company must carry on without her.
Captain Blood
6
1935
There is a doctor named Dr. Peter Blood, who was exiled from England after being convicted of treason, becomes a notorious pirate.
Mark of the Vampire
6
1935
Count Mora, a vampire who prowled around his castle, is believed to have killed Sir Karell Borotyn. One year later, Irena is haunted by the vampire and will be his next victim unless Professor Zelen c...
David Copperfield
1935
The colorful characters who help and hinder the orphan boy in Charles Dickens' classic tale of a fight for happiness.
Les Misérables
1935
In early nineteenth-century France Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who failed to report to parole, is relentlessly pursued over a twenty-year period by Javert, an obsessive policeman.
Enchanted April
1935
Mrs. Lotty Wilkins is an unhappily wife whom's life husband and romance have departed. In order to possibly salvage some of the missing elements in her life she rents an old Italian mansion and sharin...
Jalna
1935
A young poet, accompanied by his new bride, returns home to his large family at their Canadian farm.
1934.
7 Movies
Murder at the Vanities
1934
Shortly before the curtain goes up the first time at the latest performance of Earl Carroll's Vanities, someone is attempting to injure the leading lady Ann Ware, who wants to marry leading man Eric L...
We Live Again
1934
Nekhludoff, a Russian nobleman serving on a jury, discovers that the young girl on trial, Katusha, is someone he once seduced and abandoned and that he himself bears responsibility for reducing her to...
One Night of Love
1934
Mary Barrett is an aspiring Opera singer who is taken under the wings of a famous operatic maestro, Guilio Monterverdi. After spending endless working hours together and arguing, their relationship de...
Coming Out Party
1934
In this romance, a lovely young debutante falls in love with a jazz violinist. Her mother wants her to marry a wealthy young man, but the strong-willed girl initially demurs until the night of her deb...
Nana
1934
Young Parisian Nana wards off of a boozed-up military officer at a local restaurant, and fellow diner Gaston Greiner is so impressed with her pluck that he decides to make her a performer at his music...
1933.
3 Movies
Ann Carver's Profession
1933
Newlyweds experience marital problems when the wife's highly successful job as an attorney overshadows her husband's stagnant career.
Cocktail Hour
1933
Cynthia Warren, independently wealthy through her ability as an illustrator and poster artist, rebels against the premise that every woman is destined for matrimony and motherhood, and decides she has...
Child of Manhattan
1933
Paul Vanderkill is extraordinarily wealthy because his grandfather happened to buy farmland in what was to become Midtown Manhattan. The Loveland Dance Hall is one of the tenants of the Vanderkill est...
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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jessie_Ralph", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.