Zeffie Tilbury
Zeffie Agnes Lydia Tilbury (20 November 1863 – 24 July 1950) was an English actress.[1][2]
Zeffie Tilbury | |
|---|---|
 Tilbury as Grandma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940) | |
| Born | Zeffie Agnes Lydia Tilbury 20 November 1863 Paddington, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 24 July 1950 (aged 86) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Years active | 1917–1942 |
| Spouse(s) | L. E. Woodthorpe (?–1915) (his death) Arthur Frederick Lewis (1887–?) |
Early years
Born in Paddington, Middlesex, England, Tilbury was the only child of the variety performer Lydia Thompson and John Christian Tilbury, a riding-master, who died in a steeplechasing accident in 1864, when he was rolled on by his horse.[3]
Personal life
Tilbury was married twice. First to Arthur Frederick Lewis in June, 1887, and later to L. E. Woodthorpe, who died on 8 April 1915. She died in Los Angeles, California in 1950 at the age of 86.[4]
Career
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Tilbury was known first on the London stage and on Broadway in New York City.[5] In 1881, she debuted on stage in Nine Points of the Law at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, England.[6]
She is today best known for playing wise or evil older characters in films, such as the distinguished lady gambler at dinner with Garbo in The Single Standard, as the pitiful Grandma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath and Grandma Lester in Tobacco Road.
She appeared in over 70 films.[4] Her earliest surviving silent film is the Valentino / Nazimova 1921 production of Camille. Tilbury is probably best remembered as the old lady who is befriended by Spanky and his friends on her birthday and, as a result, is transformed from a lonely, disagreeable recluse to a happy and loving carefree soul in the 1936 Hal Roach Our Gang comedy Second Childhood. In the same year she also portrayed the Gypsy Queen in the Laurel and Hardy film The Bohemian Girl.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1917 | Blind Man's Luck | Mrs. Guerton | |
| 1919 | The Avalanche | Mrs. Ruyler | Lost film |
| A Society Exile | Mrs. Stanley Shelby | ||
| 1920 | Mothers of Men | Mrs. De La Motte | |
| Clothes | Mrs. Cathcart | Lost film | |
| 1921 | The Marriage of William Ashe | Lady Tranmore | |
| Big Game | |||
| Camille | Prudence | ||
| 1924 | Another Scandal | Brownie | Lost film |
| 1927 | The Night of Love | Lady in Waiting | Uncredited |
| 1929 | The Single Standard | Mrs. Handley | |
| 1930 | The Ship from Shanghai | Lady Daley | |
| 1931 | Charlie Chan Carries On | Mrs. Luce | Lost film |
| 1933 | Made on Broadway | Aunt Ada | Uncredited |
| Blind Adventure | Uncredited | ||
| 1934 | Two Alone | Rogers' Neighbor | Uncredited |
| Mystery Liner | Granny Plimpton | ||
| Bachelor Bait | Miss Turner | Uncredited | |
| 1935 | Women Must Dress | Peg Martin | |
| The Mystery of Edwin Drood | The Opium Woman | ||
| Werewolf of London | Mrs. Moncaster | ||
| Public Hero No. 1 | Deaf Woman in Scottsdale Bar | Uncredited | |
| Stranded | Old Hag | Uncredited | |
| The Farmer Takes a Wife | Old Townswoman | Uncredited | |
| Alice Adams | Mrs. Dresser | Uncredited | |
| Navy Wife | Bridge Player | Uncredited | |
| The Last Days of Pompeii | The Wise Woman | ||
| Bad Boy | Deaf Woman | Uncredited | |
| 1936 | The Bohemian Girl | Gypsy Queen | |
| Desire | Aunt Olga | ||
| Second Childhood | Grandma | Short | |
| Parole! | Molly Smith | Uncredited | |
| The White Angel | Woman Donating Sheets | Uncredited | |
| Anthony Adverse | Old Woman at Chalet | Uncredited | |
| The Gorgeous Hussy | Mrs. Daniel Beall | ||
| Give Me Your Heart | Esther Warren | ||
| Old Hutch | Elderly Woman in Bank | Uncredited | |
| Camille | Old Duchess Bidding 3750 Francs | Uncredited | |
| After the Thin Man | Aunt Lucy | Uncredited | |
| 1937 | Under Cover of Night | Mrs. Nash | |
| Bulldog Drummond Escapes | Jail Cell Drunk | Uncredited | |
| Maid of Salem | Goody Rogers | ||
| Midnight Taxi | Mrs. Lane | Uncredited | |
| Parnell | Old Lady | Uncredited | |
| Rhythm in the Clouds | Maggie Conway - the Duchess de Lovely | ||
| Hideaway | Mrs. Beamish | Uncredited | |
| Fit for a King | Duchess Louise - Reception Guest | Uncredited | |
| Bulldog Drummond Comes Back | Effie | ||
| It Happened in Hollywood | Miss Gordon | ||
| Federal Bullets | Mrs. Crippen | ||
| 1938 | Bulldog Drummond's Peril | Mrs. Weevens | |
| Kidnapped | Old Woman | Uncredited | |
| Hunted Men | Flower Woman | Uncredited | |
| Woman Against Woman | Grandma | ||
| Marie Antoinette | Dowager at Birth of Dauphin | Uncredited | |
| Block-Heads | Dowager Seated Near Stairs | (scenes deleted) | |
| Arrest Bulldog Drummond | Aunt Meg | ||
| 1939 | Boy Trouble | Mrs. Jepson | |
| The Story of Alexander Graham Bell | Mrs. Sanders | ||
| Tell No Tales | Miss Mary | ||
| Lady of the Tropics | Woman Congratulating Manon | Uncredited | |
| Balalaika | Princess Natalya Petrovna | ||
| 1940 | Emergency Squad | Mrs. Cobb | Uncredited |
| The Earl of Chicago | Miss Nana | Uncredited | |
| The Grapes of Wrath | Grandma Joad | ||
| Comin' Round the Mountain | Granny Stokes | ||
| She Couldn't Say No | Ma Hawkins | ||
| 1941 | Tobacco Road | Grandma Lester | |
| Sheriff of Tombstone | Granny Carson | ||
| 1942 | Flying with Music | Fortune Teller | Uncredited, (final film role) |
References
- Zeffie Tilbury profile at Probert Encyclopedia
- Zeffie Tilbury profile at Cinemorgue
- Gänzl, Kurt. Lydia Thompson in Encyclopaedia of the Musical Theatre, Blackwell/Schirmer (1994)
- Zeffie Tilbury, The Internet Movie Database
- "Classical Plays: Souvenirs and Portraits", Rob Wilton Theatricalia
- Nissen, Axel (2016). Accustomed to Her Face: Thirty-Five Character Actresses of Golden Age Hollywood. McFarland. p. 192. ISBN 9781476626062. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
External links
- Zeffie Tilbury at IMDb
- Zeffie Tilbury at the TCM Movie Database
- Zeffie Tilbury at the Internet Broadway Database
- Zeffie Tilbury portrait at NYP Library
- Zeffie Tilbury at Find a Grave
- signed photograph(archived)
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