Zeffie Tilbury

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Zeffie Agnes Lydia Tilbury (November 20, 1863 – July 24, 1950) was an English actress. Tilbury was known first on the London stage and on Broadway in New York City. In 1881, she debuted on stage in Nine Points of the Law at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, England. 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. 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. Tilbury was married twice. First to Arthur Frederick Lewis in June, 1887, and later to L. E. Woodthorpe, who died on April 8, 1915. She died in Los Angeles, California in 1950 at the age of 86.

Known For

MGM Parade

The Grapes of Wrath

Camille

The Last Days of Pompeii

Desire

Marie Antoinette

Alice Adams

Tobacco Road

All Movies (73)

• Flying with Music1942 · as Fortune Teller
• Sheriff of Tombstone1941 · as Granny Carson
• Tobacco Road1941 · as Grandma Lester
• She Couldn't Say No1940 · as Ma Hawkins
• Comin' Round the Mountain1940 · as Granny Stokes
• The Grapes of Wrath1940 · as Grandma Joad
• Emergency Squad1940 · as Mrs. Cobb
• The Earl of Chicago1940 · as Miss Nana (uncredited)
• Balalaika1939 · as Natalya Petrovna
• Lady of the Tropics1939 · as Woman Congratulating Manon
• Tell No Tales1939 · as Miss Mary
• The Story of Alexander Graham Bell1939 · as Mrs. Sanders
• Boy Trouble1939 · as Mrs. Jepson
• Arrest Bulldog Drummond1938 · as Aunt Meg
• Marie Antoinette1938 · as Dowager at Birth of Dauphin (uncredited)
• Woman Against Woman1938 · as Grandma
• Kidnapped1938 · as Old Woman
• Hunted Men1938 · as Flower Woman
• Bulldog Drummond's Peril1938 · as Mrs. Weevens
• Federal Bullets1937 · as Mrs. Crippen
• The King Without a Crown1937 · as Dying Duchess Marie (uncredited)
• Bulldog Drummond Comes Back1937 · as Zeffie
• It Happened in Hollywood1937 · as Miss Gordon
• Hideaway1937 · as Mrs. Beamish
• Rhythm in the Clouds1937 · as The Duchess de Lovely
• Parnell1937 · as Old Lady
• Midnight Taxi1937 · as Mrs. Lane
• Maid of Salem1937 · as Goody Hodgers
• Bulldog Drummond Escapes1937 · as Drunk in Jail Cell
• Under Cover of Night1937 · as Mrs. Nash
• Camille1936 · as Old Duchess Bidding 3750 Francs
• After the Thin Man1936 · as Aunt Lucy (uncredited)
• Grandma's Buoys1936 · as Grandma
• Old Hutch1936 · as Elderly Woman in Bank
• Give Me Your Heart1936 · as Esther Warren
• The Gorgeous Hussy1936 · as Mrs. Daniel Beall
• Anthony Adverse1936 · as Old Woman at Chalet
• The White Angel1936 · as Woman Donating Sheets (uncredited)
• Parole!1936 · as Molly Smith
• Desire1936 · as Aunt Olga
• Second Childhood1936 · as Grandma
• Vamp Till Ready1936 · as Woman
• The Bohemian Girl1936 · as Gypsy Queen
• Bad Boy1935 · as Deaf Woman
• The Last Days of Pompeii1935 · as The Wise Woman (uncredited)
• Navy Wife1935 · as Bridge Player
• Alice Adams1935 · as Mrs. Dresser (uncredited)
• The Farmer Takes a Wife1935 · as Old Townswoman
• Stranded1935 · as Old Hag (uncredited)
• Public Hero Number 11935 · as Deaf Woman in Scottsdale Bar (uncredited)
• Werewolf of London1935 · as Mrs. Moncaster
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood1935 · as The Opium Woman
• Women Must Dress1935 · as Peg Martin
• The Fuller Gush Man1934 · as Grandma
• Ocean Swells1934 · as Auntie
• Bachelor Bait1934 · as Miss Turner (uncredited)
• Mystery Liner1934 · as Granny Plimpton
• Two Alone1934 · as Rogers' Neighbor (uncredited)
• Blind Adventure1933
• Made on Broadway1933 · as Aunt Ada
• Charlie Chan Carries On1931 · as Mrs. Luce
• The Ship from Shanghai1930 · as Lady Daley
• The Single Standard1929 · as Mrs. Handley
• The Night of Love1927 · as Lady in Waiting
• Another Scandal1924 · as Brownie
• Camille1921 · as Prudence
• Big Game1921 · as Aunt Sarah Winthrop
• The Marriage of William Ashe1921 · as Lady Tranmore
• Clothes1920 · as Mrs. Cathcart
• Mothers of Men1920 · as Mrs. De La Motte
• A Society Exile1919 · as Mrs. Stanley Shelby
• The Avalanche1919 · as Mrs. Ruyler
• Blind Man's Luck1917 · as Mrs. Guerton

All TV Shows (1)

• MGM Parade1955 · as Self