Zeffie Tilbury

Acting

Zeffie Tilbury

Born 1863-11-18 · Paddington, London, England, UK

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.

Acting credits

The Grapes of Wrath poster
7.8

Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.

The Grapes of Wrath

1940

After the Thin Man poster
7.3

Nick and Nora Charles are back—and this time, their holiday takes a deadly turn! After returning to San Francisco, the sophisticated couple is drawn into the disappearance of Nora’s cousin’s husband. When he is found murdered, suspicion falls on the troubled family, and Nick reluctantly resumes his detective work. With Nora eagerly at his side, the pair follows a trail of jealousy, blackmail, secret relationships, and long-buried family scandals. William Powell and Myrna Loy sparkle as Hollywood’s most charming married sleuths, trading witty banter while unraveling a dangerous mystery. Directed by W. S. Van Dyke and written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, After the Thin Man delivers everything audiences love about the series: romance, comedy, suspense, elegant settings, and the irresistible return of Asta, Nick and Nora’s mischievous wire-haired terrier. This stylish 1936 sequel is a delightful blend of mystery and sophisticated fun.

After the Thin Man

1936

Camille poster
7.0

Life in 1847 Paris is as spirited as champagne and as unforgiving as the gray morning after. In gambling dens and lavish soirees, men of means exert their wills and women turned courtesans exult in pleasure. One such woman is Marguerite Gautier, who begins a sumptuous romance with Armand Duval.

Camille

1936

Desire poster
7.0

Madeleine steals a string of pearls in Paris and uses American engineer Tom, who is driving on his vacation to Spain, to get the pearls out of France. But getting the pearls back from him proves to be difficult without falling in love.

Desire

1936

Marie Antoinette poster
6.6

The young Austrian princess Marie Antoinette is arranged to marry Louis XVI, future king of France, in a politically advantageous marriage for the rival countries. The opulent Marie indulges in various whims and flirtations. When Louis XV passes and Louis XVI ascends the French throne, his queen's extravagant lifestyle earns the hatred of the French people, who despise her Austrian heritage.

Marie Antoinette

1938

Parnell poster
4.6

Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell struggles to free his country from English rule, but his relationship with married Katie O'Shea threatens to ruin all his dreams of freedom.

Parnell

1937

Werewolf of London poster
6.1

A strange animal attack turns a botanist into a bloodthirsty monster.

Werewolf of London

1935

Camille poster
5.7

Camille is a courtesan in Paris. She falls deeply in love with a young man of promise, Armand Duval. When Armand's father begs her not to ruin his hope of a career and position by marrying Armand, she acquiesces and leaves her lover. However, when poverty and terminal illness overwhelm her, Camille discovers that Armand has not lost his love for her.

Camille

1921

Bachelor Bait poster
6.5

After being fired from his job at the Marriage License Bureau, a clerk turns to matchmaking.

Bachelor Bait

1934

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell poster
6.3

Alexander Graham Bell falls in love with deaf girl Mabel Hubbard while teaching the deaf and trying to invent means for telegraphing the human voice. She urges him to put off thoughts of marriage until his experiments are complete. He invents the telephone, marries and becomes rich and famous, though his happiness is threatened when a rival company sets out to ruin him.

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell

1939

The Mystery of Edwin Drood poster
5.9

A choirmaster addicted to opium and obsessed with a beautiful young woman will stop at nothing to possess her.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

1935

The White Angel poster
7.2

In Victorian England, Florence Nightingale's heroic measures slowly change the attitude towards nurses when it was considered a disreputable profession.

The White Angel

1936

Anthony Adverse poster
5.7

Based on the novel by Hervey Allen, this expansive drama follows the many adventures of the eponymous hero, Anthony Adverse. Abandoned at a convent by his heartless nobleman father, Don Luis, Anthony is later mentored by his kind grandfather, John Bonnyfeather, and falls for the beautiful Angela Giuseppe. When circumstances separate Anthony and Angela and he embarks on a long journey, he must find his way back to her, no matter what the cost.

Anthony Adverse

1936

Tobacco Road poster
6.8

Shiftless Jeeter Lester and his family of sharecroppers live in rural Georgia where their ancestors were once wealthy planters. Their slapstick existence is threatened by a bank's plans to take over the land for more profitable farming.

Tobacco Road

1941

The Bohemian Girl poster
6.2

Stan and Ollie travel with a band of 18th-century Gypsies holding a nobleman's daughter.

The Bohemian Girl

1936

No artwork available
8.0

An old lady and her two girls go husband hunting at a luxury resort.

Ocean Swells

1934

Two Alone poster
7.3

Mazie, a poor orphan girl, is mistreated by cruel farmer Slag and his wife for whom she works. Mazie, who is growing into a woman, does not like they way Slag has been looking at her lately.

Two Alone

1934

Lady of the Tropics poster
6.5

American playboy Bill Carey woos a half-caste beauty in French Indochina, but her second-class legal status makes a formidable barrier to their happiness.

Lady of the Tropics

1939

Public Hero Number 1 poster
6.3

G-Man Jeff Crane poses as a crook to infiltrate the notorious Purple Gang, a band of hoodlums which preys upon other hoodlums. Orchestrating the jailbreak of the gang's leader, Crane joins him in a Dillinger-like flight across the country.

Public Hero Number 1

1935

The Earl of Chicago poster
6.3

A behind the times Chicago bootlegger goes to England with his lawyer to claim his estate as the Earl of Gorley.

The Earl of Chicago

1940

The Last Days of Pompeii poster
5.8

In this action-filled spectacle set in ancient Pompeii, a blacksmith becomes a Roman gladiator, though his rise to wealth and power is jeopardized by his son's Christianity and the eruption of Vesuvius.

The Last Days of Pompeii

1935

Stranded poster
6.0

A Traveler's Aid worker who delights in solving people's problems gets mixed up with gangsters.

Stranded

1935

Alice Adams poster
6.7

In the lower-middle-class Adams family, father and son are happy to work in a drugstore, but mother and daughter Alice try every possible social-climbing stratagem despite snubs and embarrassment. When Alice finally meets her dream man Arthur, mother nags father into a risky business venture and plans to impress Alice's beau with an "upscale" family dinner. Will the excruciating results drive Arthur away?

Alice Adams

1935

Parole! poster
7.0

Soon after the prison release of a lawyer (Henry Hunter), his dedication to improving his life puts him at odds with other parolees who have returned to a criminal lifestyle.

Parole!

1936