Elisabeth Risdon

Acting

Elisabeth Risdon

Born — Died

1887-04-26 — 1958-12-20

Place of birth

London, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

60 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elisabeth Risdon (born Daisy Cartwright Risdon; 26 April 1887 – 20 December 1958) was an English film actress. She appeared in over 140 films between 1913 and 1952. A beauty in her youth, she usually played in society parts. In later years in films she switched to playing character parts. Born in London, England, Risdon graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in 1918 with high honours. She attracted the attention of George Bernard Shaw and was cast as the lead in his biggest plays. Besides her performances for Shaw, she was leading lady for actors including George Arliss, Otis Skinner, and William Faversham. She was also under contract to the Theatre …

Known for

Film credits

1950s · 7 titles

Scaramouche poster
7.0

In 18th-century France, a young man masquerades as an actor to avenge his friend's murder.

Scaramouche

1952

It's a Big Country poster
5.9

Comprised of eight unrelated episodes of inconsistent quality, this anthology piece of American propaganda features some of MGM Studios' best directors, screenwriters and actors; it is narrated by Louis Calhern. Stories are framed by the lecture of a university professor. In one tale a Boston resident becomes angry when the census forgets to record her presence. Another sketch chronicles the achievements of African Americans while still another pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to Texas.

It's a Big Country

1951

The Secret Fury poster
5.5

The wedding of Ellen and David is halted by a stranger who insists that the bride is already married to someone else. Though the flabbergasted Ellen denies the charge, the interloper produces enough evidence that his accusation must be investigated. Ellen and David travel to the small coastal town where her first wedding allegedly occurred. There, they meet a number of individuals whose stories make Ellen question her own sanity.

The Secret Fury

1950

The Milkman poster
7.0

A dairy owner's son takes a job as milkman with a rival company.

The Milkman

1950

Sierra poster
5.4

Ring Hassard and his father Jeff, wild horse breakers, live in a hidden mountain eyrie as Jeff is wanted for a murder he didn't commit. Things change when they take in a lost young lady, Riley Martin, who finds that Ring has "never seen a woman close up." Jeff is injured, Ring runs afoul of horse thieves and the law, and Riley (who is a lawyer) labors to clear the Hassards (who others would prefer dead).

Sierra

1950

Bunco Squad poster
6.1

Police sergeants Johnson and McManus take on Los Angeles confidence tricksters. Con man Tony Wells, lining up rich widow Jessica Royce as his latest mark, sets up a false paranormal society with other charlatans to convince the credulous Jessica that her late son is speaking to her through their sham seances. When the plan leads to murder, Johnson and McManus must bring the group down before they kill again.

Bunco Squad

1950

Bannerline poster
6.8

A young crusading reporter in a small town tackles civic corruption.

Bannerline

1951

1940s · 38 titles

The Egg and I poster
7.0

World War II veteran Bob MacDonald surprises his new wife, Betty, by quitting his city job and moving them to a dilapidated farm in the country. While Betty gamely struggles with managing the crumbling house and holding off nosy neighbors and a recalcitrant pig, Bob makes plans for crops and livestock. The couple's bliss is shaken by a visit from a beautiful farm owner, who seems to want more from Bob than just managing her property.

The Egg and I

1947

Random Harvest poster
7.3

Wandered away from his asylum, an amnesiac World War I veteran falls in love with a music hall star but his amnesia makes it difficult to last.

Random Harvest

1942

Life with Father poster
6.7

A straitlaced turn-of-the-century father presides over a family of boys and the mother who really rules the roost.

Life with Father

1947

High Sierra poster
7.1

Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.

High Sierra

1941

Tall in the Saddle poster
6.6

When Rocklin arrives in a western town he finds that the rancher who hired him as a foreman has been murdered. He is out to solve the murder and thwart the scheming to take the ranch from its rightful owner.

Tall in the Saddle

1944

Every Girl Should Be Married poster
5.9

Anabel Sims is determined to find the perfect husband. She thinks she's found her man in Madison Brown, a handsome pediatrician. She then prepares an elaborate scheme to trap him into marriage

Every Girl Should Be Married

1948

Reap the Wild Wind poster
6.3

The Florida Keys in 1840, where the implacable hurricanes of the Caribbean scream, where the salvagers of Key West, like the intrepid and beautiful Loxi Claiborne and her crew, reap, aboard frail schooners, the harvest of the wild wind, facing the shark teeth of the reefs to rescue the sailors and the cargo from the shipwrecks caused by the scavengers of the sea.

Reap the Wild Wind

1942

Mourning Becomes Electra poster
6.3

Near the end of the Civil War, the proud residents of Mannon Manor await the return of shipping tycoon Ezra Mannon and son Orin. Meanwhile Ezra’s conniving wife Christine and daughter Lavinia vie for the love of a handsome captain with a dark secret while well-meaning neighbor Peter sets his sights on Lavinia.

Mourning Becomes Electra

1947

Nice Girl? poster
6.4

Jane is a nice girl and has had her eyes on a young man who seems more interested in his hand-built car than in Jane. She decides to shed her "nice girl" image when an associate of her father comes to town on his way to study Australian Aboriginal tribes.

Nice Girl?

1941

The Lady Is Willing poster
6.5

Bold, eccentric Broadway performer Elizabeth Madden befuddles her handlers by coming home with a baby she picked up on the street. She wants to keep the baby but has to find a husband to make adoption viable. She offers her new obstetrician Dr. McBain help with his research on rabbits in exchange for marriage - and he accepts. The marriage of convenience turns into a marriage of real love until Dr. McBain's ex-wife comes looking for money.

The Lady Is Willing

1942

The Bride Goes Wild poster
6.7

McGrath publishes books for children and Uncle Bump is one of the best sellers. Unfortunately, Greg, who is Uncle Bump, tends to drink too much and has not started his next book. Martha won a contest to illustrate the book and the first thing that happens is that Greg gets her soused. To keep her there to illustrate, John gets a juvenile delinquent named Danny to play his son and show how much pressure he is under. The ploy works at first, but Greg's heart was broken by Tillie, and Martha may be the girl who makes him forget all about her.

The Bride Goes Wild

1948

The Bride Goes Wild poster
6.7

McGrath publishes books for children and Uncle Bump is one of the best sellers. Unfortunately, Greg, who is Uncle Bump, tends to drink too much and has not started his next book. Martha won a contest to illustrate the book and the first thing that happens is that Greg gets her soused. To keep her there to illustrate, John gets a juvenile delinquent named Danny to play his son and show how much pressure he is under. The ploy works at first, but Greg's heart was broken by Tillie, and Martha may be the girl who makes him forget all about her.

The Bride Goes Wild

1948

The Canterville Ghost poster
6.9

The descendent of a ghost imprisoned for cowardice hopes to free the spirit by displaying courage when under duress.

The Canterville Ghost

1944

The Romance of Rosy Ridge poster
6.7

A mysterious Civil War veteran courts a Missouri farmer's daughter amid postwar unrest.

The Romance of Rosy Ridge

1947

Mexican Spitfire's Elephant poster
5.4

A pair of shipboard smugglers have a large diamond hidden inside a small elephant statuette, which they plant on absentminded Lord Epping to get it past customs. Now, his lordship is visiting Uncle Matt Lindsay who looks just like him. Thanks to flirtatious Diana's efforts to get the elephant back, the comic confusion proliferates, with 'spitfire' Carmelita (now a blonde) playing a prominent part.

Mexican Spitfire's Elephant

1942

High Wall poster
6.4

Steven Kenet, suffering from a recurring brain injury, appears to have strangled his wife. Having confessed, he's committed to an understaffed county asylum full of pathetic inmates. There, Dr. Ann Lorrison is initially skeptical about Kenet's story and reluctance to undergo treatment. But against her better judgement, she begins to doubt his guilt.

High Wall

1947

The Shocking Miss Pilgrim poster
8.8

In the late 1800s, Miss Pilgrim, a young stenographer, or typewriter, becomes the first female employee at a Boston shipping office. Although the men object to her at first, she soon charms them all, especially the handsome young head of the company. Their romance gets sidetracked when she becomes involved in the Women's Suffrage movement.

The Shocking Miss Pilgrim

1947

In the Meantime, Darling poster
6.8

A young bride who comes from a rich family has a hard time adjusting to life in a boarding house with other soldiers and their wives. Her spoiled ways cause resentment from the other wives and problems with her husband.

In the Meantime, Darling

1944

Bodyguard poster
6.1

A cop on suspension is framed for murder when he noses in on a murder investigation.

Bodyguard

1948

They Made Me a Killer poster
5.4

A fugitive receives help from a victim's sister as he tries to clear his name of robbery and murder charges.

They Made Me a Killer

1946

Lost Angel poster
8.0

Alpha's been raised along scientific principles, and will make Mike Regan a great human interest story for his paper. But when his interview prompts Alpha to run away from the institute and ask him to show her some magic, Mike gets more responsibility than he bargained for. Especially since another story of his, one involving gangsters, has also come home to roost.

Lost Angel

1943

The Unseen poster
4.7

David Fielding, who has recently lost his wife, moves into a new neighborhood under a cloud of suspicion. Many feel that his wife's death in a car crash was no accident. Elizabeth Howard, the governess he hires to look after his children, makes it her mission to find out the truth. When other murders seem to be following David to his new town, Elizabeth investigates with the help of David's son Barnaby.

The Unseen

1945

Sealed Verdict poster
7.0

John Hoyt plays a high-ranking Nazi being prosecuted by an army tribunal in the aftermath of World War II. Sentenced to death, the general appeals to the American investigating Major (Ray Milland), claiming mitigating circumstances, and providing the names of witnesses who will clear his name. This sends the Major in a search through the ruins of post-war Germany to determine the degree of the general's guilt.

Sealed Verdict

1948

Journey for Margaret poster
6.7

An American newspaperman and his wife, end up in London after several retreats in the opening days of WWII. After a shrapnel wound and loss of her baby she returns to America. War weary, he is forced to do a story about war orphans, where he meets Margaret.

Journey for Margaret

1942

At the Stroke of Twelve poster
6.0

This entry in Warner's "Broadway Brevity" series of shorts is based on Damon Runyon's short story, "The Old Doll's House". Racketeer Lance McGowan, on the night he has decided to go straight, finds himself caught between the gunfire of two rival gangsters and, wounded by a bullet, he finds refuge in the home of a wealthy recluse. One of the gangsters is found riddled with bullets from the gun Lance dropped while making his escape, and he is arrested and tried for murder. The reclusive widow comes to the trail and testifies that Lance was her guest that night when the clock struck twelve, the time of the killing. Lance, while innocent, is also lucky, as the widow had her all her clocks set to always strike twelve, as the time her husband had died.

At the Stroke of Twelve

1941

The Man Who Wouldn't Talk poster
5.3

A man involved in a crime (Nolan) kills his key witness by mistake and resigns himself to death. He changes his name so as not to harm his family. The law is not content with his explanation, however.

The Man Who Wouldn't Talk

1940

Weird Woman poster
6.0

After bringing his beautiful new wife Paula home to America from a remote island on which she was raised, Professor Norman Reed begins to feel the clash between his world of rational science and hers of bizarre dancing and freaky voodoo rituals. Norman's stuck-up friends also sense Paula's strangeness, and soon their meddling gossip and suspicious scheming push the poor woman to use her magic to defend herself and her husband – and maybe even to kill! Or is it just the power of suggestion...?

Weird Woman

1944

The Howards of Virginia poster
6.6

Beautiful young Virginian Jane steps down from her proper aristocratic upbringing when she marries down-to-earth surveyor Matt Howard. Matt joins the Colonial forces in their fight for freedom against England. Matt will meet Jane's father in the battlefield.

The Howards of Virginia

1940

Abe Lincoln in Illinois poster
6.9

Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a 1940 biographical film which tells the story of the life of Abraham Lincoln from his departure from Kentucky until his election as President of the United States.

Abe Lincoln in Illinois

1940

Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost poster
4.8

Carmelita and Uncle Matt find themselves in a haunted house, but the "ghosts" are actually enemy agents who are trying to frighten away visitors in order to develop a nitroglycerin bomb.

Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost

1942

Roll on Texas Moon poster
6.2

To get the Delaney ranch Cole's henchman Anders has started a phony range war between the cattlemen and sheepmen. After killing Delaney, he tries to kill his daughter Jill and then Roy who was sent to investigate the war. But the failed attempts gives Roy the information he needs.

Roll on Texas Moon

1946

Ma, He's Making Eyes at Me! poster
6.5

In this musical, a sharp witted press agent teams up with an unemployed chorine and dubs her "Miss Manhattan" to promote a cheap line of clothing. To escort her about town, the agent invents a "Mr. Manhattan." He then has them fake a marriage. When he realizes that he is in love with his creation, the agent promptly fires "Mr. M" and takes her to the altar personally. Songs include: "Ma, He's Making Eyes At Me," "Unfair To Love," and "A Lemon In The Garden Of Love."

Ma, He's Making Eyes at Me!

1940

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday poster
6.7

A missionary tries to outwit the U.S. government and smuggle Chinese orphans into the country.

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday

1943

The Man Who Returned to Life poster
7.2

An accused killer is granted a reprieve when his victim returns to town in the flesh after an eight-year absence.

The Man Who Returned to Life

1942

The Mexican Spitfire's Baby poster
4.6

An advertising executive and his temperamental wife adopt a war orphan who turns out to be a beautiful woman.

The Mexican Spitfire's Baby

1941

Grissly's Millions poster
6.5

An eccentric wealthy man is murdered, and the police set out to find his killer.

Grissly's Millions

1945

Higher and Higher poster
6.2

A valet to a bankrupt millionaire plans to rebuild his boss's fortune by passing a scullery maid off as a high-society debutante.

Higher and Higher

1943

Paris Calling poster
6.0

Marianne Jannetier, a well-to-do Parisian, engaged to Andre Benoit, a high-ranking government official, flees the city when the goose-stepping Nazi storm-troopers arrive. When her mother dies on the road to Bordeaux as a result of Nazi bombing, she returns to Paris and joins the underground movement. Nicholas Jordan, an American member of the RAF, stranded in Paris after the evacuation is also working with the Paris underground. Marianne kills her former fiancée, a pro-Nazi informant, for the traitorous state papers he is carrying, and she and Jordan try to flee over a French seaport...

Paris Calling

1941

1930s · 14 titles

The Roaring Twenties poster
7.5

After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.

The Roaring Twenties

1939

Dead End poster
7.0

The lives of a young man and woman, an infamous gangster and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.

Dead End

1937

Make Way for Tomorrow poster
7.5

An elderly couple are forced to separate themselves from each other after their children refuse to take both into one house.

Make Way for Tomorrow

1937

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn poster
6.7

Huckleberry Finn, a rambunctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes his humdrum world and his selfish, plotting father by sailing a raft down the Mississippi River.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

1939

They Won't Forget poster
5.9

A southern town is rocked by scandal when teenager Mary Clay is murdered on Confederate Decoration Day. Andrew Griffin, a small-time lawyer with political ambitions, sees the crime as his ticket to the Senate if he can find the right victim to finger for the crime. He sets out to convict Robert Hale, a transplanted northerner who was Mary's teacher at the business school where she was killed. Despite the fact that all the evidence against Hale is circumstantial, Griffin works with a ruthless reporter to create a media frenzy of prejudice and hate against the teacher.

They Won't Forget

1937

Crime and Punishment poster
6.3

Former student Raskolnikov is pushed to murder when struggling to pay the rent on his apartment. When the murder is being investigated by the police, Raskolnikov struggles between trying to hide his guilt and the pressure to confess.

Crime and Punishment

1935

Don't Gamble with Love poster
10.0

Standard tale of husband and wife living a party lifestyle. He works in a gambling hall and she occasionally models and sings. Because they want to start a family wife feels the need to change their situation. Situation is changed and husband gets a new job and then a promotion but is tricked into a bad business deal and wants to go back to his old life.

Don't Gamble with Love

1936

Five Came Back poster
6.3

Twelve people are aboard Coast Airline's flagship the Silver Queen enroute to South America when the airplane encounters a storm and is blown off course. Crashing into jungles known to be inhabited by head hunters, pilots Bill and Joe race against time to fix the engines and attempt a take off. The situation brings out the best and worst in the stranded dozen as they create a makeshift runway and prepare to escape before the natives attack. But damage to the plane and low fuel reserves means that only 5 people can be carried to safety.

Five Came Back

1939

Craig's Wife poster
6.5

Harriet, Walter Craig's wife, is an upper-class woman obsessed with control, material possessions and social status whose behavior makes difficult her relationship with domestic service and family members.

Craig's Wife

1936

Cowboy from Brooklyn poster
7.0

A singing cowboy turns out to be a tenderfoot.

Cowboy from Brooklyn

1938

The Forgotten Woman poster
7.0

A beautiful woman is forced to help gangsters in a robbery, and is arrested as an accessory.

The Forgotten Woman

1939

The Girl from Mexico poster
5.1

Carmelita Fuentes is a fiery-Latin singer/dancer in Mexico City who has designs on Dennis Lindsay, an American publicity agent, for unclear reasons, while Lindsay's shiftless uncle Matthew Lindsay aids and abets her every step of the way to the marriage altar.

The Girl from Mexico

1939

The Affairs of Annabel poster
5.4

Wonder Pictures has been striking out at the box office lately, causing the seedy PR man to involve main star Annabel in ever outrageous stunts for publicity.

The Affairs of Annabel

1938

Theodora Goes Wild poster
6.6

The small-town prudes of Lynnfield are up in arms over 'The Sinner,' a sexy best-seller. They little suspect that author 'Caroline Adams' is really Theodora Lynn, scion of the town's leading family. Michael Grant, devil-may-care book jacket illustrator, penetrates Theodora's incognito and sets out to 'free her' from Lynnfield against her will. But Michael has a secret too, and gets a taste of his own medicine.

Theodora Goes Wild

1936