May Robson

May Robson

Born: April 17, 1858
Died: October 20, 1942
in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

May Robson (19 April 1858 - 20 October 1942) was an actress and playwright. A major stage actress of the late 19th and early 20th century, Robson is best known today for the dozens of 1930s motion pictures she appeared in when she was well into her seventies, usually playing cross old ladies with hearts of gold.

Movies for May Robson...

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Title: Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: February 25, 1983
Type: Movie
Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival footage make up this star-studded voyeuristic look at the Golden age of Hollywood during the 30s, 40, and 50.
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Joan of Paris
Title: Joan of Paris
Character: Mlle. Rosay
Released: January 20, 1942
Type: Movie
An RAF squadron is brought down over occupied France. The flyers get to Paris in spite of the fact that the youngest, Baby, is injured. He must be hidden and his wounds cared for. The Gestapo has already issued orders for their arrest.
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Playmates
Title: Playmates
Character: Grandma Kyser
Released: December 26, 1941
Type: Movie
Lulu Monahan, the press agent for John Barrymore, is attempting to get a sponsor for a radio program. To that end, she and the agent for bandleader Kay Kyser, plant a story that the great Shakespearean actor, over his heartfelt objections, will teach Kyser how to play Shakespeare, which isn't the same as playing Paducah, which soon becomes evident.
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Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 1
Title: Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 1
Character: Herself
Released: October 2, 1941
Type: Movie
Hedda Hopper guides us through some of Hollywood's sights; the home of William S. Hart and a Kay Kyser recording-session being among them.
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Million Dollar Baby
Title: Million Dollar Baby
Character: Cornelia Wheelwright
Released: May 31, 1941
Type: Movie
A sudden windfall has unexpected consequences on a working class girl during the Great Depression.
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Four Mothers
Title: Four Mothers
Character: Aunt Etta
Released: January 4, 1941
Type: Movie
Four married sisters face motherhood, financial, marital and family issues together.
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Breakdowns of 1940
Title: Breakdowns of 1940
Character: Self
Released: December 31, 1940
Type: Movie
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1940.
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The Texas Rangers Ride Again
Title: The Texas Rangers Ride Again
Character: Cecilia Dangerfield
Released: December 13, 1940
Type: Movie
With thousands of cattle being rustled from White Sage ranch the 1930's Texas Rangers are called in. They manage to get one of their agents into the gang by making them think he is the Pecos Kid on the lam.
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Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Title: Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Character: Self
Released: July 31, 1940
Type: Movie
This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeches for films released in 1939 with recipients and presenters including Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel, Fay Bainter, Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Sinclair Lewis, and more, with host Bob Hope.
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Irene
Title: Irene
Character: Granny O'Dare
Released: April 23, 1940
Type: Movie
Upholsterer's assistant Irene O'Dare meets wealthy Don Marshall while she is measuring chairs for Mrs. Herman Vincent at her Long Island estate. Charmed by her, Don anonymously purchases Madame Lucy's, an exclusive Manhattan boutique, and instructs newly hired manager Mr. Smith to offer Irene a job as a model. She soon catches the eye of socialite Bob Vincent, whose mother is hosting a ball at the family mansion. To promote Madame Lucy's dress line, Mr. Smith arranges for his models to be invited to the ball.
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Granny Get Your Gun
Title: Granny Get Your Gun
Character: Minerva Hildegard Hatton
Released: February 10, 1940
Type: Movie
An elderly woman turns sheriff to clear her granddaughter of murder charges.
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Breakdowns of 1939
Title: Breakdowns of 1939
Character: Self
Released: December 31, 1939
Type: Movie
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1939.
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Four Wives
Title: Four Wives
Character: Aunt Etta
Released: December 22, 1939
Type: Movie
In this sequel to Four Daughters, Ann struggles to move on after the death of her husband as she falls in love with Felix, but on the day of her engagement discovers that she carries Mickey's child.
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That's Right - You're Wrong
Title: That's Right - You're Wrong
Character: Grandma
Released: November 24, 1939
Type: Movie
J. D. Forbes, head of the almost-bankrupt Four Star Studios in Hollywood contacts band leader Kay Kyser, who puts on a radio and-live theatre program called "The Kollege of Musical Knowledge," to appear in films. When manager Chuck Deems gets the studio offer, he and band members Ginny Simms, Sully Mason, Ish Kabiddle, Harry Babbitt and the others are all fired up at the prospect of going to Hollywood and working in the movies, but band-leader Kay is all against it and says his old grandmother has told him to stay in his own back yard, but he relents. Once there, Stacey Delmore, a Four Star associate producer left in charge of the studio while Forbes is out of town, discovers that the screenplay writers have prepared a script that has Kay Kyser playing a glamorous lover in an exotic European setting.
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Nurse Edith Cavell
Title: Nurse Edith Cavell
Character: Mme. Rappard
Released: August 31, 1939
Type: Movie
British nurse Edith Cavell is stationed at a hospital in Brussels during World War I. When the son of a former patient escapes from a German prisoner-of-war camp, she helps him flee to Holland. Outraged at the number of soldiers detained in the camps, Edith, along with a group of sympathizers, devises a plan to help the prisoners escape. As the group works to free the soldiers, Edith must keep her activities secret from the Germans
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Daughters Courageous
Title: Daughters Courageous
Character: Penny, the Housekeeper
Released: June 23, 1939
Type: Movie
Nan Masters, a single mother living with her four marriageable daughters, plans to marry Sam Sloane, businessman. Out of the blue her 1st husband Jim returns after deserting the family 20 years earlier. The worldly wanderer Jim gets a cool family reception at first but his warm personality gradually wins the affections of his four daughters. In fact, youngest daughter Buff, who has her eye on a maverick of her own in Gabriel Lopez, is pleased when Jim grants his stamp of approval on her relationship. Buff plans to elope with Gabriel on her mother's wedding day, but 'unpredictable' is Gabriel's middle name.
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The Kid from Kokomo
Title: The Kid from Kokomo
Character: Margaret 'Maggie' / 'Ma' Manell
Released: May 23, 1939
Type: Movie
Gruff boxing manager "Square Shooting Murph" Murphy manages a naive boxer from Indiana, Homer Baston.Homer is willing to give up his boxing career searching for his parents, so Murphy hires two jailbirds to play his long lost parents to keep him in the ring.
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Yes, My Darling Daughter
Title: Yes, My Darling Daughter
Character: 'Granny' Whitman
Released: February 25, 1939
Type: Movie
Ellen is a free spirited young woman in love with Doug. Sadly he must leave America for a two year job in Belgium. Ellen and Doug decide to spend their last weekend together in a tourist cabin at a rural lake. Her family is shocked that a young unmarried woman would engage in such amoral activity. The comic plot develops as Ellen argues her case for women's freedom and independence, trying to win over her mother, grandmother, and other dubious relatives.
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They Made Me a Criminal
Title: They Made Me a Criminal
Character: Grandma Rafferty
Released: January 21, 1939
Type: Movie
A boxer flees, believing he has committed a murder while he was drunk.
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The Texans
Title: The Texans
Character: Granna
Released: August 12, 1938
Type: Movie
After the Civil War, an ex-Confederate soldier faces new battles, including the elements and a carpetbagger intent on destroying him.
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Four Daughters
Title: Four Daughters
Character: Aunt Etta
Released: August 9, 1938
Type: Movie
Musician Adam Lemp and his four equally musical daughters, Emma, Ann, Kay, and Thea, live happily together. Each daughter has an upstanding young man for whom she cares. However, the arrival of a cynical, slovenly young composer named Mickey Borden turns the household upside-down, and romantic and tragic complications ensue.
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Bringing Up Baby
Title: Bringing Up Baby
Character: Elizabeth Random
Released: February 18, 1938
Type: Movie
David Huxley is waiting to get a bone he needs for his museum collection. Through a series of strange circumstances, he meets Susan Vance, and the duo have a series of misadventures which include a leopard called Baby.
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Title: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Character: Aunt Polly
Released: February 11, 1938
Type: Movie
Tom Sawyer and his pal Huckleberry Finn have great adventures on the Mississippi River, pretending to be pirates, attending their own funeral and witnessing a murder.
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The Perfect Specimen
Title: The Perfect Specimen
Character: Mrs. Leona Wicks
Released: October 23, 1937
Type: Movie
Raised in seclusion to be the epitome of mental, physical and moral perfection, Gerald Beresford Wicks is resigned to following his grandmother's wishes until a chance encounter with Mona Carter leads him into the outside world.
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A Star Is Born
Title: A Star Is Born
Character: Lettie Blodgett
Released: April 27, 1937
Type: Movie
Esther Blodgett is just another starry-eyed farm kid trying to break into the movies. Waitressing at a Hollywood party, she catches the eye of her idol Norman Maine, is sent for a screen test, and before long attains stardom as newly minted Vicki Lester. She and Norman marry, though his career soon dwindles to nothing due to his chronic alcoholism.
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Woman in Distress
Title: Woman in Distress
Character: Phoebe Tuttle
Released: January 17, 1937
Type: Movie
Investigating rumors that a priceless Rembrandt, believed destroyed years ago, is actually in the possession of an elderly spinster, a male newspaper reporter and his female rival determine that it is genuine but subsequently learn it has been stolen by a gang of art thieves who plan to kill the spinster to prevent her from later identifying it.
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Rainbow on the River
Title: Rainbow on the River
Character: Mrs. Harriet Ainsworth
Released: December 18, 1936
Type: Movie
A young boy is forced to leave his family in the South and move in with relatives he doesn't know in New York.
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The Captain's Kid
Title: The Captain's Kid
Character: Aunt Marcia Prentiss
Released: November 14, 1936
Type: Movie
In this children's adventure, the children of a small town are enthralled by the tales of the town drunk.
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Wife vs. Secretary
Title: Wife vs. Secretary
Character: Mimi Stanhope
Released: February 28, 1936
Type: Movie
Linda, the wife of a publishing executive, suspects that her husband Van’s relationship with his attractive secretary Whitey is more than professional.
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3 Kids and a Queen
Title: 3 Kids and a Queen
Character: Mary Jane 'Queenie' Baxter
Released: October 21, 1935
Type: Movie
An eccentric, wealthy spinster, 'Queenie' Baxter is erroneously presumed to be kidnapped. She subsequently pretends to indeed be kidnapped, , in order to allow a reward of $50,000 to benefit an impecunious family headed by Tony Orsatti and his three sons, Blackie, Doc and Flash.
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Anna Karenina
Title: Anna Karenina
Character: Countess Vronsky
Released: August 30, 1935
Type: Movie
In 19th century Russia a woman in a respectable marriage to a senior statesman must grapple with her love for a dashing soldier.
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Age of Indiscretion
Title: Age of Indiscretion
Character: Emma Shaw
Released: May 10, 1935
Type: Movie
A book publisher finds his business floundering, which prompts his socially ambitious wife to desert him for a society millionaire, leaving him with their young son. The publisher's fortunes improve dramatically, however, when a best-selling romance novelist decides to publish her new book with his firm. In the meantime, his ex-wife has married the millionaire, and she and her new mother-in-law come up with a plan to sue her ex-husband for custody of the boy.
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Reckless
Title: Reckless
Character: Mrs. Granny Leslie
Released: April 19, 1935
Type: Movie
A theatrical star, born on the wrong side of the tracks, marries a drunken blue-blood millionaire.
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Strangers All
Title: Strangers All
Character: Anna Carter
Released: April 1, 1935
Type: Movie
Domestic drama about an elderly woman and her four squabbling adult children.
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Vanessa: Her Love Story
Title: Vanessa: Her Love Story
Character: Judith Paris
Released: March 1, 1935
Type: Movie
The Victorian wife of a mad baron waits years for a British soldier sent to Egypt.
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Grand Old Girl
Title: Grand Old Girl
Character: Laura Bayles
Released: January 15, 1935
Type: Movie
An elderly schoolteacher is determined to rid her town of the local gambling den.
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Movies on Sundays
Title: Movies on Sundays
Character: Herself (uncredited)
Released: January 1, 1935
Type: Movie
A short, introduced in Pennsylvania when the state had laws disallowing the screening of films on Sunday, to sway voters on a referendum to allow such screenings.
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Mills of the Gods
Title: Mills of the Gods
Character: Mary Hastings
Released: December 15, 1934
Type: Movie
Fay Wray plays Jean Hastings, the wealthy and spoiled scion of a factory-owning family led by her irrepressible grandmother. Sparks fly when Jean meets Jim Devlin, the labor leader who’s spearheading a tense worker’s strike against the factory. After circumstances force Jean and Jim to spend a night together in his cabin, she begins questioning her family’s ruthless tactics. This hard-to-see Columbia film by British director Roy William Neill not only features Wray as a brunette but also includes an explosive depiction of labor strife. (Block Cinema)
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Lady by Choice
Title: Lady by Choice
Character: Patricia 'Patsy' Patterson
Released: October 15, 1934
Type: Movie
To improve her image, a fan dancer "adopts" an old woman to be her mother.
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The Hollywood Gad-About
Title: The Hollywood Gad-About
Character: Self (uncredited)
Released: October 4, 1934
Type: Movie
A parade highlights the Screen Actors Guild's Film Stars Frolic, hosted by Walter Winchell as Master of Ceremonies.
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Straight Is the Way
Title: Straight Is the Way
Character: Mrs. Horowitz
Released: August 10, 1934
Type: Movie
Just out of prison, Benny Horowitz tries to go straight. Things are complicated by his former girlfriend and his former gangster buddies.
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You Can't Buy Everything
Title: You Can't Buy Everything
Character: Mrs. Hannah Bell
Released: January 26, 1934
Type: Movie
A scorned woman dreams of revenge on the man who betrayed her.
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Dinner at Eight
Title: Dinner at Eight
Character: Mrs. Wendel
Released: December 22, 1933
Type: Movie
An ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver, contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard and his sultry spouse, Kitty, contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.
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Alice in Wonderland
Title: Alice in Wonderland
Character: Queen Of Hearts
Released: December 18, 1933
Type: Movie
In Victorian England, a bored young girl dreams that she has entered a fantasy world called Wonderland, populated by even more fantastic characters.
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Dancing Lady
Title: Dancing Lady
Character: Dolly Todhunter
Released: November 24, 1933
Type: Movie
Janie lives to dance and will dance anywhere, even stripping in a burlesque house. Tod Newton, the rich playboy, discovers her there and helps her get a job in a real Broadway musical being directed by Patch. Tod thinks he can get what he wants from Janie, Patch thinks Janie is using her charms rather than talent to get to the top, and Janie thinks Patch is the greatest. Steve, the stage manager, has the Three Stooges helping him manage all the show girls. Fred Astaire and Nelson Eddy make appearances as famous Broadway personalities.
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The Solitaire Man
Title: The Solitaire Man
Character: Mrs. Vail
Released: September 22, 1933
Type: Movie
An almost-retired jewel thief plans to marry Helen, his partner in crime. Their plans are shattered when Bascom, a gang member, arrives with a stolen necklace, putting their whole gang at risk.
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Broadway to Hollywood
Title: Broadway to Hollywood
Character: Veteran Actress
Released: September 15, 1933
Type: Movie
In this through-the-years saga about a show business family, the fame of husband and wife vaudeville headliners of the 1880s is eclipsed by their son.
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Lady for a Day
Title: Lady for a Day
Character: Apple Annie
Released: September 13, 1933
Type: Movie
Never-wed, poor, rough around the edges Apple Annie has always written to her daughter, Louise, in Spain that she is married and a member of New York's high society. Upon receiving unexpected word from Louise (who hasn't seen Annie since infancy) that she is en route to America with her new fiancé and his father, a count, so the three of them can meet her, Annie panics, despairing that her beloved daughter will be destroyed by the deception.
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Beauty for Sale
Title: Beauty for Sale
Character: Mrs. Merrick
Released: September 1, 1933
Type: Movie
A beautiful woman lands a job at an exclusive salon that deals with the wives of wealthy businessmen. Her contact with these men leads to a series of affairs.
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One Man's Journey
Title: One Man's Journey
Character: Sarah
Released: August 31, 1933
Type: Movie
Dr. Eli Watt, a widower, comes to a small town, considering himself a failure in his attempt to have a meaningful career in New York. He raises his son Jimmy as well as Letty, a baby whose mother has died in childbirth and whose father blames Watt and abandons the child. Watt dreams of returning to do research studies, but always something gets in the way: an epidemic, his children's needs, or the needs of his generally ungrateful patients. Only with the passing years does he come to find that his future isn't over and his past isn't quite the failure he believed.
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Reunion in Vienna
Title: Reunion in Vienna
Character: Frau Lucher
Released: June 16, 1933
Type: Movie
An exiled archduke (John Barrymore) tries to renew romance with a former lover (Diana Wynyard) now wed to a psychiatrist (Frank Morgan).
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The White Sister
Title: The White Sister
Character: Mother Superior
Released: March 17, 1933
Type: Movie
An Italian aristocrat enters a nunnery, thinking her pilot lover has been killed in the war.
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Men Must Fight
Title: Men Must Fight
Character: Maman Seward
Released: February 17, 1933
Type: Movie
Prophetic tale of a mother in 1940 trying to keep her son out of war.
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Strange Interlude
Title: Strange Interlude
Character: Mrs. Evans
Released: December 30, 1932
Type: Movie
After Nina Leeds finds out that insanity runs in her husband's family, she has a love child with a handsome doctor and lets her husband believes the child is his.
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If I Had a Million
Title: If I Had a Million
Character: Mrs. Mary Walker
Released: November 18, 1932
Type: Movie
An elderly business tycoon, believed to be dying, decides to give a million dollars each to eight strangers chosen at random from the phone directory.
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Little Orphan Annie
Title: Little Orphan Annie
Character: Mrs. Stewart
Released: November 4, 1932
Type: Movie
Millionaire Daddy Warbucks goes bust in the Great Depression and is forced to abandon his adopted daughter, Annie. While he's out west working on another fortune, Annie finds an orphaned boy on the streets and helps him find a home.
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Red-Headed Woman
Title: Red-Headed Woman
Character: Aunt Jane
Released: June 25, 1932
Type: Movie
Lil works for the Legendre Company and causes Bill to divorce Irene and marry her. She has an affair with businessman Gaerste and uses him to force society to pay attention to her.
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Letty Lynton
Title: Letty Lynton
Character: Mrs. Lynton, Letty's Mothers
Released: April 30, 1932
Type: Movie
Socialite Letty Lynton is returning to New York, abandoning one-time lover Emile Renaul in South America, when she strikes up a shipboard romance with Jerry Darrow. Renault is waiting for her in New York and will not leave her alone, so she poisons him. When detectives take her to the D.A.s office, Jerry cooks up an alibi.
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The She-Wolf
Title: The She-Wolf
Released: May 1, 1931
Type: Movie
An unprincipled female financier tries to get even with a rival railroad buyer.
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Chicago
Title: Chicago
Character: Mrs. Morton - Matron
Released: December 23, 1927
Type: Movie
Based on a true story, two-timing boozing wife Roxie Hart kills her lover in cold blood after he leaves her, and finagles her way out being indicted. The basis for Kander/Ebb's 1975 Broadway musical of the same name and its Oscar-winning 2002 film adaptation.
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A Harp in Hock
Title: A Harp in Hock
Character: Mrs. Banks
Released: October 10, 1927
Type: Movie
A Harp in Hock, also known as The Samaritan, is a lost 1927 American silent melodrama film directed by Renaud Hoffman, produced by DeMille Pictures, and distributed by Pathé Exchange. The film starred Rudolph Schildkraut, Junior Coghlan, May Robson, and Bessie Love, and was based on the short story by Evelyn Campbell.
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The Angel of Broadway
Title: The Angel of Broadway
Character: Big Bertha
Released: October 2, 1927
Type: Movie
Babe Scott, a cabaret dancer who is constantly searching for sensational material to shock her customers, conceives of burlesquing a Salvation Army girl and attends mission meetings on the East Side for atmosphere. There she meets Jerry Wilson, an honest truckdriver and friend of the Army captain. Although the act is a success, Babe is disillusioned to find Lonnie, a fellow worker who has been romancing her, stealing her money and making overtures to Big Bertha, the hard-boiled club hostess.
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The King of Kings
Title: The King of Kings
Character: Mother of Gestas
Released: April 19, 1927
Type: Movie
The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with one of the biggest budgets in Hollywood history, DeMille spun the life and Passion of Christ into a silent-era blockbuster. Featuring text drawn directly from the Bible, a cast of thousands, and the great showman’s singular cinematic bag of tricks, The King of Kings is at once spectacular and deeply reverent—part Gospel, part Technicolor epic.
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Rubber Tires
Title: Rubber Tires
Character: Mrs. Stack
Released: February 7, 1927
Type: Movie
When the Stack family suffers some financial setbacks, daughter Mary Ellen suggests they buy a car and relocate to California. Unbeknownst to them, their used car is worth more than they ever could have imagined.
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Pals in Paradise
Title: Pals in Paradise
Character: Esther Lezinsky
Released: November 22, 1926
Type: Movie
Bill Harvey discovers a lost mine, rich with gold. Geraldine "Jerry" Howard has the claim to it left her by her father. Bill tells her that the death of the claimant, her father, makes a claim void. Infuriated, she goes to John Kenton, a crooked lawyer, for aid. Kenton sees an opportunity for wealth if he marries Geraldine, but Bill tells her that Kenton is only after her money. She gets more infuriated. While Bill and a posse are raiding an immoral cabaret, Kenton raids the Paradise freight depot to steal the money. The depot catches fire and Kenton shoots his henchman to save himself. The town and Geraldine think Kenton is a hero. It is up to Bill to prove otherwise.
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Title: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Character: Prostitute at Clinic (uncredited)
Released: March 18, 1920
Type: Movie
A doctor's research into the roots of evil turns him into a hideous depraved fiend.
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A Night Out
Title: A Night Out
Character: Granmum
Released: January 31, 1916
Type: Movie
A grandmother has an adventure for the first time in her life when she decides to have a night out.
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How Molly Malone Made Good
Title: How Molly Malone Made Good
Character: Herself
Released: October 25, 1915
Type: Movie
Molly, an Irish girl just hired by a New York newspaper, is assigned as a test a chain interview of celebrities that must be accomplished within a set amount of time. She goes through innumerable paths and obstacles to achieve the goal.
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When Knights Were Bold
Title: When Knights Were Bold
Released: May 20, 1908
Type: Movie
Two noblemen fight over a lady.