Acting · Paddington, London, England, UK · Born November 18, 1863
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.
TVMGM Parade
1955
as Self
MovieFlying with Music
1942
as Fortune Teller
MovieSheriff of Tombstone
1941
as Granny Carson
MovieTobacco Road
1941
as Grandma Lester
MovieShe Couldn't Say No
1940
as Ma Hawkins
MovieComin' Round the Mountain
1940
as Granny Stokes
MovieThe Grapes of Wrath
1940
as Grandma Joad
MovieThe Earl of Chicago
1940
as Miss Nana (uncredited)
MovieEmergency Squad
1940
as Mrs. Cobb
MovieBalalaika
1939
as Natalya Petrovna
MovieLady of the Tropics
1939
as Woman Congratulating Manon
MovieTell No Tales
1939
as Miss Mary
MovieThe Story of Alexander Graham Bell
1939
as Mrs. Sanders
MovieBoy Trouble
1939
as Mrs. Jepson
MovieArrest Bulldog Drummond
1938
as Aunt Meg
MovieMarie Antoinette
1938
as Dowager at Birth of Dauphin (uncredited)
MovieWoman Against Woman
1938
as Grandma
MovieKidnapped
1938
as Old Woman
MovieHunted Men
1938
as Flower Woman
MovieBulldog Drummond's Peril
1938
as Mrs. Weevens
MovieFederal Bullets
1937
as Mrs. Crippen
MovieThe King Without a Crown
1937
as Dying Duchess Marie (uncredited)
MovieBulldog Drummond Comes Back
1937
as Zeffie
MovieIt Happened in Hollywood
1937
as Miss Gordon
MovieHideaway
1937
as Mrs. Beamish
MovieRhythm in the Clouds
1937
as The Duchess de Lovely
MovieParnell
1937
as Old Lady
MovieMidnight Taxi
1937
as Mrs. Lane
MovieMaid of Salem
1937
as Goody Hodgers
MovieBulldog Drummond Escapes
1937
as Drunk in Jail Cell
MovieUnder Cover of Night
1937
as Mrs. Nash
MovieCamille
1936
as Old Duchess Bidding 3750 Francs
MovieAfter the Thin Man
1936
as Aunt Lucy (uncredited)
Grandma's Buoys
1936
as Grandma
MovieOld Hutch
1936
as Elderly Woman in Bank
MovieGive Me Your Heart
1936
as Esther Warren
MovieThe Gorgeous Hussy
1936
as Mrs. Daniel Beall
MovieAnthony Adverse
1936
as Old Woman at Chalet
MovieThe White Angel
1936
as Woman Donating Sheets (uncredited)
MovieParole!
1936
as Molly Smith
MovieDesire
1936
as Aunt Olga
MovieSecond Childhood
1936
as Grandma
MovieVamp Till Ready
1936
as Woman
MovieThe Bohemian Girl
1936
as Gypsy Queen
MovieBad Boy
1935
as Deaf Woman
MovieThe Last Days of Pompeii
1935
as The Wise Woman (uncredited)
MovieNavy Wife
1935
as Bridge Player
MovieAlice Adams
1935
as Mrs. Dresser (uncredited)
MovieThe Farmer Takes a Wife
1935
as Old Townswoman
MovieStranded
1935
as Old Hag (uncredited)
MoviePublic Hero Number 1
1935
as Deaf Woman in Scottsdale Bar (uncredited)
MovieWerewolf of London
1935
as Mrs. Moncaster
MovieThe Mystery of Edwin Drood
1935
as The Opium Woman
MovieWomen Must Dress
1935
as Peg Martin
The Fuller Gush Man
1934
as Grandma
Ocean Swells
1934
as Auntie
MovieBachelor Bait
1934
as Miss Turner (uncredited)
MovieMystery Liner
1934
as Granny Plimpton
MovieTwo Alone
1934
as Rogers' Neighbor (uncredited)
MovieBlind Adventure
1933
MovieMade on Broadway
1933
as Aunt Ada
MovieCharlie Chan Carries On
1931
as Mrs. Luce
MovieThe Ship from Shanghai
1930
as Lady Daley
MovieThe Single Standard
1929
as Mrs. Handley
MovieThe Night of Love
1927
as Lady in Waiting
MovieAnother Scandal
1924
as Brownie
MovieCamille
1921
as Prudence
MovieBig Game
1921
as Aunt Sarah Winthrop
MovieThe Marriage of William Ashe
1921
as Lady Tranmore
MovieClothes
1920
as Mrs. Cathcart
MovieMothers of Men
1920
as Mrs. De La Motte
MovieA Society Exile
1919
as Mrs. Stanley Shelby
MovieThe Avalanche
1919
as Mrs. Ruyler
MovieBlind Man's Luck
1917
as Mrs. Guerton
