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Ruth Clifford

Acting Born Feb 16, 1900 Pawtucket, Rhode Island, USA 24 credits

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ruth Clifford (February 17, 1900 – November 30, 1998) was an American actress of leading roles in silent films, whose career lasted from silent days into the television era. Clifford got work as an extra and began her career at 15 at Universal, in fairly substantial roles. She received her first film credit for her work in Behind the Lines (1916).

By her mid-twenties, she was playing leads and second leads, including the role of Abraham Lincoln's lost love, Ann Rutledge, in The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln (1924). But sound pictures found her roles diminishing, and throughout the next three decades she played smaller and smaller parts.

She was a favorite of director John Ford (they played bridge together), who used her in eight films, but rarely in substantial roles. She was also, for a time, the voice of Walt Disney's Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck.

Clifford's obituary in the Los Angeles Times noted that she "became a prime source for historians of the silent screen era".

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Known for

Film

Sunset Boulevard

as Sheldrake's Secretary (uncredited)
Film

The Searchers

as Deranged Woman at Fort (uncredited)
Film

The Quiet Man

as Mother (uncredited)
Film

My Darling Clementine

as Opera House Patron (uncredited)
Film

Funny Girl

as Maid (uncredited)
Film

The Phantom of the Opera

as Ballerina (uncredited)
Film

Wagon Master

as Fleuretty Phyffe

Judge Roy Bean

as Telephone Operator (uncredited)
Film

Two Rode Together

as Woman (uncredited)
Film

The Cobweb

as Mrs. Jenkins

Saki

as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Film

Designing Woman

as Vanessa Cole

Full filmography

  • Sunset Boulevard (1950) as Sheldrake's Secretary (uncredited)
  • The Searchers (1956) as Deranged Woman at Fort (uncredited)
  • The Quiet Man (1952) as Mother (uncredited)
  • 3 Godfathers (1948) as Woman in Bar (uncredited)
  • My Darling Clementine (1946) as Opera House Patron (uncredited)
  • Funny Girl (1968) as Maid (uncredited)
  • The Phantom of the Opera (1925) as Ballerina (uncredited)
  • Holiday Inn (1942) as Guest at Inn (uncredited)
  • Wagon Master (1950) as Fleuretty Phyffe
  • Leave Her to Heaven (1945) as Telephone Operator (uncredited)
  • The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) as Sister Mercy Mary (uncredited)
  • The Lodger (1944) as Hairdresser (uncredited)
  • Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) as Pioneer Woman (uncredited)
  • Two Rode Together (1961) as Woman (uncredited)
  • The Cobweb (1955) as Mrs. Jenkins
  • Ball of Fire (1941) as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
  • Designing Woman (1957) as Vanessa Cole
  • Whirlpool (1950) as Nurse Eliott (uncredited)
  • Stolen Harmony (1935) as Nurse (uncredited)
  • Shock (1946) as Mrs. Margaret Cross
  • Sergeant Rutledge (1960) as Officer's Wife (uncredited)
  • Coney Island (1943) as Saloon Patron
  • The Spider (1945) as Mrs. Gillespie - Tenant
  • Swanee River (1939) as Bit Role