Background
Zeffie Tilbury was the daughter of the variety performer Lydia Thompson and John Christian Tilbury, a riding-master, who died in a steeplechasing accident in 1864, when he was rolled on by his horse.
Zeffie Tilbury was the daughter of the variety performer Lydia Thompson and John Christian Tilbury, a riding-master, who died in a steeplechasing accident in 1864, when he was rolled on by his horse.
Born in Paddington, Middlesex, England Tilbury was known first on the London stage and on the Broadway in New New York 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.
In the same year she also portrayed the Gypsy Queen in the Laurel and Hardy film The Bohemian Girl.