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Ruth Clifford

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".


Aliases
  • Ruth Clifford Cornelius
  • Ruth Cornelius
English

Swanee River

1939
as Bit Role

Mr. Celebrity

1941
as Woman In Convertible

The Mysterious Mr. Tiller

1917
as Clara Hawthorne

The Constant Woman

1933
as Speakeasy Floozie

Not Wanted

1949
as Mrs. Elizabeth Stone

Stolen Harmony

1935
as Nurse

The Thrill Seekers

1927
as Adrean Wainwright

Poisoned Ivory

1934
as Mrs. Bevan

Hungry Eyes

1918
as Mary Jane Appleton

Ten Gentlemen From West Point

1942
as Graduation Spectator

The Whispered Name

1924
as Anne Gray

Pluto's Sweater

1949
as Minnie Mouse

Polly Put the Kettle On

1917
as Polly Vance

The Cobweb

1955
as Mrs. Jenkins

The Dangerous Age

1922
as Gloria Sanderson

The Cabaret Girl

1918
as Ann Reid

Brooding Eyes

1926
as Joan Ayre

Donald's Dream Voice

1948
as Daisy Duck

The Red, Red Heart

1918
as Rhoda Tuttle

Land of the Open Range

1942
as Mrs. Palmer

Road to Happiness

1941
as Ship Passenger

The Eternal Woman

1929
as Doris Forbes

Mickey's Delayed Date

1947
as Minnie Mouse

The Lure of Luxury

1918
as Dale Aldis

First Aiders

1944
as Minnie Mouse

Let's Live Tonight

1935
as American

Pluto's Christmas Tree

1952
as Minnie Mouse

My Dad

1922
as Dawn

The Desire of the Moth

1917
as Stella Vorhis

Ponjola

1923
as Gay Lypiatt

Bath Day

1946
as Minnie Mouse (voice)

Wagon Master

1950
as Fleuretty Phyffe

Mother o' Mine

1917
as Catherine Thurston

Hands Down

1918
as Hilda Stuyvesant

The Storm Breaker

1925
as Lysette DeJon

The Door Between

1917
as Heloise Crocker

The Honeymoon's Over

1939
as Receptionist

Figaro and Frankie

1947
as Minnie Mouse (voice) (uncredited)

Coney Island

1943
as Saloon Patron

The Game's Up

1919
as Ruth Elliott

Guest Star

Episode Highway Patrol (1955)
Dead Patrolman
1956
Episode Disney Animated Shorts
Bath Day
1946
Episode Disney Animated Shorts
Pluto and the Gopher
1950
Episode Grindl
One Angry Grindl
1963
Episode Highway Patrol (1955)
Prisoner Exchange Copter
1959
Episode Disney Animated Shorts
Pluto's Sweater
1949