Jessie Ralph Patton (née Chambers; November 5, 1864[citation needed] – May 30, 1944), was an American stage and screen actress, best known for her matronly roles in many classic films.

[1] Born in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1864, she made her acting debut in stock theater in 1880, at age 16.

[2] in a movie career that spanned 25 years, she became a permanent Hollywood actress in 1933.

She was nearly 70 then, so her parts were limited to matronly roles, but her expertise at stealing scenes captured the imagination of cinema-goers of the time.

[citation needed] Her best-known roles are as Greta Garbo's maid in Camille, as W.C. Fields' battle-axe of a mother-in-law in The Bank Dick, as Myrna Loy's Aunt Katherine (in a state of permanent high dudgeon) in After the Thin Man, and as Peggotty in David Copperfield.