Biography
Sylvia Sidney (born Sophia Kosow, August 8, 1910 – July 1, 1999) was an American stage, screen and film actress whose career spanned over 70 years. She rose to prominence in dozens of leading roles in the 1930s. She later gained attention for her role as Juno, a case worker in the afterlife, in Tim Burton's film Beetlejuice, for which she won a Saturn Award as Best Supporting Actress. She also was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Summer Wishes, W...
Known For
Complete Filmography
Mars Attacks!
1996
as Grandma Norris
A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim...
Used People
1992
as Becky
At her husband's funeral, Pearl, Jewish mother of two divorced and antagonistic daughters, meets an old Italian friend of her husband, whose advice ye...
Night of 100 Stars III
1990
as Self
A celebrity benefit for The Actors' Fund of America, featuring music, songs, dance and comedy.
Andre's Mother
1990
as Mrs. Downes
Written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Terrence McNally, Andre's Mother is the story of Katherine Gerard (Sada Thompson) who has lost her son...
Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre
1989
as Self
A study of the Group Theatre, a company that changed the face of American drama. The Group was founded in 1931 by Cheryl Crawford, Harold Clurman and ...
Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man
1988
as Self (archive footage)
A retrospective of the life and career of actor Cary Grant, including clips from his films and interviews with his friends and co-workers.
Beetlejuice
1988
as Juno
A newly dead New England couple seeks help from a deranged demon exorcist to scare an affluent New York family out of their home.
The Witching of Ben Wagner
1987
as Grammy (Regina's Grandmother)
A new family moves into town and their son, Ben, meets a mysterious girl named Regina, who is rumoured to be a witch.
Pals
1987
as Fern Stobbs
Two retired fishing buddies stumble on an unmarked suitcase filled with three million dollars in cash. Then the fun starts flying as fast as bullets.
An Early Frost
1985
as Beatrice McKenna
Successful lawyer Michael Pierson is gay, but he has always hidden this part of his life from his mother, Katherine, father, Nick, and grandmother Bea...
Finnegan Begin Again
1985
as Margaret
A schoolteacher in her early 40s, involved in a dead-end love affair with a married mortician, drifts into a relationship with an aging newspaperman.
Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984
as (archive footage)
Robert Preston hosts this documentary that shows what people of the 1930s were watching as they were battling the Depression as well as eventually get...
Copkiller
1983
as Margaret Smith
A NYPD officer imprisons and tortures an admitted cop-killer, but finds the tables turned when his victim refuses to break and in fact urges more puni...
The Brass Ring
1983
as Grandmother
A mother afflicted with depression comes into conflict with own mother and children when she refuses to seek professional health care.
Having It All
1982
as Marney
Thera Baylin is a fashion designer with a husband in New York and another one in California.
Hammett
1982
as Donaldina Cameron
Chinatown, San Francisco, 1928. Former private detective Dashiell Hammett, a compulsive drinker with tuberculosis who writes pulp fiction for a living...
Night of 100 Stars
1982
as Self
The most glittering, expensive, and exhausting videotaping session in television history took place Friday February 19, 1982 at New York's Radio City ...
Come Along with Me
1982
as Mrs. Flanner
Newly-widowed Mabel Lederer, who has psychic and mediumistic abilities, sells her house and belongings, changes her name, and moves to a new town. The...
A Small Killing
1981
as Sadie Ross
A college professor is recruited by an undercover cop to pose as a bag lady to track down a drug connection following the brutal killing of a skid row...
The Shadow Box
1980
as Felicity
Over the course of a day in a California hospice, three terminally ill patients are observed with their families reflecting on life and death.
F.D.R.: The Last Year
1980
as Cousin Polly
Though visibly frail and weary, President Franklin D. Roosevelt runs for a precedent-setting fourth term. He also oversees plans for the D-Day Invasio...
The Gossip Columnist
1980
as Alma Lewellyn
New Tinseltown gossip columnist Dina Moran helps faded movie star Georgia O'Hanlon dig up dirt on amoral characters.
Damien - Omen II
1978
as Aunt Marion
Since the sudden and suspicious deaths of his parents, young Damien has been in the charge of his wealthy aunt and uncle and enrolled in a military sc...
Siege
1978
as Lillian Gordon
A drama about a community of senior citizens who are terrorized by a ruthless neighborhood gang. After learning that the police are stymied because th...
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
1977
as Miss Coral
A disturbed and institutionalized 16-year-old girl struggles between fantasy and reality.
Snowbeast
1977
as Mrs. Carrie Rill
A skier and his wife visit a friend's ski resort during a man beast's rampage, and must hide from the impending danger.
Raid on Entebbe
1976
as Dora Bloch
Based on a true operation by Israeli commandos. An Air France flight is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The airplane la...
God Told Me To
1976
as Elizabeth Mullin
Devout Catholic detective Peter Nicholas investigates a series of murders around New York City, perpetrated by men who claim that God told them to do ...
Death at Love House
1976
as Clara Josephs
Donna and Joel Gregory are staying at the estate of Lorna Love while researching a book about the long dead Hollywood goddess. Joel, whose father had ...
Winner Take All
1975
as Anne Barclay
The chronicle of an average American housewife who just happens to be addicted to gambling.
The Secret Night Caller
1975
as Kitty
A man who is the pillar of his community has a secret - he has a compulsion to make obscene telephone calls.
Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams
1973
as Mrs. Pritchard - Rita's Mother
Rita, a middle aged New York City homemaker, finds herself in an emotional crisis which forces her to re-examine her life, as well as her relationship...
Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate
1971
as Elizabeth Gibson
Four elderly ladies with a lot of time on their hands get the idea to create a fictional "girl" for a computer dating service. However, things take a ...
No Time at All
1958
as Mrs. Kramer
An airliner flying nonstop at night from Miami to New York fails to check in, then disappears from radar. We see how its disappearance affects people ...
The Helen Morgan Story
1957
as Lulu Morgan
Broadway legend Helen Morgan 's life as told by her mother, from her early start in second rate speakeasies to star of top rated shows and owning her ...
Behind the High Wall
1956
as Hilda Carmichael
A group prison breakout goes from bad to worse when the desperate warden tries to steal the gang's dough.
Man on the Ledge
1955
as Mrs. Cosick
Beat cop Bragan is about to go off duty when he discovers a man standing on the ledge of a hotel more than a dozen stories up. Bragan tries to talk th...
Violent Saturday
1955
as Elsie Braden
Three men case a small town very carefully, with plans to rob the bank on the upcoming Saturday, which turns violent and deadly.
Les Miserables
1952
as Fantine
In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both me...
Screen Snapshots 1860: Howdy, Podner
1949
as Sylvia Sidney
This entry of Screen Snapshots travels to Las Vegas, Nevada, and Ralph Staub visits and talks to many Hollywood notables as they arrive at the famed g...
Love from a Stranger
1947
as Cecily Harrington
Cecily Harrington, struggling along on a small allowance, wins a fortune in a lottery. She decides to travel rather than marrying her fiance Nigel Law...
The Searching Wind
1946
as Cassie Bowman
Always the diplomat, Alex Hazen is slow to take sides in Europe of the 1920s and 1930s. Cassie Bowman wants him to be more decisive and leaves him in ...
Mr. Ace
1946
as Margaret Wyndham Chase
A rich society woman uses a gangster to win a congressional election.
Blood on the Sun
1945
as Iris Hilliard
Nick Condon, an American journalist in 20s Tokyo, publishes the Japanese master plan for world domination. Reaction from the understandably upset Japa...
Breakdowns of 1941
1941
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1941.
The Wagons Roll at Night
1941
as Flo Lorraine
An escaped circus lion provides the impetus for the meeting of carnival owner Nick Coster and Matt Varney, a small-town man who suddenly becomes a lio...
One Third of a Nation
1939
as Mary Rogers
The negligent owner of a tenement slum becomes romantically involved with one of the building's residents.
You and Me
1938
as Helen Roberts
Mr. Morris, the owner of a large metropolitan department store, gives jobs to paroled ex-convicts in an effort to help them reform and go straight. Am...
Dead End
1937
as Drina Gordon
Mobster "Baby Face" Martin returns home to visit the New York neighborhood where he grew up, dropping in on his mother, who rejects him because of his...
You Only Live Once
1937
as Joan Graham
Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is fr...
Sabotage
1937
as Mrs. Verloc
Karl Anton Verloc and his wife own a small cinema in a quiet London suburb where they live seemingly happily. But Mrs. Verloc does not know that her h...
Fury
1936
as Katherine Grant
Joe, who owns a gas station along with his brothers and is about to marry Katherine, travels to the small town where she lives to visit her, but is wr...
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
1936
as June Tolliver
A well-established tale of a long-running feud between two mountain clans.
Mary Burns, Fugitive
1935
as Mary Burns
A young woman who owns a coffee shop falls for a handsome young customer, unaware that he is a gangster.
Accent on Youth
1935
as Linda Brown
A young secretary falls in love with her boss, a middle-aged playwright. Complications ensue when her boss' son falls for her.
Behold My Wife!
1934
as Tonita Storm Cloud
After Michael Carter's fiancée commits suicide, Michael vows to seek revenge on his wealthy family, who sabotaged their marriage. He drives across the...
Thirty Day Princess
1934
as Nancy Lane / Princess Catterina
A European princess arrives in New York City to secure a much-needed loan for her country. She contracts the mumps, and an actress who looks exactly l...
Good Dame
1934
as Lillie Taylor
A chorus girl gets stranded in a small midwestern town. Against her better judgement, she hooks up with a smooth-talking con artist who says he can he...
Jennie Gerhardt
1933
as Jennie Gerhardt
This turn-of-the-century tragedy chronicles the sorrowful travails of a woman who endures a series of devastating losses.
Pick-up
1933
as Mary Richards
The scheme of a pair of married con artists goes awry when their victim dies, and they are both caught and imprisoned. When she gets out of prison, sh...
Madame Butterfly
1932
as Cho-Cho San
Pinkerton marries Cho-Cho San in Japan, whilst on shore leave. When he leaves, she keeps his Japanese home as he left it. He returns three years later...
Make Me a Star
1932
as Sylvia Sidney (uncredited)
A grocery clerk, longing to become a cowboy actor, goes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune. Unfortunately, his acting ability is non-existent.
Merrily We Go to Hell
1932
as Joan Prentice
A drunken newspaperman, Jerry Corbett, is rescued from his alcoholic haze by an heiress, Joan Prentice, whose love sobers him up and encourages him to...
The Miracle Man
1932
as Helen Smith aka Helen Vail
A gang of crooks evade the police by moving their operations to a small town. There the gang's leader, John Madison, encounters a faith healer and use...
Ladies of the Big House
1931
as Kathleen Storm McNeil
A woman tries to save her husband from the electric chair after both are sent to prison for a murder they didn't commit.
Street Scene
1931
as Rose Maurrant
The setting is a city block during a sweltering summer, where the residents serve as representatives of the not-very-idealized American melting pot. T...
An American Tragedy
1931
as Roberta 'Bert' Alden
A social climber charms a debutante, seduces a factory worker and commits murder.
Confessions of a Co-Ed
1931
as Patricia Harper
A young college student gets pregnant by the man she loves, but circumstances prevent their marrying, so she marries a classmate she doesn't love. Soo...
The House That Shadows Built
1931
as (archive footage)
The House That Shadows Built (1931) is a short feature, roughly 48 minutes long, from Paramount Pictures made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the...
City Streets
1931
as Nan Cooley
A mobster's daughter leads her boyfriend from the circus into bootlegging.
Five Minutes from the Station
1930
as Carrie Adams
When Bert Adams brings his boss, Mr. Mason, home for dinner, he and his wife Carrie hope Mason will take the opportunity to announce that Bert will be...
Thru Different Eyes
1929
as Valerie Briand
Harvey Manning is placed on trial for the murder of Jack Winfield, his closest friend, whose body was found in the Manning home. During the trial, the...
Broadway Nights
1927
as Performer
Fannie joins Johnny to perform a music-hall act which becomes a success, until two Broadway producers catch the act and offer Fannie a job on their la...
The Sorrows of Satan
1926
as Bridesmaid (uncredited)
Geoffrey is desperately in love with Mavis, who lives at his boardinghouse and is also pursuing a writing career. Unable to marry her because of his p...