Nellie Bly Baker
Nellie Bly Baker (September 7, 1893 – October 12, 1984) was an American actress in the silent film era and early sound films. She appeared in 13 movies from 1921 to 1934, mostly in small or supporting roles, and she never became a star. She worked with studios like Associated First National Pictures, First National Pictures, and MGM. Her work caught the eye of Charlie Chaplin, who cast her in A Woman of Paris (1923) as a masseuse, helping her career. She also played a slum nurse in Chaplin’s The Kid (1921).
Some of her other parts included Clara in The Red Kimono (1925), Ellen in The Goldfish (1924), and Katinka in How to Educate a Wife (1924). She portrayed maids in several films, such as Madeline in Breakfast at Sunrise (1927), Beedle in The Bishop Murder Case (1930), and roles in The Snob (1924), Love and the Devil (1929), and The Painted Angel (1929). Her last film was Sadie McKee (1934), where she played a laundress. She was married to J. H. O’Bryan.
Beyond acting, Baker was California’s first licensed mountain guide in the Lundy and Mono Lake area and built an “upside down” house near Lee Vining, California. She died in Lone Pine, California, at age 91.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 13:51 (CET).