Cathleen Nesbitt, CBE (November 24, 1888 - August 2, 1982) was an English actress of Welsh and Irish extraction.

Born in Cheshire, England, she was educated in Lisieux, France and attended the Queen's University of Belfast, and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. Her younger brother, Thomas Nesbitt, Jr., acted in one film in 1925, before his death in South Africa in 1927 from an apparent heart attack.

Her debut on the London stage was in the revival of Pinero's The Cabinet Minister (1910). She acted in countless plays after that.

In 1911, Nesbitt joined the Irish Players, went to the United States and debuted on Broadway in The Well of the Saints. She also was in the cast of John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World with the Irish Players when the whole cast was pelted with fruits and vegetables by the offended Irish American Catholic audience.

She became the love of English poet Rupert Brooke in 1912, who wrote great love sonnets to her. They were engaged to be married when he died during World War I. Nesbitt returned to the U.S. and appeared on Broadway in Quinneys (1915). After five other plays there, she returned to England. For the rest of the decade she performed in London; her roles included the title role in a revival of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi.

Her film debut was in the silent A Star Over Night (1919). She then performed in The Faithful Heart (1922). She did not appear in a film again until 1930, when she played the role of Anne Lymes in Canaries Sometimes Sing, which was an early talkie. She appeared in the 1938 film version of Pygmalion as "a lady" who attends the Embassy ball. In the opening credits her name is spelled with a "K" but the correct spelling comes at the end of the film.

She had one husband, the actor Cecil Ramage. They married in 1920 and remained legally married until Nesbitt's death in 1982 but were separated for many years. They had two children.

Nesbitt's first Hollywood film was Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), in which she played the character role of La Principessa. This was followed that same year by Black Widow, in which she played a maid named Lucia Colletti. She was also part of the 1958 ensemble cast of Separate Tables.

Her other Broadway productions included Gigi (1951), Sabrina Fair (1953), and Anastasia (1954). In 1956, she played Mrs. Higgins in My Fair Lady starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. Nesbitt reprised the role in 1981, when in her in 90s, in a Broadway revival also starring Rex Harrison, who had also appeared in the original Broadway show (and the 1964 film).

She is probably best-remembered by Americans for her role as Agatha Morley on the TV series The Farmer's Daughter from 1963 to 1966, playing the mother of a Congressman (played by William Windom). She guest starred on such shows as The United States Steel Hour; Wagon Train; Naked City, Dr. Kildare and Upstairs, Downstairs. She was also memorable as the kindly grandmother in the film An Affair to Remember.

Nesbitt won an Emmy Award for her work in the TV drama The Mask of Love (1974).

Nesbitt lived for many years in the United States, and considered taking out U.S. citizenship, but ultimately returned to the United Kingdom, where she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Her autobiography, A Little Love and Good Company, was published in 1973.

In 1969 she portrayed the mother of a homosexual in Staircase. She played the film role of an elderly drug addict in French Connection II (1975). Her next film was Hitchcock's Family Plot (1976), in which she played Julia Rainbird. She then appeared as the grandmother in Julia (1977). Her final film was Never, Never Land (1980), in which she played Edith Forbes.

She also wrote an engaging autobiography entitled A Little Love and Good Company, which was published in England. Scheduled for an American release by Stemmer House, the manuscript was lost for a year but finally arrived in the U.S. and the book was published there.

After a career spanning over eighty years, one of the longest in show business history, Cathleen Nesbitt died at age 93 in London, on 2 August 1982.

Engaged to English poet Rupert Brooke, who was killed during World War I, Cathleen Nesbitt was one of the great beauties of her day.

She repeated her role as Henry Higgins' mother in the stage musical "My Fair Lady" on its 25th anniversary. She was well into her nineties, acting alongside a 70-ish Rex Harrison (I).

Sister of actor Tom Nesbitt (I).

Her daughter by Cecil Ramage, Jennifer Ramage (born 24th September 1928, London) was a famous radio actress, character-impressionist and comedienne, as well as a thriller novelist under a pseudonym.