Elsa Lanchester
Biography
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (October 28, 1902 – December 26, 1986) was a British actress with a long career in theatre, film and television and former dancer. Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the First World War began performing in theatre and cabaret, where she established her career over the following decade. She met the actor Charles Laughton in 1927, and they were married two years later. She began playing small roles in British films, including the role of Anne of Cleves with Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). Laughton's success in American films resulted in the couple moving to Hollywood, where Lanchester played small film roles. Her role as the bride in Bride of Frankenstein (1935), brought her recognition, and came to be one of the roles most closely associated with her throughout her life. Lanchester played supporting roles through the 1940s and 1950s. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Come to the Stable (1949) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957), the last of twelve films in which she appeared with Laughton. Following Laughton's death in 1962, Lanchester resumed her career with appearances in such Disney films as Mary Poppins (1964), That Darn Cat! (1965) and Blackbeard's Ghost (1968). The horror film, Willard, (1971) was highly successful and one of her last roles was in Murder By Death (1976). Description above from the Wikipedia article Elsa Lanchester, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Known For
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley / The Monster's Mate
Bride of Frankenstein
Katie Nanna
Mary Poppins
Mrs. Helen Carraclough
Lassie Come Home
Aunt Queenie Holroyd
Bell, Book and Candle
Jessica Marbles
Murder by Death
Mrs. Oates
The Spiral Staircase
Elsa (Mrs Charles) Smith
Tales of Manhattan
Maria
The Inspector General
Lida O'Reilly
Hell's Half Acre
Henrietta Stiles
Willard
Emily Creed
Ladies in Retirement
Miss Plimsoll
Witness for the Prosecution
Anne of Cleves
The Private Life of Henry VIII
Martha
The Secret Garden
Bristol Isabel
Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
Madame d'Annard
Naughty Marietta
Emily Stowecroft
Blackbeard's Ghost
Mrs. Formby
My Dog, the Thief
Madame Brizar
Buccaneer's Girl
Madame Neherina
Easy Come, Easy Go
Megaera
Androcles and the Lion
Matilda
The Bishop's Wife
Hendrickje Stoffels
Rembrandt
Louise Patterson
The Big Clock
Mrs. Smerrling
Mystery Street
Mrs. Satterfield
Rascal
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Aunt Wendy
Pajama Party
Miss Keith
The Razor's Edge
Self
The American Nightmare
Mathilda Coffey
Dreamboat
Chambermaid
Honeymoon Hotel
Thelma
The Girls of Pleasure Island
Amelia Potts
Come to the Stable
Kitty
One of the Best
Dr. Crutcher
The Petty Girl
Self (archive footage)
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Princess 'Tanya' Tatiana
Northwest Outpost
Miss Shepperton
The Ghost Goes West
Madame Magloire
Les Miserables
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley / The Monster's Mate
Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook
Hester
Arnold
Martha Jones
Vessel of Wrath
Miss Dennison
Me, Natalie
Widow Sonder
The Glass Slipper
Julia Hawthorn
Terror in the Wax Museum
Ella Muggins
Passport to Destiny
Countess
Frenchie
Gertrude Caruso
In Name Only
Mary Shelley / The Monster's Mate (archive footage)
Monster Madness: The Golden Age of the Horror Film
Clickett
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger
Sophie
Die Laughing
Elsa
Blue Bottles
Matilde
The Love Habit
Ashes
Emily "Emmy" Ffinch
Thumbs Up
Lady
The Constant Nymph
Red Queen
Alice in Wonderland
Mamie
Forever and a Day
The Bearded Lady
3 Ring Circus
Elsa / Heroine in Dream Sequence
Daydreams
Elsa
The Tonic
Herself
Comets
Mrs. MacDougall
That Darn Cat!
Thérèse
Potiphar's Wife
Thompson
The Stronger Sex
Cora Melville
The Officers' Mess
Self
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
The Monster's Bride
Commercial Entertainment Product
Self (archive footage)
Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood
Beatrice de Carolle
The Scarlet Woman: An Ecclesiastical Melodrama
Self
Turnabout: The Story of the Yale Puppeteers
Noah's wife
The Flood
Self (archive footage)
Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman
(archive footage)
Universal Horror
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
75
Gender
Female
Birthday
1902-10-28
Place of Birth
Lewisham, London, England, UK
Also Known As
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester