Personal Info
Known For:
Acting
Birthday:
October 28, 1902
Place of Birth:
Lewisham, London, England, UK
Social Media
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
Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood | Self (archive footage) |
| 2014 | Monster Madness: The Golden Age of the Horror Film | Mary Shelley / The Monster's Mate (archive footage) |
| 2009 | Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood | Self (archive footage) |
| 2007 | Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman | Self (archive footage) |
| 2000 | The American Nightmare | Self |
| 1998 | Universal Horror | (archive footage) |
| 1993 | Turnabout: The Story of the Yale Puppeteers | Self |
| 1992 | Commercial Entertainment Product | The Monster's Bride |
| 1991 | Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook | Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley / The Monster's Mate |
| 1983 | Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| 1980 | Die Laughing | Sophie |
| 1976 | Murder by Death | Jessica Marbles |
| 1973 | Arnold | Hester |
| 1973 | Terror in the Wax Museum | Julia Hawthorn |
| 1971 | Willard | Henrietta Stiles |
| 1969 | My Dog, the Thief | Mrs. Formby |
| 1969 | Rascal | Mrs. Satterfield |
| 1969 | Me, Natalie | Miss Dennison |
| 1969 | In Name Only | Gertrude Caruso |
| 1968 | Blackbeard's Ghost | Emily Stowecroft |
| 1967 | Easy Come, Easy Go | Madame Neherina |
| 1965 | That Darn Cat! | Mrs. MacDougall |
| 1964 | Mary Poppins | Katie Nanna |
| 1964 | Pajama Party | Aunt Wendy |
| 1964 | Honeymoon Hotel | Chambermaid |
| 1962 | The Flood | Noah's wife |
| 1958 | Bell, Book and Candle | Aunt Queenie Holroyd |
| 1957 | Witness for the Prosecution | Miss Plimsoll |
| 1955 | The Glass Slipper | Widow Sonder |
| 1955 | Alice in Wonderland | Red Queen |
| 1954 | Hell's Half Acre | Lida O'Reilly |
| 1954 | 3 Ring Circus | The Bearded Lady |
| 1953 | The Girls of Pleasure Island | Thelma |
| 1952 | Androcles and the Lion | Megaera |
| 1952 | Dreamboat | Mathilda Coffey |
| 1952 | Les Miserables | Madame Magloire |
| 1950 | Buccaneer's Girl | Madame Brizar |
| 1950 | Mystery Street | Mrs. Smerrling |
| 1950 | The Petty Girl | Dr. Crutcher |
| 1950 | Frenchie | Countess |
| 1949 | The Inspector General | Maria |
| 1949 | The Secret Garden | Martha |
| 1949 | Come to the Stable | Amelia Potts |
| 1948 | The Big Clock | Louise Patterson |
| 1947 | The Bishop's Wife | Matilda |
| 1947 | Northwest Outpost | Princess 'Tanya' Tatiana |
| 1946 | The Spiral Staircase | Mrs. Oates |
| 1946 | The Razor's Edge | Miss Keith |
| 1944 | Passport to Destiny | Ella Muggins |
| 1943 | Lassie Come Home | Mrs. Helen Carraclough |
| 1943 | Thumbs Up | Emily "Emmy" Ffinch |
| 1943 | Forever and a Day | Mamie |
| 1942 | Tales of Manhattan | Elsa (Mrs Charles) Smith |
| 1942 | Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake | Bristol Isabel |
| 1941 | Ladies in Retirement | Emily Creed |
| 1940 | Cavalcade of the Academy Awards | Self |
| 1938 | Vessel of Wrath | Martha Jones |
| 1936 | Rembrandt | Hendrickje Stoffels |
| 1935 | Bride of Frankenstein | Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley / The Monster's Mate |
| 1935 | Naughty Marietta | Madame d'Annard |
| 1935 | The Ghost Goes West | Miss Shepperton |
| 1935 | David Copperfield | Clickett |
| 1933 | The Private Life of Henry VIII | Anne of Cleves |
| 1931 | The Love Habit | Matilde |
| 1931 | Potiphar's Wife | Thérèse |
| 1931 | The Stronger Sex | Thompson |
| 1931 | The Officers' Mess | Cora Melville |
| 1930 | Ashes | |
| 1930 | Comets | Herself |
| 1928 | Blue Bottles | Elsa |
| 1928 | The Constant Nymph | Lady |
| 1928 | Daydreams | Elsa / Heroine in Dream Sequence |
| 1928 | The Tonic | Elsa |
| 1927 | One of the Best | Kitty |
| 1924 | The Scarlet Woman: An Ecclesiastical Melodrama | Beatrice de Carolle |