profile image

Elsa Lanchester

Oct 28, 1902 - Dec 26, 1986 (84 years old) in Lewisham, London, England, UK

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

poster
I Love Lucy
Edna Grundy
poster
Robert Montgomery Presents
poster
Studio One
Jenny Pratt
poster
Burke's Law
Mrs. Ormsby
poster
Bride of Frankenstein
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley / The Monster's Mate
poster
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self
poster
Here's Lucy
Mumsie Westcott
poster
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Aggie McGregor
poster
Adventures in Paradise
Miss Creshaw
poster
Mannix
Portia Penhaven

Credits

Images

image
image
image
image