Elsa Lanchester

Acting · Born 1902-10-28 in Lewisham, London, England, UK

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…

Filmography

• Bride of Frankenstein as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley / The Monster's Mate
• Mary Poppins as Katie Nanna
• Murder by Death as Jessica Marbles
• The Spiral Staircase as Mrs. Oates
• Witness for the Prosecution as Miss Plimsoll
• The Bishop's Wife as Matilda
• Lassie Come Home as Mrs. Helen Carraclough
• Bell, Book and Candle as Aunt Queenie Holroyd
• Tales of Manhattan as Mrs. Smith
• The Inspector General as Maria

TV

• I Love Lucy as Edna Grundy
• Night Gallery
• Burke's Law as Mrs. Ormsby
• Here's Lucy as Mumsie Westcott
• The Merv Griffin Show as Self
• The Bill Cosby Show as Mrs. Wochuk
• The Ed Sullivan Show as Self
• General Electric Theater as Hanna Winters
• Hallmark Hall of Fame as Red Queen
• Nanny and the Professor as Aunt Henrietta