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Elsa Lanchester

Elsa Lanchester

Birthday: 1902-10-28 | Place of Birth: Lewisham, London, England, UK

Elsa Sullivan Lanchester  (28 October 1902 – 26 December 1986) was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television. 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

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

2009
Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood

as    Self (archive footage)

1976
Murder by Death

as    Jessica Marbles

1973
Arnold

as    Hester

1973
Terror in the Wax Museum

as    Julia Hawthorn

1971
Willard

as    Henrietta Stiles

1969
In Name Only

as    Gertrude Caruso

1969
My Dog the Thief

as    Mrs. Formby

1968
Blackbeard's Ghost

as    Emily Stowecroft

1965
Mary Poppins

as    Katie Nanna

1965
The John Forsythe Show

as    Margaret Culver

1965
That Darn Cat!

as    Mrs. MacDougall

1964
Pajama Party

as    Aunt Wendy

1957
Witness for the Prosecution

as    Miss Plimsoll

1955
The Glass Slipper

as    Widow Sonder

1954
Hell's Half Acre

as    Lida O'Reilly

1954
3 Ring Circus

as    The Bearded Lady

1953
The Girls of Pleasure Island

as    Thelma

1952
Les Miserables

as    Madame Magloire

1952
Androcles and the Lion

as    Megaera

1950
Buccaneer's Girl

as    Madame Brizar

1950
Mystery Street

as    Mrs. Smerrling

1949
The Inspector General

as    Maria

1949
The Secret Garden

as    Martha

1948
The Big Clock

as    Louise Patterson

1947
The Bishop's Wife

as    Matilda

1946
The Razor's Edge

as    Miss Keith

1946
The Spiral Staircase

as    Mrs. Oates

1944
Passport to Destiny

as    Ella Muggins

1943
Lassie Come Home

as    Mrs. Helen Carraclough