Celebrating "The Bride"
Today, October 28, would have been the 123rd birthday of an actress who became an icon of horror films for a role in which she was on screen for only a few minutes.
Yes, dear friends, we are speaking of The Bride of Frankenstein, Elsa Lanchester.
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902, in Lewisham, London, England)
was a British 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.
After World War I, Lanchester started the Children's Theatre, and later the Cave of Harmony, a nightclub at which modern plays and cabaret turns were performed. She revived old Victorian songs and ballads, many of which she retained for her performances in another revue entitled Riverside Nights. Her first film performance came in 1924 in the amateur production The Scarlet Woman, which was written by Evelyn Waugh who also appeared in two roles himself.
She became sufficiently famous for Columbia to invite her into the recording studio to make 78 rpm discs of four of the numbers she sang in these revues, with piano arrangement and accompaniment by Kay Henderson: "Please Sell No More Drink to My Father" and "He Didn't Oughter" were on one disc (recorded in 1926) and "Don't Tell My Mother I'm Living in Sin" and "The Ladies Bar" were on the other (recorded 1930). Her cabaret and nightclub appearances led to more serious stage work
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). Her success in American films resulted in the couple moving to Hollywood, where Lanchester played small film roles.
She played the lead in Passport to Destiny (1944), an RKO Radio Pictures war film, starring as an English charwoman who, believing herself invulnerable by being protected by a magic eye amulet, travels to Nazi Germany to personally assassinate Adolf Hitler.
There were many 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. She won a Golden Glove Award for her performance in Witness For The Prosecution.
Following Laughton's death in 1962, Lanchester resumed her career with appearances in such Disney films as Mary Poppins (1964), Pajama Party (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).
She appeared on 9 April 1959, on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. She performed in two episodes of NBC's The Wonderful World of Disney. Additionally, she had memorable guest roles in an episode of I Love Lucy in 1956 and in episodes of NBC's The Eleventh Hour (1964) and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1965). Lanchester continued to make occasional film appearances, singing a duet with Elvis Presley in Easy Come, Easy Go (1967), and playing the mother in the original version of Willard (1971), alongside Bruce Davison and Ernest Borgnine, which scored well at the box office. She was Jessica Marbles, a sleuth based on Agatha Christie's Jane Marple, in the 1976 murder mystery spoof Murder by Death, and she made her last film in 1980 as Sophie in Die Laughing.
She released three LP albums in the 1950s. Two (referred to above) were entitled Songs for a Shuttered Parlour and Songs for a Smoke-Filled Room, and were vaguely lewd and danced around their true purpose, such as the song about her husband's "clock" not working. Laughton provided the spoken introductions to each number and even joined Lanchester in the singing of "She Was Poor but She Was Honest". Her third LP was entitled Cockney London, a selection of old London songs for which Laughton wrote the sleeve-notes.
But it is her role as The Bride of Frankenstein that gave her the most recognition, creating an icon of pop culture that remains to this day.
Much of the publicity surrounding the highly anticipated sequel to the '31 Frankenstein, revolved around the title character. "Who will be the Bride of Frankenstein? Who will dare?" was a major headline at the time. While there was some speculation, director James Whale had Elsa in mind for the role from the start. Whale also had her in the role of author Mary Shelley, in the films opening prologue.....but the ending credits still kept audiences in the dark as to who the Bride was, shown only with a "?"
The role of the Bride was quite an experience for Elsa. Playing Mary Shelley was fun, as she was thrilled by the lovely dress she wore, which was hand made by a number of the wardrobe crew....but becoming the Bride was a different story.
First off, the creation began with Elsa being wrapped in cloth from head to toe, much as fellow actor Boris Karloff had been in '32 The Mummy. She was bandaged in such a manner that she had to be carried by crew members, as she was unable to walk....and then, here comes "The Bride" a combined effort by both James Whale and makeup artist Jack Pierce. The conical design was inspired by a bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. The striking, silver-streaked hair was styled over a wire frame to create the conical shape. Gray streaks were added to Lanchester's natural red hair, and the finished look was heavily lacquered to maintain its structure.
Pierce created the Bride's makeup to be both monstrous and glamorous, incorporating elements like a stitched neck and bandages, while still giving her perfect lips and defined eyebrows.
It took several hours to get the process finished, and it was a difficult one for her.
Being only 5'4" it was necessary that she be fitted with stilts beneath her surgical gown, in order to reach the desired height.
Elsa was quite a prankster! Unbeknown to fellow cast mates and crew, she wore no undergarments beneath the surgical gown, and would often flash the crew between takes! Naughty girl!
She was evidently an accomplished screamer and emits an ear piercing one just as the Monster approaches her, and for her finale, she lets out an extended hiss towards her betrothed, just ahead of the huge lab explosion. Elsa stated the she got the idea for the hiss from swans she and Laughton would see at a park.
In 1984, Lanchester's health took a turn for the worse. Within 30 months, she had suffered two strokes, becoming totally incapacitated. She required constant care and was confined to bed rest. In March 1986, the Motion Picture and Television Fund filed to become conservator of Lanchester and her estate, which was valued at $900,000.
Lanchester died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, on 26 December 1986, aged 84, at the Motion Picture Hospital from bronchial pneumonia. Her body was cremated on 5 January 1987, at the Chapel of the Pines in Los Angeles and for decades it was believed that her ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean. In 2025, however, it was discovered that her cremated remains were instead interred by Herschel Green, her agent, at Valhalla Memorial Park under her married name, Elsa Lanchester Laughton.
Sources: Wikipedia, IMDb, and my personal thoughts.
Yes, dear friends, we are speaking of The Bride of Frankenstein, Elsa Lanchester.
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902, in Lewisham, London, England)
was a British 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.
After World War I, Lanchester started the Children's Theatre, and later the Cave of Harmony, a nightclub at which modern plays and cabaret turns were performed. She revived old Victorian songs and ballads, many of which she retained for her performances in another revue entitled Riverside Nights. Her first film performance came in 1924 in the amateur production The Scarlet Woman, which was written by Evelyn Waugh who also appeared in two roles himself.
She became sufficiently famous for Columbia to invite her into the recording studio to make 78 rpm discs of four of the numbers she sang in these revues, with piano arrangement and accompaniment by Kay Henderson: "Please Sell No More Drink to My Father" and "He Didn't Oughter" were on one disc (recorded in 1926) and "Don't Tell My Mother I'm Living in Sin" and "The Ladies Bar" were on the other (recorded 1930). Her cabaret and nightclub appearances led to more serious stage work
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). Her success in American films resulted in the couple moving to Hollywood, where Lanchester played small film roles.
She played the lead in Passport to Destiny (1944), an RKO Radio Pictures war film, starring as an English charwoman who, believing herself invulnerable by being protected by a magic eye amulet, travels to Nazi Germany to personally assassinate Adolf Hitler.
There were many 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. She won a Golden Glove Award for her performance in Witness For The Prosecution.
Following Laughton's death in 1962, Lanchester resumed her career with appearances in such Disney films as Mary Poppins (1964), Pajama Party (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).
She appeared on 9 April 1959, on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. She performed in two episodes of NBC's The Wonderful World of Disney. Additionally, she had memorable guest roles in an episode of I Love Lucy in 1956 and in episodes of NBC's The Eleventh Hour (1964) and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1965). Lanchester continued to make occasional film appearances, singing a duet with Elvis Presley in Easy Come, Easy Go (1967), and playing the mother in the original version of Willard (1971), alongside Bruce Davison and Ernest Borgnine, which scored well at the box office. She was Jessica Marbles, a sleuth based on Agatha Christie's Jane Marple, in the 1976 murder mystery spoof Murder by Death, and she made her last film in 1980 as Sophie in Die Laughing.
She released three LP albums in the 1950s. Two (referred to above) were entitled Songs for a Shuttered Parlour and Songs for a Smoke-Filled Room, and were vaguely lewd and danced around their true purpose, such as the song about her husband's "clock" not working. Laughton provided the spoken introductions to each number and even joined Lanchester in the singing of "She Was Poor but She Was Honest". Her third LP was entitled Cockney London, a selection of old London songs for which Laughton wrote the sleeve-notes.
But it is her role as The Bride of Frankenstein that gave her the most recognition, creating an icon of pop culture that remains to this day.
Much of the publicity surrounding the highly anticipated sequel to the '31 Frankenstein, revolved around the title character. "Who will be the Bride of Frankenstein? Who will dare?" was a major headline at the time. While there was some speculation, director James Whale had Elsa in mind for the role from the start. Whale also had her in the role of author Mary Shelley, in the films opening prologue.....but the ending credits still kept audiences in the dark as to who the Bride was, shown only with a "?"
The role of the Bride was quite an experience for Elsa. Playing Mary Shelley was fun, as she was thrilled by the lovely dress she wore, which was hand made by a number of the wardrobe crew....but becoming the Bride was a different story.
First off, the creation began with Elsa being wrapped in cloth from head to toe, much as fellow actor Boris Karloff had been in '32 The Mummy. She was bandaged in such a manner that she had to be carried by crew members, as she was unable to walk....and then, here comes "The Bride" a combined effort by both James Whale and makeup artist Jack Pierce. The conical design was inspired by a bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. The striking, silver-streaked hair was styled over a wire frame to create the conical shape. Gray streaks were added to Lanchester's natural red hair, and the finished look was heavily lacquered to maintain its structure.
Pierce created the Bride's makeup to be both monstrous and glamorous, incorporating elements like a stitched neck and bandages, while still giving her perfect lips and defined eyebrows.
It took several hours to get the process finished, and it was a difficult one for her.
Being only 5'4" it was necessary that she be fitted with stilts beneath her surgical gown, in order to reach the desired height.
Elsa was quite a prankster! Unbeknown to fellow cast mates and crew, she wore no undergarments beneath the surgical gown, and would often flash the crew between takes! Naughty girl!
She was evidently an accomplished screamer and emits an ear piercing one just as the Monster approaches her, and for her finale, she lets out an extended hiss towards her betrothed, just ahead of the huge lab explosion. Elsa stated the she got the idea for the hiss from swans she and Laughton would see at a park.
In 1984, Lanchester's health took a turn for the worse. Within 30 months, she had suffered two strokes, becoming totally incapacitated. She required constant care and was confined to bed rest. In March 1986, the Motion Picture and Television Fund filed to become conservator of Lanchester and her estate, which was valued at $900,000.
Lanchester died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, on 26 December 1986, aged 84, at the Motion Picture Hospital from bronchial pneumonia. Her body was cremated on 5 January 1987, at the Chapel of the Pines in Los Angeles and for decades it was believed that her ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean. In 2025, however, it was discovered that her cremated remains were instead interred by Herschel Green, her agent, at Valhalla Memorial Park under her married name, Elsa Lanchester Laughton.
Sources: Wikipedia, IMDb, and my personal thoughts.
