Biography
Forever linked with the role of the Bride of Frankenstein, Elsa Lanchester saw her screen appearance in that Universal production extend only slightly past the duration of a typical pop single. A versatile British character actress and performer, she spent her early years frequently cast as a wisecracking cockney dame gal. Although her extensive film work later gravitated toward gentler characterizations, she still embraced offbeat comedy parts alongside her husband Charles Laughton as well as the celebrated monster classic. Eventually she circled back to those Cockney origins by issuing the collections Bawdy Cockney Songs and, after its success, More Bawdy Cockney Songs; the risque flavor of the material is captured in the track “Linda and Her Londonderry Air.”
Born Elizabeth Sullivan, she began dance training at eleven under the celebrated Isadora Duncan. War forced her to leave Duncan’s Paris academy after just one year, ending her childhood ambition of pursuing classical dance. At twelve she entered a Welsh boarding school, exchanging dance instruction for tuition and meals. By sixteen she had co-founded a London children’s theater company, where she also taught for several seasons. She simultaneously performed with the Cave of Harmony Productions ensemble, presenting one-act plays and cabaret numbers. During a 1926 engagement at the London Metropole, a member of the British Royal family departed mid-performance while Lanchester sang “Please Sell No More Drink to My Father,” a number that later became one of her signatures. Her stage aptitude yielded a thriving career on the English boards, and she reached the screen for the first time in 1927’s One of the Best.
She encountered Laughton in 1933 on the set of The Private Life of Henry VIII, portraying Ann of Cleves. The pair relocated to Hollywood, where their professional fortunes rose. Her motion-picture work spanned five decades and concluded with the 1980 release Sophie. The 1949 film Come to the Stable earned her the first of two Academy Award nominations; she also made frequent television appearances. While based in Los Angeles she maintained an active stage presence, becoming a fixture from the 1930s onward at the Turnabout Theatre on Olvera Street, an inventive venture launched by writer and performer Forman Brown’s puppet troupe. She joined the company permanently and emerged as one of its leading draws, attracting luminaries such as Greta Garbo and Douglas Fairbanks. In that venue she developed an ever-changing program of cabaret songs crafted by Brown, who composed more than fifty pieces tailored to her distinctive delivery; among the titles were “Catalogue Woman,” “It’s Nice to See You’re Back,” and “When a Lady Has a Piazza.” Lanchester succumbed to pneumonia.
Born Elizabeth Sullivan, she began dance training at eleven under the celebrated Isadora Duncan. War forced her to leave Duncan’s Paris academy after just one year, ending her childhood ambition of pursuing classical dance. At twelve she entered a Welsh boarding school, exchanging dance instruction for tuition and meals. By sixteen she had co-founded a London children’s theater company, where she also taught for several seasons. She simultaneously performed with the Cave of Harmony Productions ensemble, presenting one-act plays and cabaret numbers. During a 1926 engagement at the London Metropole, a member of the British Royal family departed mid-performance while Lanchester sang “Please Sell No More Drink to My Father,” a number that later became one of her signatures. Her stage aptitude yielded a thriving career on the English boards, and she reached the screen for the first time in 1927’s One of the Best.
She encountered Laughton in 1933 on the set of The Private Life of Henry VIII, portraying Ann of Cleves. The pair relocated to Hollywood, where their professional fortunes rose. Her motion-picture work spanned five decades and concluded with the 1980 release Sophie. The 1949 film Come to the Stable earned her the first of two Academy Award nominations; she also made frequent television appearances. While based in Los Angeles she maintained an active stage presence, becoming a fixture from the 1930s onward at the Turnabout Theatre on Olvera Street, an inventive venture launched by writer and performer Forman Brown’s puppet troupe. She joined the company permanently and emerged as one of its leading draws, attracting luminaries such as Greta Garbo and Douglas Fairbanks. In that venue she developed an ever-changing program of cabaret songs crafted by Brown, who composed more than fifty pieces tailored to her distinctive delivery; among the titles were “Catalogue Woman,” “It’s Nice to See You’re Back,” and “When a Lady Has a Piazza.” Lanchester succumbed to pneumonia.
Albums
