ELSA LANCHESTER

Elsa Lanchester was born in London in 1902. She was an excellent stage and screen actress, but almost all of those accomplishments have faded into obscurity, and today she is mostly remembered for two things. First, that she played both the title role (and the part of Mary Shelley) in Universal's The Bride of Frankenstein in 1935. Her performance was memorable, especially her reaction when she first sees the Frankenstein monster! Second, for being the wife (for 33 years) of master actor Charles Laughton. She said she did not discover he was bisexual until two years into their marriage! They appeared in 10 films together, most notably Witness for the Prosecution and The Private Life of Henry VIII (with Laughton in the title role as Henry VIII, and Lanchester as Anne of Cleves). Some of her other movies include: Come To The Stable (nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for this film), Mary Poppins, Murder By Death, and Blackbeard's Ghost. She passed away in 1986 at the age of 84.