Biography
Eccentric, high-voiced British comedienne/actress Elsa Lanchester started her career as a modern dancer, appearing with Isadora Duncan. Lanchester can be seen bringing unique and usually humorous interpretations to roles in
The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), opposite husband
Charles Laughton;
The Bride of Frankenstein (1934), where she appears both as a subdued Mary Shelley and a hissing bride;
David Copperfield and
Naughty Marietta (both 1935);
Tales of Manhattan (1942) and
Forever and a Day (1943), both with Laughton;
Lassie Come Home (1943), in which she is unusually subdued as the mother;
The Bishop's Wife (1947);
The Inspector General and
The Secret Garden (1949); and
Come to the Stable (1949), for which she was nominated for an Oscar. She and Laughton are riotous together in
Witness for the Prosecution (1957), for which she was also Oscar-nominated, and she also appeared in Bell, Book and Candle (1958) and the Disney films
Mary Poppins (1964), as the departing nanny Katie Nanna, and in
That Darn Cat (1965). One of her best late performances was in
Murder by Death (1976). Lanchester was also an actress at London's Old Vic, an outlandish singer, and a nightclub performer; she co-starred on The John Forsythe Show (1965-66), and was a regular on
Nanny and the Professor in 1971. ~ All Movie Guide