Biography
Elsa Lanchester was a British actress. Born Elsa Sullivan Lanchester on 28 October 1902 in Lewisham, London, she died on 26 December 1986 in Los Angeles.
She studied dance as a child and began performing in theatre and cabaret after the First World War. She met actor Charles Laughton in 1927 and they married in 1929. Lanchester appeared in small roles in British films, including as Anne of Cleves in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933).
Her role as the Monster's mate in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) brought wider recognition. She received Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress for Come to the Stable (1949) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957), playing Miss Plimsoll. Later film roles included Mary Poppins (1964) and Murder by Death (1976).
