Biography
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (October 28, 1902 – December 26, 1986) was a British actress with a long career in theatre, film and television and former dancer. 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. 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 La...
Known For
Complete Filmography
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
2018
as Self (archive footage)
A deliciously scandalous portrait of unsung Hollywood legend Scotty Bowers, whose bestselling memoir chronicled his decades spent as sexual procurer t...
Monster Madness: The Golden Age of the Horror Film
2014
as Mary Shelley / The Monster's Mate (archive footage)
Join foremost experts discussing true Horror Classics - Frankenstein, Dracula, The Black Cat, Wolfman, King Kong, Bride of Frankenstein, and more. Gra...
Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood
2009
as Self (archive footage)
Eight hundred German filmmakers (cast and crew) fled the Nazis in the 1930s. The film uses voice-overs, archival footage, and film clips to examine Be...
Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman
2007
as Self (archive footage)
Famous Monster takes a fast-paced, colorful look at the life of science fiction's greatest fan - Forrest J. Ackerman, whose 85 year love affair with t...
The American Nightmare
2000
as Self
An examination into the nature of 1960's-70's horror films, the involved artists, and how they reflected contemporary society.
Universal Horror
1998
as (archive footage)
A documentary about the era of classic monster movies that were made at Universal Studios during the 1930s and 1940s.
Turnabout: The Story of the Yale Puppeteers
1993
as Self
Documentary about the Yale Puppeteers. A bit eccentric, certainly off beat and creative, the puppeteers and their story - as well as their place in hi...
Commercial Entertainment Product
1992
as The Monster's Bride
The video debut of experimental musicians and culture jamming artists Emergency Broadcast Network.
Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook
1991
as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley / The Monster's Mate
Documentary with a treasure trove of rare footage and vintage trailers, offering a rich and unusual look at the history of Frankenstein on the screen.
Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
1988
Famous Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival fo...
Die Laughing
1980
as Sophie
A San Francisco cab driver find himself in possession of a monkey that is carrying a formula for turning atomic waste into a plutonium bomb. He finds ...
Murder by Death
1976
as Jessica Marbles
Lionel Twain invites the world's five greatest detectives to a 'dinner and murder'. Included are a blind butler, a deaf-mute maid, screams, spinning r...
Arnold
1973
as Hester
Karen marries Arnold at his funeral and continues to get his money as long as she stays by his coffin. Meanwhile, various oddball relatives after Arno...
Terror in the Wax Museum
1973
as Julia Hawthorn
Terrifying wax figures of renowned personalities, such as Attila the Hun and Jack the Ripper, surround the sale of a London museum.
Willard
1971
as Henrietta Stiles
A social misfit, Willard is made fun of by his co-workers, and squeezed out of the company started by his deceased father by his boss. His only friend...
In Name Only
1969
as Gertrude Caruso
In this romantic comedy, an unwed couple who run a wedding planning business discover, to their horror, that the Justice of the Peace who had officiat...
My Dog, the Thief
1969
as Mrs. Formby
As ratings for Jack Crandall's lifeless airborne traffic reports plummet, a super-size St. Bernard on the lam stows away in his chopper. Crandall's ne...
Me, Natalie
1969
as Miss Dennison
Since she was a child, Natalie Miller has always thought she was an ugly ducking. Despite her mother's encouragement that she will grow up to be prett...
Rascal
1969
as Mrs. Satterfield
A comedy filled with tenderness as a baby raccoon snuggles his way into the life of a lonely boy. He becomes the boy's only companion during his fathe...
Blackbeard's Ghost
1968
as Emily Stowecroft
The eponymous wraith returns to Earth to aid his descendant, elderly Emily Stowecroft. The villains want to kick Emily and her friends out of their gr...
Easy Come, Easy Go
1967
as Madame Neherina
Navy frogman Ted Jackson balances his time between twin careers as a deep-sea diver and nightclub singer. During a dive, Ted spots sunken treasure and...
That Darn Cat!
1965
as Mrs. MacDougall
A young woman suspects foul play when her cat comes home wearing a wristwatch. Convincing the FBI, though, and catching the bad guys is tougher than s...
Mary Poppins
1964
as Katie Nanna
Mr Banks is looking for a nanny for his two mischievous children and comes across Mary Poppins, an angelic nanny. She not only brings a change in thei...
Pajama Party
1964
as Aunt Wendy
A Martian teenager sent to prepare for an invasion falls in love with an Earth girl.
Honeymoon Hotel
1964
as Chambermaid
A man left at the alter goes on his honeymoon trip anyway, taking his best man along instead.
The Flood
1962
as Noah's wife
Stravinsky and Balanchine's take on the apocalyptic Biblical tale. An opera composed for video.
Noah and the Flood
1962
as Noah's Wife
In 1960 CBS commissioned renown composer, Igor Stravinsky, to compose a new ballet composition, Noah and the Flood, that would be adapted for a TV spe...
Bell, Book and Candle
1958
as Aunt Queenie Holroyd
A modern-day witch likes her neighbor but despises his fiancée, so she enchants him to love her instead... only to fall in love with him for real.
Witness for the Prosecution
1957
as Miss Plimsoll
An ailing barrister agrees to defend a man in a sensational murder trial where the unconvincing testimony of the defendant's wife becomes a subject of...
Alice in Wonderland
1955
as Red Queen
A young girl named Alice falls down a rabbit-hole and finds herself in Wonderland, a fantasy land of strange characters and ideas.
The Glass Slipper
1955
as Widow Sonder
In a musical retelling of the Cinderella tale, a mistreated scullery maid escapes the oppression of her stepfamily to finding love with a prince.
3 Ring Circus
1954
as The Bearded Lady
Jerry and Pete are two friends with no money and are looking for a job. They finally find employment working in a circus, but Jerry has different drea...
Hell's Half Acre
1954
as Lida O'Reilly
A woman travels to Hawaii to find out if a man in prison there is actually her missing husband.
The Girls of Pleasure Island
1953
as Thelma
In the spring of 1945, World War II is coming to a close. Roger Halyard, a dignified, strait-laced Englishmen, lives on a South Sea atoll with his thr...
Androcles and the Lion
1952
as Megaera
George Bernard Shaw’s breezy, delightful dramatization of this classic fable—about a Christian slave who pulls a thorn from a lion’s paw and is spared...
Les Miserables
1952
as Madame Magloire
In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both me...
Dreamboat
1952
as Mathilda Coffey
Thornton Sayre, a respected college professor - secretly formerly a silent films romantic action hero - is disturbed, feeling his privacy has been vio...
Frenchie
1950
as Countess
Frenchie Fontaine sells her successful business in New Orleans to come West. Her reason? Find the men who killed her father, Frank Dawson. But she onl...
The Petty Girl
1950
as Dr. Crutcher
An artist famous for his calendar portraits of beautiful women becomes fascinated by a prim and proper professor and tries to get her to pose for his ...
Mystery Street
1950
as Mrs. Smerrling
When a young woman's skeletal remains turn up on a Massachusetts beach, Barnstable cop Peter Moralas teams with Boston police and uses forensics, with...
Buccaneer's Girl
1950
as Madame Brizar
A New Orleans performer loves a pirate who robs only from the shipowner who ruined his father.
The Inspector General
1949
as Maria
An illiterate stooge in a traveling medicine show wanders into a strange town and is picked up on a vagrancy charge. The town's corrupt officials mist...
Come to the Stable
1949
as Amelia Potts
Two nuns arrive unannounced in the small New England town of Bethlehem, where they recruit various townspeople to help them build a children's hospita...
The Secret Garden
1949
as Martha
When Cholera takes the parents of Mary Lennox, she is shipped from India to England to live with her Uncle Craven. Mary changes the lives of those she...
The Big Clock
1948
as Louise Patterson
Stroud, a crime magazine's crusading editor has to post-pone a vacation with his wife, again, when a glamorous blonde is murdered and he is assigned b...
The Bishop's Wife
1947
as Matilda
An Episcopal Bishop, Henry Brougham, has been working for months on the plans for an elaborate new cathedral which he hopes will be paid for primarily...
Northwest Outpost
1947
as Princess 'Tanya' Tatiana
US cavalry officer James Laurence (Nelson Eddy) arrives at one of the Russian colonies to pave the way for the eventual American takeover of the terri...
The Razor's Edge
1946
as Miss Keith
An adventurous young man goes off to find himself and loses his socialite fiancée in the process. But when he returns 10 years later, she will stop at...
The Spiral Staircase
1946
as Mrs. Oates
On a stormy night, the mute servant to an ailing matriarch is stalked by a serial killer.
Passport to Destiny
1944
as Ella Muggins
An English charwoman, believing herself protected by a magic eye amulet, travels to Nazi Germany to personally assassinate Adolf Hitler.
Lassie Come Home
1943
as Mrs. Helen Carraclough
Hard times come for the Carraclough family and they are forced to sell their dog, Lassie, to the rich Duke of Rudling. Lassie, however, is unwilling t...
Thumbs Up
1943
as Emily "Emmy" Ffinch
In this wartime musical, a feisty singer working in a London dive swears that she will become a star. She gets a job in an airplane plant when she lea...
Forever and a Day
1943
as Mamie
In World War II, American Gates Trimble Pomfret is in London during the Blitz to sell the ancestral family house. The current tenant, Leslie Trimble, ...
Tales of Manhattan
1942
as Elsa (Mrs Charles) Smith
Ten screenwriters collaborated on this series of tales concerning the effect a tailcoat cursed by its tailor has on those who wear it. The video relea...
Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
1942
as Bristol Isabel
Sir Arthur Blake has inherited title and lands from his brother. He also has his orphaned nephew Benjamin working for him as a bonded servant. While h...
Ladies in Retirement
1941
as Emily Creed
Ellen Creed is a housekeeper who looks after Leonora Fiske, a retired actress living in the English countryside. When Ellen's eccentric sisters visit ...
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940
as Self
This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeche...
Vessel of Wrath
1938
as Martha Jones
Ginger Ted, AKA Edward Claude Wilson, a drunkard and womanizer, and Miss Jones, a missionary, live in the Alas Islands. During a cholera epidemic, Gin...
Rembrandt
1936
as Hendrickje Stoffels
A character study depicting the life of Rembrandt Van Rijn at the height of his fame in the mid 1600s. Beginning with the death of his wife, Rembrandt...
The Ghost Goes West
1935
as Miss Shepperton
Donald Glourie shares his crumbling ancestral home with the ghost of his Highland ancestor, Murdoch, who has been condemned to haunt the castle until ...
Bride of Frankenstein
1935
as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley / The Monster's Mate
Dr. Frankenstein and his monster both turn out to be alive, not killed as previously believed. Dr. Frankenstein wants to get out of the evil experimen...
Naughty Marietta
1935
as Madame d'Annard
In order to avoid a prearranged marriage, a rebellious French princess sheds her identity and escapes to colonial New Orleans, where she finds an unli...
David Copperfield
1935
as Clickett
A young man journeys from a difficult childhood to maturity, exploring social injustice, personal development, and the complexities of human relations...
The Private Life of Henry VIII
1933
as Anne of Cleves
Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn, his second wife, executed on charges of tre...
The Officers' Mess
1931
as Cora Melville
A Lieutenant becomes mixed-up with some stolen jewels.
Potiphar's Wife
1931
as Thérèse
'A good-looking chauffeur, employed by an aristocratic married lady is tempted to misconduct. His indifference arouses her wrath and he is charged wit...
The Stronger Sex
1931
as Thompson
A man rescues his wife's lover during a disaster at a coal mine
The Love Habit
1931
as Matilde
'Paris. Roué poses as secretary to flirt with employer's wife.' (British Film Catalogue)
Ashes
1930
Futuristic story about a slow moving cricket match that begins in 1940 (ten years beyond the year when the film was produced) and finally finishes in ...
Comets
1930
as Herself
A Musical Revue featuring a number of prominent vaudeville and theatrical British artists of the day in songs, dances, dramatic and musical sketches.
Blue Bottles
1928
as Elsa
As criminals assemble for a convention, a policeman investigates and is abducted. A young woman finds his whistle and blows it. The full forces of the...
Daydreams
1928
as Elsa / Heroine in Dream Sequence
A young cleaning woman in a boarding-house relieves the drudgery of her job by daydreaming that a foreign student at the house, who she believes is in...
The Tonic
1928
as Elsa
The family of the very wealthy but infirm Great Aunt Louisa await her untimely demise in the hopes of inheriting her great fortune.
The Constant Nymph
1928
as Lady
Sanger, an eccentric expatriate composer, dies in his house in the Austrian Alps, leaving his daughters penniless. The young composer Lewis Dodd, a lo...
One of the Best
1927
as Kitty
'1820. Officer frames colleague when gambler forces him to steal secrets.' (British Film Catalogue)
The Scarlet Woman: An Ecclesiastical Melodrama
1924
as Beatrice de Carolle
The Pope and Cardinal Montefiasco plot to bring England back within the fold of the Catholic Church. Montefiasco decides to do this by first convertin...