Elsa Lanchester
Encyclopedia
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902 – 26 December 1986) was an English-American character actress
with a long career in theatre, film and television.
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 Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII
(1933). His success in American films resulted in the couple moving to Hollywood, where Lanchester played small film roles.
Her role as the title character in Bride of Frankenstein
(1935), brought her recognition. She played supporting roles through the 1940s and 1950s. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
for Come to the Stable
(1949) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957), the last of twelve films in which she appeared with Laughton. Following Laughton's death in 1962, Lanchester resumed her career with appearances in such Disney
films as Mary Poppins
(1964), That Darn Cat! (1965) and Blackbeard's Ghost
(1968). The horror film, Willard
, (1971) was highly successful and one of her last roles was in Murder By Death
(1976).
, London
, England. Her parents, James Sullivan and Edith Lanchester, were considered Bohemian
, and refused to legalise their union in any conventional way to satisfy the era's conservative society. They were both socialists, according to Lanchester's 1972 interview with Dick Cavett
. Elsa's brother Waldo Lanchester was a puppeteer, with his own marionette
company based in Malvern
and later Stratford-upon-Avon
, England and a friend of George Bernard Shaw
Elsa studied dance in Paris
under Isadora Duncan
, whom she disliked. When the school was discontinued due to the start of First World War she returned to England. At that point (she was about twelve years of age) she considered herself capable of teaching dancing in the Isadora Duncan style (despite her own scathing remarks about her former teacher's style) and, very enterprisingly, started to give classes to children in her South London
district, through which she earned some welcome extra income for her household. At about this time, after the First World War, she started the Children's Theatre, and later the Cave of Harmony, a nightclub at which modern plays and cabaret turns were performed. She revived old Victorian songs and ballads, many of which she retained for her performances in another revue entitled Riverside Nights. She became sufficiently famous for Columbia to invite her into the recording studio to make 78rpm discs of four of the numbers she sang in these revues: Please sell no more drink to my father and He didn't oughter were on one disc (recorded in 1926) and Don't tell my mother I'm living in sin and The Ladies Bar was on the other (recorded 1930).
Her cabaret and nightclub appearances appearances led to more serious stage work and it was in a play by Arnold Bennett
called Mr. Prohack (1927) that Elsa first met another member of the cast, a rising actor called Charles Laughton. They were married two years later and continued to act together from time to time, both on stage and screen. She played his daughter in the stage play Payment Deferred
(1931) though not in the subsequent Hollywood film version. Lanchester and Laughton appeared in the Old Vic
season of 1933-34, playing Shakespeare, Chekov and Wilde, and in 1936 she was Peter Pan
to Laughton's Captain Hook in J. M. Barrie
's play at the London Palladium
. Their last stage appearance together was in Jane Arden
's The Party
(1958) at the New Theatre
, London.
Lanchester married actor Charles Laughton
in 1929. She made her film debut in The Scarlet Woman (1925) and in 1928 appeared in three 'silent shorts' written for her by H.G. Wells (Bluebottles, Daydreams and The Tonic) in which Laughton made brief appearances. They also appeared together in a 1930 'film revue' entitled Comets, featuring British stage, musical and variety acts, in which they sang in duet 'The Ballad of Frankie and Johnnie.' Lanchester appeared in several other early British talkies, including Potiphar's Wife
(1931), starring Laurence Olivier
. She appeared opposite Laughton again in 1933 as a highly comical Anne of Cleves
in The Private Life of Henry VIII
. Laughton was by now making films in Hollywood so Lanchester joined him there, making minor appearances in David Copperfield (1935) and Naughty Marietta (1935). These and her appearances in British films helped her gain the title role in Bride of Frankenstein
(1935), the film for which she is now best remembered. She and Laughton returned to England in 1936 to appear together again in Rembrandt and two years later in Vessel of Wrath
(aka The Beachcomber).
They both returned to Hollywood in 1939 where he made The Hunchback of Notre Dame
although Lanchester didn't appear in another film until 1941 with Ladies in Retirement
. She and Laughton played husband and wife (their characters were named Charles and Elsa Smith) in Tales of Manhattan
(1942) and they both appeared again in the all-star, mostly British cast of Forever and a Day (1943). Lassie Come Home
(also 1943) was Elsa's first Technicolor
film. She then received top billing in Passport to Destiny
(1944) for the only time in her Hollywood films. In this, she played a cockney
charlady who scrubs her way across occupied Europe in order to assassinate Hitler. She played supporting roles in The Spiral Staircase and The Razor's Edge
(both 1946) and also appeared in The Bishop's Wife
the following year. She played a comical role in the 1948 thriller, The Big Clock, in which Laughton starred as a murderous, megalomaniac press tycoon. She had a substantial part as an artist specialising in nativity scenes in Come to the Stable
for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award
(1949).
During the late 1940s and 1950s she appeared in small but highly varied supporting roles in a number of films while simultaneously appearing on stage at the Turnabout Theatre
in Hollywood. Here she performed her solo vaudeville act in conjunction with a marionette show, singing somewhat off-colour songs which she later recorded for a couple of LPs. Onscreen, she appeared alongside Danny Kaye in The Inspector General
(1949), played a blackmailing landlady in Mystery Street
(1950) and was Shelley Winter's travelling companion in the Western Frenchie
(1950). More supporting roles followed in the early 1950s, including a 2-minute cameo as the Bearded Lady in 3 Ring Circus
, about to be shaved by Jerry Lewis
. She then had another substantial part when she appeared again with her husband in the screen version of Agatha Christie
's play Witness for the Prosecution (1957) for which both received Academy Award nominations - she for the second time as Best Supporting Actress, and Laughton, also for the second time, for Best Actor. Neither won. However, Lanchester did win the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for the film.
Lanchester played a jaded witch in Bell, Book and Candle
(1958), and appeared in such light fare as Mary Poppins
(1964), That Darn Cat! (1965) and Blackbeard's Ghost
(1968). She appeared on April 9, 1959, on NBC
's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
. She performed in two episodes of NBC's The Wonderful World of Disney. Additionally, she had memorable guest roles in a classic I Love Lucy
episode in 1956 and in episodes of NBC's The Eleventh Hour
(1964) and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
(1965).
In the 1965-66 she was a regular on John Forsythe
's sitcom The John Forsythe Show
on NBC in the role of Miss Culver, the principal of a private girls' academy in San Francisco
. She continued television work into the early 1970s
, appearing as a recurring character in Nanny and the Professor
, starring Richard Long
and Juliet Mills.
Lanchester continued to make occasional film appearances, singing a duet with Elvis Presley
in Easy Come, Easy Go (1967) and playing the mother in the original version of Willard
(1971). She was Jessica Marbles, a sleuth based on Agatha Christie
's Jane Marple
, in the 1976 murder mystery spoof, Murder by Death
, and she made her last film in 1980 as Sophie in Die Laughing
.
She released three LP albums in the 1950s. Two (referred to above) were entitled "Songs for a Shuttered Parlour" and "Songs for a Smoke-Filled Room" and were vaguely lewd and danced around their true purpose, such as the song about her husband's "clock" not working. Charles Laughton provided the spoken introductions to each number and even joined Elsa in the singing of "She Was Poor But She Was Honest". Her third LP was entitled "Cockney London", a selection of old London Songs for which Laughton wrote the sleeve-notes.
never had children because Laughton was homosexual. Maureen O'Hara
, a friend and co-star of Laughton, denied this was the reason for the couple's childlessness. She claimed Laughton had told her that the reason he and his wife never had children was because of a botched abortion
Lanchester had early in her career while performing burlesque. Lanchester admitted in her autobiography that she had had two abortions in her youth (one of whom was sired by Laughton), but it is not clear if these left her incapable of becoming pregnant again
. The two women did not like each other. Lanchester once said of O'Hara, "She looks as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, or anywhere else."
. Her body was cremated on 5 January 1987, at the Chapel of the Pines in Los Angeles
and her ashes scattered over the Pacific Ocean
.
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
with a long career in theatre, film and television.
Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the First World War began performing in theatre and cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
, where she established her career over the following decade. She met the actor Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
in 1927, and they were married two years later. She began playing small roles in British films, including the role of Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort...
with Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII
The Private Life of Henry VIII
The Private Life of Henry VIII is a 1933 film about Henry VIII, King of England. It was written by Lajos Biró and Arthur Wimperis, and directed by Sir Alexander Korda.Charles Laughton won the 1933 Academy Award as Best Actor for his performance as Henry...
(1933). His success in American films resulted in the couple moving to Hollywood, where Lanchester played small film roles.
Her role as the title character in Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American horror film, the first sequel to Frankenstein...
(1935), brought her recognition. She played supporting roles through the 1940s and 1950s. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for Come to the Stable
Come to the Stable
Come to the Stable is a 1949 American film which tells the story of two French nuns who come to a small New England town and involve the townsfolk in helping them to build a children's hospital...
(1949) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957), the last of twelve films in which she appeared with Laughton. Following Laughton's death in 1962, Lanchester resumed her career with appearances in such Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
films as Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins (film)
Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers with illustrations by Mary Shepard. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by...
(1964), That Darn Cat! (1965) and Blackbeard's Ghost
Blackbeard's Ghost
Blackbeard's Ghost is a 1968 live-action fantasy comedy Disney film starring Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, and Suzanne Pleshette, directed by Robert Stevenson. It is based upon the novel of the same name by Ben Stahl and was shot in Walt Disney Studios. The Disney Channel aired this film until the...
(1968). The horror film, Willard
Willard (1971 film)
Willard is a 1971 horror film starring Bruce Davison and Ernest Borgnine, directed by Daniel Mann. The movie is based on the novel Ratman's Notebooks by Stephen Gilbert, and was nominated for an Edgar Award for best picture...
, (1971) was highly successful and one of her last roles was in Murder By Death
Murder by Death
Murder by Death is a 1976 comedy film with a cast featuring Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, and Estelle Winwood, written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore.The plot is a spoof of...
(1976).
Early life
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was born in LewishamLewisham
Lewisham is a district in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England. Her parents, James Sullivan and Edith Lanchester, were considered Bohemian
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
, and refused to legalise their union in any conventional way to satisfy the era's conservative society. They were both socialists, according to Lanchester's 1972 interview with Dick Cavett
Dick Cavett
Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues...
. Elsa's brother Waldo Lanchester was a puppeteer, with his own marionette
Marionette
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms...
company based in Malvern
Malvern
-England:* Malvern, Worcestershire* Malvern Hills, a ridge of hills on the boundary of Herefordshire and Worcestershire* Malvern Hills , a local government district in WorcestershirePlaces in or near Malvern, Worcestershire...
and later Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
, England and a friend of George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
Elsa studied dance in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
under Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan was a dancer, considered by many to be the creator of modern dance. Born in the United States, she lived in Western Europe and the Soviet Union from the age of 22 until her death at age 50. In the United States she was popular only in New York, and only later in her life...
, whom she disliked. When the school was discontinued due to the start of First World War she returned to England. At that point (she was about twelve years of age) she considered herself capable of teaching dancing in the Isadora Duncan style (despite her own scathing remarks about her former teacher's style) and, very enterprisingly, started to give classes to children in her South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
district, through which she earned some welcome extra income for her household. At about this time, after the First World War, she started the Children's Theatre, and later the Cave of Harmony, a nightclub at which modern plays and cabaret turns were performed. She revived old Victorian songs and ballads, many of which she retained for her performances in another revue entitled Riverside Nights. She became sufficiently famous for Columbia to invite her into the recording studio to make 78rpm discs of four of the numbers she sang in these revues: Please sell no more drink to my father and He didn't oughter were on one disc (recorded in 1926) and Don't tell my mother I'm living in sin and The Ladies Bar was on the other (recorded 1930).
Her cabaret and nightclub appearances appearances led to more serious stage work and it was in a play by Arnold Bennett
Arnold Bennett
- Early life :Bennett was born in a modest house in Hanley in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. Hanley is one of a conurbation of six towns which joined together at the beginning of the twentieth century as Stoke-on-Trent. Enoch Bennett, his father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the...
called Mr. Prohack (1927) that Elsa first met another member of the cast, a rising actor called Charles Laughton. They were married two years later and continued to act together from time to time, both on stage and screen. She played his daughter in the stage play Payment Deferred
Payment Deferred
Payment Deferred is a crime novel by C.S. Forester, first published in 1926.William Marble is a bank clerk living in south London, desperately worried about money and unable to control his wife Annie's spending. One evening without warning they are visited by his recently orphaned and very rich...
(1931) though not in the subsequent Hollywood film version. Lanchester and Laughton appeared in the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
season of 1933-34, playing Shakespeare, Chekov and Wilde, and in 1936 she was Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
to Laughton's Captain Hook in J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
's play at the London Palladium
London Palladium
The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...
. Their last stage appearance together was in Jane Arden
Jane Arden (director)
Jane Arden was a Welsh-born film director, actor, screenwriter, playwright, songwriter, and poet.-Early career:...
's The Party
The Party (1958 play)
The Party is a play by the British dramatist, actor and director Jane Arden which was first staged at the New Theatre, London on 28 May 1958. The play was directed by Charles Laughton and starred, in addition to Laughton himself, Albert Finney, Laughton's wife Elsa Lanchester, Ann Lynn, Joyce...
(1958) at the New Theatre
Noël Coward Theatre
The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre on St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by...
, London.
Film career
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
in 1929. She made her film debut in The Scarlet Woman (1925) and in 1928 appeared in three 'silent shorts' written for her by H.G. Wells (Bluebottles, Daydreams and The Tonic) in which Laughton made brief appearances. They also appeared together in a 1930 'film revue' entitled Comets, featuring British stage, musical and variety acts, in which they sang in duet 'The Ballad of Frankie and Johnnie.' Lanchester appeared in several other early British talkies, including Potiphar's Wife
Potiphar's Wife
Potiphar's Wife is a 1931 British romance film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Nora Swinburne, Laurence Olivier and Guy Newall. It is also known as Her Strange Desire. It was based on a play by Edgar C...
(1931), starring Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
. She appeared opposite Laughton again in 1933 as a highly comical Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort...
in The Private Life of Henry VIII
The Private Life of Henry VIII
The Private Life of Henry VIII is a 1933 film about Henry VIII, King of England. It was written by Lajos Biró and Arthur Wimperis, and directed by Sir Alexander Korda.Charles Laughton won the 1933 Academy Award as Best Actor for his performance as Henry...
. Laughton was by now making films in Hollywood so Lanchester joined him there, making minor appearances in David Copperfield (1935) and Naughty Marietta (1935). These and her appearances in British films helped her gain the title role in Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American horror film, the first sequel to Frankenstein...
(1935), the film for which she is now best remembered. She and Laughton returned to England in 1936 to appear together again in Rembrandt and two years later in Vessel of Wrath
Vessel of Wrath (1938 film)
Vessel of Wrath is a 1938 British film directed by Erich Pommer.The film is also known as The Beachcomber in the USA.- Cast :*Charles Laughton*Elsa Lanchester*Robert Newton*Tyrone Guthrie*Eliot Makeham*Dolly Mollinger*D.A. Ward...
(aka The Beachcomber).
They both returned to Hollywood in 1939 where he made The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939 film)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 American monochrome film starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo and Maureen O'Hara as Esmeralda. It was directed by William Dieterle and produced by Pandro S. Berman...
although Lanchester didn't appear in another film until 1941 with Ladies in Retirement
Ladies in Retirement
Ladies in Retirement is a 1941 film starring Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward. It is based on a 1940 Broadway play of the same title by Reginald Denham and Edward Percy which starred Flora Robson in the lead role....
. She and Laughton played husband and wife (their characters were named Charles and Elsa Smith) in Tales of Manhattan
Tales of Manhattan
Tales of Manhattan is a 1942 American anthology film directed by Julien Duvivier. Thirteen writers, including Ben Hecht, Alan Campbell, Ferenc Molnár, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Donald Ogden Stewart worked on the six stories in this film.-Cast:...
(1942) and they both appeared again in the all-star, mostly British cast of Forever and a Day (1943). Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home is a 1943 MGM film starring Roddy McDowall and canine actor, Pal, in a story about the profound bond between Yorkshire boy Joe Carraclough and his rough collie, Lassie. The film was directed by Fred M. Wilcox from a screenplay by Hugo Butler based upon the 1940 novel Lassie...
(also 1943) was Elsa's first Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
film. She then received top billing in Passport to Destiny
Passport to Destiny
Passport to Destiny is a RKO Radio Pictures comedy adventure fantasy war film. It stars Elsa Lanchester in her only leading role as an English cleaning woman who, believing herself invulnerable by being protected by a magic eye amulet, single handedly travels to Nazi Germany to personally...
(1944) for the only time in her Hollywood films. In this, she played a cockney
Cockney
The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
charlady who scrubs her way across occupied Europe in order to assassinate Hitler. She played supporting roles in The Spiral Staircase and The Razor's Edge
The Razor's Edge
The Razor’s Edge is a book by W. Somerset Maugham published in 1944. Its epigraph reads, "The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard." taken from a verse in the Katha-Upanishad....
(both 1946) and also appeared in The Bishop's Wife
The Bishop's Wife
The Bishop's Wife is a 1947 Samuel Goldwyn romantic comedy feature film starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven in a story about an angel who helps a bishop with his problems. It was released by RKO. The film was adapted by Leonardo Bercovici and Robert E...
the following year. She played a comical role in the 1948 thriller, The Big Clock, in which Laughton starred as a murderous, megalomaniac press tycoon. She had a substantial part as an artist specialising in nativity scenes in Come to the Stable
Come to the Stable
Come to the Stable is a 1949 American film which tells the story of two French nuns who come to a small New England town and involve the townsfolk in helping them to build a children's hospital...
for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(1949).
During the late 1940s and 1950s she appeared in small but highly varied supporting roles in a number of films while simultaneously appearing on stage at the Turnabout Theatre
Turnabout Theatre
The Turnabout Theatre existed in Hollywood, CA., from 1941 through 1956. Regularly selling out all seats--attracting both the general public as well as many of Hollywood's top stars--it offered entertainment that combined both puppets for the first half of a show and a stage revue for the second...
in Hollywood. Here she performed her solo vaudeville act in conjunction with a marionette show, singing somewhat off-colour songs which she later recorded for a couple of LPs. Onscreen, she appeared alongside Danny Kaye in The Inspector General
The Inspector General (film)
The Inspector General is a 1949 musical comedy film. It stars Danny Kaye and was directed by Henry Koster. The film also stars Walter Slezak, Gene Lockhart, Barbara Bates, Elsa Lanchester, Alan Hale Sr. and Rhys Williams. Original music by Sylvia Fine and Johnny Green.-Premise:The film is loosely...
(1949), played a blackmailing landlady in Mystery Street
Mystery Street
Mystery Street is a black-and-white film noir directed by John Sturges with cinematography by famed lensman John Alton. The film stars Ricardo Montalban, Bruce Bennett, and Elsa Lanchester....
(1950) and was Shelley Winter's travelling companion in the Western Frenchie
Frenchie
Frenchie is a 1950 American film of the western genre, directed by Louis King and starring Shelley Winters, Joel McCrea and Marie Windsor.The plot is loosely based on the western Destry Rides Again.-Plot:...
(1950). More supporting roles followed in the early 1950s, including a 2-minute cameo as the Bearded Lady in 3 Ring Circus
3 Ring Circus
3 Ring Circus is a 1954 film comedy starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. It was shot from February 17 to March 31, 1954 and released on December 25 by Paramount Pictures.The film was the first starring Martin and Lewis to be shot in VistaVision...
, about to be shaved by Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
. She then had another substantial part when she appeared again with her husband in the screen version of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's play Witness for the Prosecution (1957) for which both received Academy Award nominations - she for the second time as Best Supporting Actress, and Laughton, also for the second time, for Best Actor. Neither won. However, Lanchester did win the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for the film.
Lanchester played a jaded witch in Bell, Book and Candle
Bell, Book and Candle
Bell, Book and Candle is a romantic comedy directed by Richard Quine based on the hit Broadway play by John Van Druten. It starred James Stewart and Kim Novak in their second on-screen pairing . The film, adapted by Daniel Taradash, was Stewart's last film as a romantic lead...
(1958), and appeared in such light fare as Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins (film)
Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers with illustrations by Mary Shepard. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by...
(1964), That Darn Cat! (1965) and Blackbeard's Ghost
Blackbeard's Ghost
Blackbeard's Ghost is a 1968 live-action fantasy comedy Disney film starring Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, and Suzanne Pleshette, directed by Robert Stevenson. It is based upon the novel of the same name by Ben Stahl and was shot in Walt Disney Studios. The Disney Channel aired this film until the...
(1968). She appeared on April 9, 1959, on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
The Ford Show
The Ford Show is a half-hour comedy/variety program, starring singer and folk humorist Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired in color on NBC television on Thursday evenings from October 4, 1956 to June 29, 1961....
. She performed in two episodes of NBC's The Wonderful World of Disney. Additionally, she had memorable guest roles in a classic I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
episode in 1956 and in episodes of NBC's The Eleventh Hour
The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)
The Eleventh Hour is an American medical drama about psychiatry starring Wendell Corey, Jack Ging, and Ralph Bellamy, which aired sixty-two new episodes plus selected rebroadcasts on NBC from October 3, 1962, to September 9, 1964.-Series premise:...
(1964) and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
(1965).
In the 1965-66 she was a regular on John Forsythe
John Forsythe
John Forsythe was an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning four decades and three genres: as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the crime drama Charlie's...
's sitcom The John Forsythe Show
The John Forsythe Show
The John Forsythe Show began as a situation comedy in the fall of 1965 on NBC, but at mid-season it switched to a spy show. In the first phase of the series, John Forsythe appeared as United States Air Force veteran John Foster, who inherited the private Foster School for Girls in San Francisco,...
on NBC in the role of Miss Culver, the principal of a private girls' academy in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. She continued television work into the early 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, appearing as a recurring character in Nanny and the Professor
Nanny and the Professor
Nanny and the Professor is a U.S. fantasy situation comedy created by AJ Carothers and Thomas L. Miller for 20th Century Fox Television. During pre-production, the proposed title was Nanny Will Do. The series first aired as a mid-season replacement on January 21, 1970, on ABC and was last telecast...
, starring Richard Long
Richard Long (actor)
Richard Long was an American actor better known for his leading roles in several ABC television series, including The Big Valley, Nanny and the Professor and Bourbon Street Beat.-Early life:...
and Juliet Mills.
Lanchester continued to make occasional film appearances, singing a duet with Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
in Easy Come, Easy Go (1967) and playing the mother in the original version of Willard
Willard (1971 film)
Willard is a 1971 horror film starring Bruce Davison and Ernest Borgnine, directed by Daniel Mann. The movie is based on the novel Ratman's Notebooks by Stephen Gilbert, and was nominated for an Edgar Award for best picture...
(1971). She was Jessica Marbles, a sleuth based on Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's Jane Marple
Miss Marple
Jane Marple, usually referred to as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in twelve of Agatha Christie's crime novels and in twenty short stories. Miss Marple is an elderly spinster who lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur detective. She is one of the most famous...
, in the 1976 murder mystery spoof, Murder by Death
Murder by Death
Murder by Death is a 1976 comedy film with a cast featuring Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, and Estelle Winwood, written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore.The plot is a spoof of...
, and she made her last film in 1980 as Sophie in Die Laughing
Die Laughing
Die Laughing is the fourth stand-up comedy album by Doug Stanhope. Released in 2002 by Stand Up! Records.-Track listing:#"Stillborn Liver"- 2:05#"DUI/MADD"- 6:33#"Drugs Are for Kids"- 3:52#"Second Hand Bullshit"- 1:41#"Hair in My Food"- 3:16...
.
She released three LP albums in the 1950s. Two (referred to above) were entitled "Songs for a Shuttered Parlour" and "Songs for a Smoke-Filled Room" and were vaguely lewd and danced around their true purpose, such as the song about her husband's "clock" not working. Charles Laughton provided the spoken introductions to each number and even joined Elsa in the singing of "She Was Poor But She Was Honest". Her third LP was entitled "Cockney London", a selection of old London Songs for which Laughton wrote the sleeve-notes.
Private life
In March 1983, Lanchester released her autobiography, entitled Elsa Lanchester Herself. In the book she alleges that she and Charles LaughtonCharles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
never had children because Laughton was homosexual. Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara is an Irish film actress and singer. The famously red-headed O'Hara has been noted for playing fiercely passionate heroines with a highly sensible attitude. She often worked with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne...
, a friend and co-star of Laughton, denied this was the reason for the couple's childlessness. She claimed Laughton had told her that the reason he and his wife never had children was because of a botched abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
Lanchester had early in her career while performing burlesque. Lanchester admitted in her autobiography that she had had two abortions in her youth (one of whom was sired by Laughton), but it is not clear if these left her incapable of becoming pregnant again
Infertility
Infertility primarily refers to the biological inability of a person to contribute to conception. Infertility may also refer to the state of a woman who is unable to carry a pregnancy to full term...
. The two women did not like each other. Lanchester once said of O'Hara, "She looks as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, or anywhere else."
Final years
Not long after the release of her autobiography, Lanchester's health took a turn for the worse. Within 30 months, she suffered two strokes, becoming totally incapacitated and requiring constant care. She was confined to bed. In March 1986, the Motion Picture and Television Fund filed to become conservator of Lanchester and her estate which was valued at $900,000.Death
Lanchester died in Woodland Hills, California on 26 December 1986, aged 84, at the Motion Picture Hospital from bronchopneumoniaBronchopneumonia
Bronchopneumonia or bronchial pneumonia or "Bronchogenic pneumonia" is the acute inflammation of the walls of the bronchioles...
. Her body was cremated on 5 January 1987, at the Chapel of the Pines in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and her ashes scattered over the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
Filmography
- The Scarlet Woman: An Ecclesiastical Melodrama (1925)
- One of the BestOne of the Best (film)One of the Best is a 1927 British silent drama film directed by T. Hayes Hunter and starring Carlyle Blackwell, Walter Byron and Eve Gray. It was based on a play by Seymour Hicks...
(1927) - The Constant NymphThe Constant Nymph (1928 film)The Constant Nymph is a 1928 British silent film drama, directed by Adrian Brunel and starring Ivor Novello and Mabel Poulton. This was the first film adaptation of the 1924 best-selling and controversial novel of the same name by Margaret Kennedy...
(1928) - Bluebottles (1928)
- The Tonic (1928)
- Daydreams (1928)
- Mr Smith Wakes Up (1929)
- Comets (1930)
- Ashes (1930)
- The Love Habit (1931)
- The Stronger SexThe Stronger SexThe Stronger Sex is a 1931 British drama film directed by Gareth Gundrey and starring Colin Clive, Adrianne Allen and Gordon Harker. A man rescues his wife's lover during a disaster at a coal mine.-Cast:* Colin Clive - Warren Barrington...
(1931) - Potiphar's WifePotiphar's WifePotiphar's Wife is a 1931 British romance film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Nora Swinburne, Laurence Olivier and Guy Newall. It is also known as Her Strange Desire. It was based on a play by Edgar C...
(1931) - The Officer's Mess (1931)
- The Private Life of Henry VIIIThe Private Life of Henry VIIIThe Private Life of Henry VIII is a 1933 film about Henry VIII, King of England. It was written by Lajos Biró and Arthur Wimperis, and directed by Sir Alexander Korda.Charles Laughton won the 1933 Academy Award as Best Actor for his performance as Henry...
(1933) - The Private Life of Don JuanThe Private Life of Don JuanThe Private Life of Don Juan is a 1934 British comedy-drama film about the life of an aging Don Juan, based on the 1920 play L'homme à la Rose by Henry Bataille. The movie stars Douglas Fairbanks and Merle Oberon.-Plot:...
(1934: uncredited) - David Copperfield (1935)
- Naughty Marietta (1935)
- Bride of FrankensteinBride of FrankensteinBride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American horror film, the first sequel to Frankenstein...
(1935) - The Ghost Goes WestThe Ghost Goes WestThe Ghost Goes West is a British romantic comedy/fantasy film starring Robert Donat, Jean Parker, and Eugene Pallette, and directed by René Clair, his first English-language film...
(1935) - Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty (1936: unreleased)
- Rembrandt (1936)
- Vessel of Wrath (1938: also titled The Beachcomber)
- Ladies in RetirementLadies in RetirementLadies in Retirement is a 1941 film starring Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward. It is based on a 1940 Broadway play of the same title by Reginald Denham and Edward Percy which starred Flora Robson in the lead role....
(1941) - Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin BlakeSon of Fury: The Story of Benjamin BlakeSon of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake is a 1942 adventure film directed by John Cromwell, starring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney. The film was adapted from Edison Marshall's 1941 historical novel Benjamin Blake.-Plot:...
(1942) - Tales of ManhattanTales of ManhattanTales of Manhattan is a 1942 American anthology film directed by Julien Duvivier. Thirteen writers, including Ben Hecht, Alan Campbell, Ferenc Molnár, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Donald Ogden Stewart worked on the six stories in this film.-Cast:...
(1942) - Forever and a Day (1943)
- Thumbs UpThumbs UpA thumbs-up or thumbs-down is a common hand gesture achieved by a closed fist held with the thumb extended upward or downward in approval or disapproval, respectively...
(1943) - Lassie Come HomeLassie Come HomeLassie Come Home is a 1943 MGM film starring Roddy McDowall and canine actor, Pal, in a story about the profound bond between Yorkshire boy Joe Carraclough and his rough collie, Lassie. The film was directed by Fred M. Wilcox from a screenplay by Hugo Butler based upon the 1940 novel Lassie...
(1943) - Passport to DestinyPassport to DestinyPassport to Destiny is a RKO Radio Pictures comedy adventure fantasy war film. It stars Elsa Lanchester in her only leading role as an English cleaning woman who, believing herself invulnerable by being protected by a magic eye amulet, single handedly travels to Nazi Germany to personally...
(1944: also titled Passport to Adventure) - The Spiral Staircase (1946)
- The Razor's EdgeThe Razor's Edge (1946 film)The Razor's Edge is the first film version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel. It was released in 1946 and stars Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, Herbert Marshall, supporting cast Lucile Watson, Frank Latimore and Elsa Lanchester. Marshall plays Somerset Maugham....
(1946) - Northwest Outpost (1947: also titled End of the RainbowEnd of the rainbowEnd of the Rainbow is a musical drama by Peter Quilter, centred upon the intriguing personality of Judy Garland in the months leading up to her death...
)
- The Bishop's WifeThe Bishop's WifeThe Bishop's Wife is a 1947 Samuel Goldwyn romantic comedy feature film starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven in a story about an angel who helps a bishop with his problems. It was released by RKO. The film was adapted by Leonardo Bercovici and Robert E...
(1947) - The Big ClockThe Big Clock (1948 film)The Big Clock is a 1948 film noir thriller directed by John Farrow, adapted by renowned novelist-screenwriter Jonathan Latimer from the novel of the same name by Kenneth Fearing....
(1948) - Come to the StableCome to the StableCome to the Stable is a 1949 American film which tells the story of two French nuns who come to a small New England town and involve the townsfolk in helping them to build a children's hospital...
(1949) - The Secret GardenThe Secret Garden (1949 film)The Secret Garden is a 1949 US drama film. It is the second screen adaptation of the classic 1909 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett . The screenplay by Robert Ardrey was directed by Fred M. Wilcox...
(1949) - The Inspector GeneralThe Inspector General (film)The Inspector General is a 1949 musical comedy film. It stars Danny Kaye and was directed by Henry Koster. The film also stars Walter Slezak, Gene Lockhart, Barbara Bates, Elsa Lanchester, Alan Hale Sr. and Rhys Williams. Original music by Sylvia Fine and Johnny Green.-Premise:The film is loosely...
(1949) - Buccaneer's GirlBuccaneer's GirlBuccaneer's Girl is a 1950 American romantic adventure film directed by Frederick De Cordova and starring Yvonne De Carlo, Philip Friend and Robert Douglas. A New Orleans singer becomes involved with a Pirate Lord.-Cast:* Yvonne De Carlo - Deborah McCoy...
(1949) - Mystery StreetMystery StreetMystery Street is a black-and-white film noir directed by John Sturges with cinematography by famed lensman John Alton. The film stars Ricardo Montalban, Bruce Bennett, and Elsa Lanchester....
(1950) - Girl of the Year (1950: also titled The Petty GirlThe Petty GirlThe Petty Girl is a musical romantic comedy film starring Robert Cummings and Joan Caulfield. Cummings portrays painter George Petty.-Plot:...
) - FrenchieFrenchieFrenchie is a 1950 American film of the western genre, directed by Louis King and starring Shelley Winters, Joel McCrea and Marie Windsor.The plot is loosely based on the western Destry Rides Again.-Plot:...
(1950) - DreamboatDreamboat"Dreamboat" is a popular music song, the words and music to which were written by Jack Hoffman, ....
(1952) - Les MisérablesLes Misérables (1952 film)Les Misérables is a 1952 American film adapted from the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. It was directed by Lewis Milestone, and featured Michael Rennie as Jean Valjean, Robert Newton as Javert, Sylvia Sidney as Fantine, Debra Paget as Cosette, Edmund Gwenn as the bishop, Cameron Mitchell as...
(1952) - Androcles and the Lion (1952)
- The Girls of Pleasure IslandThe Girls of Pleasure IslandThe Girls of Pleasure Island is a 1953 Technicolor comedy film directed by Alvin Ganzer and F. Hugh Herbert. The screenplay by F. Hugh Herbert is based on the novel by former Marine William Maier...
(1953) - 3 Ring Circus3 Ring Circus3 Ring Circus is a 1954 film comedy starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. It was shot from February 17 to March 31, 1954 and released on December 25 by Paramount Pictures.The film was the first starring Martin and Lewis to be shot in VistaVision...
(1954) - Hell's Half AcreHell's Half Acre (film)Hell's Half Acre is a 1954 film noir set in Hawaii.The film is directed and produced by John H. Auer and stars Wendell Corey, Evelyn Keyes and Elsa Lanchester. -Plot:...
(1954) - The Glass SlipperThe Glass SlipperThe Glass Slipper is a musical film adaptation of Cinderella, made by MGM, directed by Charles Walters and produced by Edwin H. Knopf from a screenplay by Helen Deutsch. The music score is by Bronislau Kaper, the cinematography by Arthur E. Arling, the art direction by Daniel B...
(1955) - Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
- Bell, Book and CandleBell, Book and CandleBell, Book and Candle is a romantic comedy directed by Richard Quine based on the hit Broadway play by John Van Druten. It starred James Stewart and Kim Novak in their second on-screen pairing . The film, adapted by Daniel Taradash, was Stewart's last film as a romantic lead...
(1958) - Honeymoon HotelHoneymoon HotelHoneymoon Hotel is an animated cartoon short subject in the Leon Schlesinger/Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies series, released February 17, 1934....
(1964) - Mary PoppinsMary Poppins (film)Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers with illustrations by Mary Shepard. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by...
(1964) - Pajama PartyPajama Party (film)Pajama Party is a 1964 beach party film starring Tommy Kirk and Annette Funicello. This is the fourth in a series of seven beach films produced by American International Pictures...
(1964) - That Darn Cat! (1965) - Mrs. MacDougall
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E.The Man from U.N.C.L.E.The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
(TV) (1965) - Easy Come, Easy Go (1967)
- Blackbeard's GhostBlackbeard's GhostBlackbeard's Ghost is a 1968 live-action fantasy comedy Disney film starring Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, and Suzanne Pleshette, directed by Robert Stevenson. It is based upon the novel of the same name by Ben Stahl and was shot in Walt Disney Studios. The Disney Channel aired this film until the...
(1968) - RascalRascal (film)Rascal is a film that was released in 1969 by Walt Disney Pictures.-Synopsis:The movie is based on Sterling North's 1963 "memoir of a better era." North, born near Edgerton, Wisconsin, was a former literary editor for newspapers in Chicago and New York...
(1969) - Me, NatalieMe, NatalieMe, Natalie is a 1969 American comedy-drama film directed by Fred Coe. The screenplay by A. Martin Zweiback is based on an original story by Academy Award-winner Stanley Shapiro, who previously wrote Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back, and That Touch of Mink for Doris Day...
(1969) - My Dog, the Thief (TV) (1969)
- WillardWillard (1971 film)Willard is a 1971 horror film starring Bruce Davison and Ernest Borgnine, directed by Daniel Mann. The movie is based on the novel Ratman's Notebooks by Stephen Gilbert, and was nominated for an Edgar Award for best picture...
(1971) - Terror in the Wax Museum (1973)
- Arnold (1974)
- Murder by DeathMurder by DeathMurder by Death is a 1976 comedy film with a cast featuring Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, and Estelle Winwood, written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore.The plot is a spoof of...
(1976) - Die Laughing (1980)