Why Everything Is Better with Elsa Lanchester

Elsa Lanchester is one of those actors whose name you might not know but whose face sparks that “a-ha” moment in your memory. She was a British actor who travelled to Hollywood with her husband, Charles Laughton. The two appeared in films together regularly. Laughton is probably most famous for playing Captain Bligh to Clark Gable’s Fletcher Christian in “Mutiny on the Bounty.” Lanchester is probably most famous for playing the titular character in “The Bride of Frankenstein.”

However, she was much more than the re-animated corpse being wooed by the monster. Lanchester has a certain devilish gleam in her eye that comes through many of her portrayals. You may remember her from such films as “The Bishop’s Wife,” “Come to the Stables,” “Mary Poppins,” ”That Darn Cat,” the original “Willard,” and “Easy Come, Easy Go,” in which she sang a duet with Elvis Presley. She also appeared on an episode of “I Love Lucy,” as the woman who offers Lucy and Ethel a ride to Florida. (The dynamic duo comes to the erroneous conclusion that Lanchester is a serial killer.) However, two of my favorite performances are featured in “Witness for the Prosecution,” (which co-starred Laughton) and “Murder by Death.”

In “Witness for the Prosecution,” Lanchester plays nurse to Laughton’s cantankerous barrister, Wilfred Robarts. Robarts has recently had a heart attack and has been ordered by his physician to lighten his work load. However, after a brief interview with Tyrone Power, Robarts takes on the case of his career. It’s a hoot watching Laughton tangle with his off-screen wife onscreen, especially when Nurse Plimpoll catches Robarts doing things he shouldn’t, like smoking his cigars and sneaking a sip of gin. Often mistaken for a Hitchcock film, this Billy Wilder classic has one of the best plot twists in motion picture history. And it is one of those rare films in which every performer is astonishing.

Another film I discovered recently, recommended by my sister who happened to catch it on Turner Classic Movies, is a film called “Bell, Book, and Candle.” Starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, the film was made just after they completed filming Hitchcock’s “Vertigo,” but finished prior to that film’s release. The story centers on a young witch, portrayed by Novak, who casts a spell to make a bachelor (James Stewart) fall in love with her. What she doesn’t anticipate is that she falls in love with him as well. But in order to be with him, she must stop being a witch. (This is the 1950s Hollywood interpretation, meaning that a witch—male or female—was a sort of sub-species of human, something not unlike a vampire, i.e., human in appearance but only in appearance.) Lanchester plays Kim Novak’s aunt, a venerable old witch who can’t understand why her niece would choose to give up her powers. I’m not really a fan of James Stewart but when my sister told me that Lanchester was in it, I decided to rent it and enjoyed it. (Jack Lemmon also appears as one of Novak’s witch cousins, another one who is all too thrilled with his supernatural powers.)

And of course, she appears in that classic spoof “Murder by Death.” Written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore, the film (and the play from which it was adapted) spoofs some of the greatest criminal minds of the early 20^th century: Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles, Charlie Chan, Hercule Poirot, and Jane Marple. It’s a classic spoof and stars not only Elsa Lanchester but such late greats as David Niven, James Coco, Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Peter Falk, and Nancy Walker. In fact, I believe the only surviving cast members are Dame Maggie Smith and James Cromwell. (Well, maybe the actor who plays Wayne Wang’s son, too.) But as the unflappable “Jessica Marbles,” Lanchester steals the show. At once demure and formidable, she delivers some unforgettable lines with true grace and style.

Elsa Lanchester is much like Ruth Gordon to me. Never considered a beauty, she relied on talent and commitment to her craft to achieve fame. One never goes looking for an Elsa Lanchester film, but the film gains status if she is in it. She is one of those actors that are such a joy to watch because she enjoys the art of acting, of fleshing out the role and creating little idiosyncrasies for the characters she portrays. Even in her serious roles, she finds humor because life, no matter how serious, is humorous.