Born in Lewisham, London, in 1902, Elsa Lanchester studied under famed dancer Isadora Duncan as a child. She began her career as a cabaret performer before establishing herself as a dramatic actress. Having appeared on stage and in several British films, she emigrated to Hollywood with her husband, actor Charles Laughton, in the 1930s.
Although she appears for just minutes at the opening, as Frankenstein author Mary Shelley and as the monster's mate at the film's climax, Lanchester was key to Bride of Frankenstein's success. According to film historian Paul Jensen, Lanchester's dual roles were essential to James Whale's vision. "Elsa Lanchester told me. . . that Whale insisted that she be allowed to play Mary Shelley and also the Bride," Jensen said in the documentary She's Alive! "It was either that or he wouldn't make the film."
As documented in her autobiography, Elsa Lanchester, Herself, one of the most uncomfortable aspects of making Bride was working with the notoriously irascible makeup artist Jack Pierce. "He had his own sanctum sanctorum, and as you entered . . . he said good morning first," Lanchester wrote. "If I spoke first, he glared and slightly showed his upper teeth. He would be dressed in a full hospital doctor's operating outfit. At five in the morning, this made me dislike him intensely. Then, for three or four hours, the Lord would do his creative work, with never a word spoken . . . But, Jack Pierce fancied himself The Maker of Monsters — meting out wrath and intolerance by the bucketful."
