June 18, 2021
In this picture, colorized by Steve Foster, Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester, who were married from 1929 until Laughlin’s death in 1962, pose. The couple appeared on stage together, acted in 12 films together, and sang “Baby It’s Cold Outside” for a radio program in 1950 (they also sang the song for the NBC show Startime on March 15, 1960. Laughton is one of Daniel Day Lewis’s inspirations; he has said, "He was probably the greatest film actor who came from that period of time.” Lanchester appeared in nearly 60 films, starting with silent films, and she was also in numerous television shows.
The couple took different routes to become stars. Elsa Lanchester, who had studied dance as a child, got her start performing in theater and cabaret after World War I. This led to serious stage work. Charles Laughton, on the other hand, was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and his first stage appearance came in 1926. In 1927, Lanchester and Laughton first met, when they were cast together in a play by Arnold Bennett, Mr. Prohack. The two began dating after that, and they married in 1929.
She Was Frankenstein's On Screen Wife
Lanchester’s film career began before the pair met, starting in 1925 in The Scarlet Woman, and in 1928, she appeared in three silent shorts: Blue Bottles, Daydreams, and The Tonic. All three were written for her by H.G. Wells and directed by Ivor Mongagu. Laughton also appeared in each of them, and they marked his first film roles. She also appeared with Laughton in Comets, a film revue in which they sang a duet: “The Ballad of Frankie and Johnny.” Lanchester was also in some of the first British talkies, including Potiphar’s Wife (1931) with Laurence Olivier. Laughton, meanwhile, was making his first appearance in the United States that year, at the Lyceum. He returned to the U.K. for the 1933-34 season, where he acted in four Shakespeare roles. In 1933, Lanchester and Laughton acted together again in The Private Life of Henry VIII. Laughton had his Hollywood debut in The Dark Old House (1932) with Boris Karloff, followed by Devil and the Deep with Gary Cooper and Cary Grant. All told, Laughlin appeared in six Hollywood films in 1932. After his return to England, he played one of his better-known roles, as Captain William Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). However, he had numerous other Hollywood appearances and decided to move with Lanchester to Hollywood in the late 1930s. Once there, Lanchester played small film roles, although her recognition really came with her role as the title character in Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
