How Elsa Lanchester Led A Double Life—And Nobody Knew

Elsa Landchester kept her husband's secret life tucked away from prying eyes for years. And then one day, she just didn't care anymore, and revealed everything. Elsa Landchester was born on October 2nd, 1902, in London, England. Her parents, Sheamus Sullivan, and Edith Landchester lived in a bohemian and progressive kind of way. They were both socialists and against all kinds of religious views. They didn't even believe in marriage. This led Landchester's mother down a dangerous path. Before her mother had even had Elsa, she faced an awful tragedy. When Edith Landchester announced that she was going to live unmarried with her working class lover, her own father had her committed to a mental institution. This house of horror was a prequel to what Landchester herself would go through in both film and in real life. Now when her brother took up puppeteering, young Elsa Landchester realized she needed her own dream. And it was dance, she later said that she wanted to do classical dance and amaze audiences. Well, time was of the essence, and even though she was still a young girl, she set her sights high when she was still a teen, Landchester moved to Paris to start her professional training. She had decided to pursue dancing and managed to get the famed dancer, Isadora Duncan, as her mentor. Sadly, the two did not get along well at all. It looked like Elsa was going to be miserable in Paris for a long time. And then everything suddenly changed, while she was still studying with Duncan, World War I broke out. It soon became clear that Paris was not a safe place to be, and the dance school shut its doors. Elsa promptly returned to the UK and the relative safety there, but now she had a problem. Her dance and career was unhold, and she had nothing to do. Elsa Landchester was still barely a teenager, but she did have a skill. Back in Paris, she learned that Isadora Duncan's style of teaching. She used this knowledge to give dance classes to children, and bringing a little extra money to her cash strapped family. Although Elsa probably could not see a bright future, there certainly was one in store for her. World War I did eventually end, and it didn't take long for Elsa to start to see that there were fresh opportunities for her. Her first endeavor was the Children's Theater, followed by something definitely not for kids. This was a venture with an eerie sounding name. It was The Cave of Harmony, and it was for adults only. While performing at The Cave of Harmony, a nightclub, Elsa got a reputation for singing comedic songs. She used her hips while dancing, and often had to cover her undulations with a shawl. It was usually a body evening of big laughs and loud applause. But it wasn't just the audience that was enjoying the show. Columbia Records managed to hear about Landchester, and invited her to make recordings of some of her most famous songs. The songs had unusual titles, like "Please sell no more drink to my father, and don't tell my mother I'm living in sin." But it wasn't just what she sang at the nightclub. It was also what she wore. One of Elsa's costumes for her performances at The Cave of Harmony was High Heels, Tights, and a Top Hat. Elsa was the talk of the town, and soon people in high places began to take notice. After making the record with Columbia, Elsa Landchester continued on at The Cave of Harmony. Her many friends there included writers Christopher Isherwood and Osborne Sitwell. However, one writer she met would set her career in a different direction altogether. Novelist Evelyn Woe was one friend that Landchester met at The Cave of Harmony, and at the time he was attending Oxford University. Evelyn had an idea for a very unusual film, and he had a role for Elsa. His film was called The Scarlet Woman, and it was about a pope who wanted to return England to Catholicism. Elsa Landchester wasn't the woman in the title, but she did play a seductress. It also turned Elsa toward acting. She thought she was getting her big break when she signed up to appear in the Midnight Follies at the Metropole in London. This was a big deal, as members of the Royal Family tended to show up for performances. Elsa had only got the chance to do one song, and she was ready to wow the crowd. However, there was one important person who this performance didn't wow. Landchester knew that "Please sell no more drink to my father" was a "crowd pleaser." So she sang it at the Midnight Follies. Much to her horror, a member of the Royal Family decided that the best time to leave the theater was in the middle of Elsa's number. The consequences were devastating. Not only was Elsa humiliated, but they also fired her. Things did not look good for Elsa's future, but surprisingly, getting fired didn't really hurt Elsa's career. In fact, she was more in demand than ever, and her schedule was so packed with performances that while traveling to the Midnight Show at the Cave of Harmony, she used to change costumes in a taxi. This was all fun and games, but at some point, Elsa had to get serious about her career. Elsa's performance in the Scarlet Woman helped her get more respectable work on stage. She got the opportunity to act in a play written by Arnold Bennett called Mr. Prohac, while this play is mostly forgotten. Something big did come out of it. Something that would change Elsa's life forever. One of her fellow cast members was future film star Charles Lawton. At this time, Lawton had a few successful roles in the theater, so Elsa looked up to him. But there was more than just the theater that these two had in common. After meeting Charles on stage, the two developed feelings for each other. The chemistry between them was so strong, they started dating, and just two years later tied the knot. Likely, neither of them suspected that this would be a lifelong partnership, spanning decades, and on top of all that, they were about to see art imitate life. After appearing uncredited in a silent movie, The Constant Nymph, Elsa Lanchester watched with Envy as her husband got a role of a lifetime. It was to play the title role in the private life of Henry VIII. Well, since Henry had his share of brides, there just happened to be a part for Lanchester as Anne of Cleaves. She was going to act next to her husband, and she had to do well. In the private life of Henry VIII, Charles and Elsa had a bedroom scene together. This might have felt a little uncomfortable, as things at home were far from conventional. In the film, Charles gets to say to his real life wife, "You're the nicest girl I ever met." Now it was time to see if Charles and Elsa had been as convincing as a married couple. Elsa's work as Anne of Cleaves was a critical success, and many believed she deserved a best supporting actress award. Sadly, the Academy wouldn't introduce supporting role awards for another three years. Her husband, on the other hand, took home the top trophy for his portrayal as the king. These two seemed ready to take Hollywood by storm. Even though Elsa Lanchester had one praise for her role in the private life of Henry VIII, there were not so many offers that followed. Her husband was basking in the glow of winning the best actor Oscar, but Hollywood didn't seem to know what to do with Elsa. When Charles suggested a move to Hollywood, Elsa reluctantly agreed. Sadly, Elsa only received offers for small character roles in MGM films like David Copperfield and Naughty Marietta. When Charles continued to get excellent roles, Elsa actually decided to call it quits. She returned to London alone, and then one telephone call changed everything. The call was from James Whale, who was making a horror film called The Bride of Frankenstein. Whale had two roles that he wanted Elsa to play. She would portray the real-life character of Mary Shelley, the woman who wrote Frankenstein, and also play the title character. This was enough to send Elsa back to America. One of the challenges about playing The Bride to the already popular Frankenstein was to make her scary. First was the issue of Elsa's height. You see, she was only five foot four inches tall, and so they put her on stilts to make her seem more of a threat, but that wasn't the worst part of her costume. Elsa Lanchester's time on the set of The Bride of Frankenstein was more horrific than the film itself. Elsa's eyes were actually taped open for longer scenes, and that's not even the worst part. The iconic bride costume was so constrictive that one of her stand-ins had a full, blown panic attack while she was strapped into the claustrophobic outfit. Next, she had to think about acting scary, and Elsa solved this in a surprising way. For inspiration for her bride of Frankenstein character, Elsa Lanchester turned to an unlikely source. She copied the hissing and spitting from swans she'd seen in a park in London. Elsa had always thought that swans were "nasty creatures" so this worked perfectly. As Mary Shelley, Elsa had dialogue referring to the liberty and lifestyles of Shelley, her husband Percy and Lord Byron. One line the critics objected to sounds like a description of Elsa's parents. It reads, quote, "We are all three infidels. Scoffers at all marriage ties, believing only in living freely and fully. The sensors cut it, and they cut another scene where Elsa showed too much of her chest. Now, The Bride of Frankenstein made money for Universal, but what about the reviews? They were mostly positive and have actually gotten more glowing over time. Variety made a mention of Elsa Lanchester and said she impressed quite highly. As The Bride. Of course, the implication was that this wasn't the case in her role as Shelley. It didn't matter. Elsa's career was finally going to take off. In the years that followed, Elsa and Charles kept themselves busy with numerous projects in both the US and the UK. They did work together, and separately. In tales of Manhattan, they played a husband and wife, with the familiar sounding names of Charles and Elsa. In these cases, it seemed that Elsa was always supporting her husband or some other actor, and then that all changed. In 1944, Elsa Lanchester got her first top billing in passport to Destiny. This was a comedy that somehow morphed into high drama. The film centered around a house cleaner who decides she must personally go to Germany and take down the infamous leader of the Third Reich. Elsa received praise for her performance, but this unusual film did not do well, and was back to supporting roles for Elsa. In 1949, in the film "Come to the Stable," she played Amelia Pots, a woman who paints nativity scenes. The film was a huge success and received seven Academy Award nominations, including one for best supporting actress for Elsa. Sadly, the film took home exactly zero trophies on awards night. Her next chance at an Oscar wouldn't come for a long, long time. In 1957, Elsa Lanchester was again cast in a film with her husband. This was a legal melodrama, called "Witness for the Prosecution." Based on an Agatha Christie novel, it was a huge chance, but then Elsa returned home one night and made a disturbing discovery. Her husband Charles had collapsed in the pool. After Elsa frantically called for help and pulled Charles out of the water, her husband revealed the awful truth. Charles's collapse was all fake. In "Witness for the Prosecution," his character suffers from a heart condition, and he was practicing how he portray a heart attack. So he decided to fake one in the swimming pool. His prep paid off. Both Elsa and Charles received nominations from the Academy. In just a few years though, Elsa would experience the shock of losing her husband all over again. This time, for real. In 1962, Charles checked himself into the seaters of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles with a ruptured disc. While doctors performed surgery, they discovered that Charles had cancered of the spine. He passed away at home on December 15, 1962. For the first time in over three decades, Elsa was all alone. Her career didn't about face after the passing of her husband. She focused more on fun and easy projects with studios like Disney and worked on TV. She even tried horror again, playing the crazed mother to a rat controlling social misfit in 1971's Willard. Elsa also decided to give writing a try, and the result was explosive. In March of 1983, Elsa Lanchester published her second and last book. An autobiography she titled Elsa Lanchester herself, in which she made a shocking announcement. Apparently, many people had wondered why she and Charles had never had any children. Well, Elsa thought that this book was as good as any place to satisfy the public's curiosity. What she announced was a shocker. In her book, Elsa said that the reason she and Charles remained a childless was that her husband was gay. This came out in 1983, even after his passing, but it was still pretty extraordinary. What followed in the wake of the Elsa revelation was a stunned silence. And then one person rose up to dispute this claim. Elsa had helped with the career of Maureen O'Hara, and she had a different view about why Elsa and Charles never had any children. She said that Elsa couldn't have children because she had terminated a pregnancy a long time ago, and that procedure had gone wrong, leaving her unable to give birth. This was quickly turning into a case of she said she said, but the truth was still out there. Maureen's announcement wasn't much of a shocker, as Elsa had already admitted to terminating two pregnancies in her lifetime. Her biographer Charles Higgum cleared up the dispute, suggesting that the real reason why they had no kids was because Elsa simply didn't want to have any. Of course, the original question still needed an answer. Had Elsa been married to a gay man all those years? In 2012, a book came out called Full Service. The author Scotty Bowers claimed to have all the inside dirt on Hollywood celebrities. Bowers suggested that Charles was in love with Hollywood Hunk Tyrone Power, and that he only had interest in men. If you believe Bowers, this means that Elsa did indeed have a gay husband for over 30 years. There must have been something that drew Charles and Elsa together. They were certainly partners. It just may not have been in the bedroom. Of course, they had their love of acting in common. They also collected art, traveled, and explored nature. This seemed to be enough to keep them together for 35 years. But if Charles was busy entertaining other men, this leaves us wondering what Elsa was doing on her own time. In her biography, Elsa Lanchester herself. She barely acknowledges any lust for men. She even goes as far to say that she "dispised woman who had to have a sex life" quote. Some suggest Elsa simply didn't have an interest in a romantic life. One reason to believe this is how easily she accepted her husband's admission of being gay. When Lawton came to her, Lanchester apparently accepted this fact without hesitation. But there is one thing that really bothered Elsa about her husband's secret. The story goes that Charles came clean to Elsa about his pretelection for men. He even admitted that he'd had a moment of passion right there on the couch that they shared together. This was one thing that got her, and Elsa replaced that couch immediately. 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