Elsa Lanchester, Herself [Hardcover] -

Elsa Lanchester

New York: St. Martin's Press

1983

416 páginas

13h 52m

ISBN-13: 9780312243760

Elsa Lanchester, Herself: An Autobiography, Book Club Edition / [ISBN: 9780912777832 ]
The independent, iconoclastic actress reminisces about her extraordinary life and career, discussing her radical socialist parents, study with Isadora Duncan, personal relationships, and unusual marriage to homosexual british actor Charles Laughton.

"Her hair is in the chestnut trees of London and her feet are in the mud of the Thames" (Herbert Farjeon). Book club edition of English actress Elsa Lanchester's autobiography. Published only a few years before her death, Lanchester's heartfelt memoir looks back on her life as a child of radical socialist parents, her career as a stage actress, and the pivotal changes she experienced after her breakout role as the Bride of Frankenstein in the award-winning film of the same name from 1931. Lanchester also shares detailed accounts of her marriage to English stage actor and director Charles Laughton, and confirms for the first time anywhere his previously rumored homosexuality and describes their unconventional and at times tumultuous marriage. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white photos; with an index.

Being known as “The Bride of Frankenstein” is an unusual form of fame, but for Elsa Lanchester the unusual came naturally. Born to radical socialist parents, Elsa attended an all-boys school and later “studied” in Paris with dance pioneer Isadora Duncan. At 17, she opened her own theater, which was frequented by writers such as H. G. Wells, Aldous Huxley, and Evelyn Waugh. She began performing with and then fell in love with a brilliant young actor named Charles Laughton. Soon after their marriage he revealed his homosexuality. Though it made their union shaky at times, it did not overshadow their common love of art, music, and nature, and their marriage endured for 36 years until Laughton’s death. Elsa Lanchester, Herself presents the story of a woman ahead of her time: independent, iconoclastic, liberated. It is the chronicle of a life filled with famous people (from Bertolt Brecht to Henry Fonda), and of a career that spanned almost seven decades. It is also a warm, truthful account of a very special marriage. Witty and wise, Elsa Lanchester’s account of her life and times is a delight.