Elsa Lanchester was the Bride of Frankenstein.
But she was much more and (today being her birthday) let me make a case for her being also a Superstar of Kidlit Movies. Not as a title character, perhaps, but the sort of powerful supporting role that makes a movie work. And she did it over and over again.
For example, she is the scene-stealing nosy neighbor from That Darn Cat, which I think is one of the best ever kidlit book to movie conversions ever done.
She’s also been:
Martha in The Secret Garden
Katie Nanna in Mary Poppins
The Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland,
Mother Goose – in those Shirley Temple fairy tale tv shows
You’ll also see her in less known roles in:
Rascal and Blackbeard’s Ghost
Furthermore, in the non-kidlit department, she played Miss Marple – or Marbles — in Murder by Death and she played the heck out of it, too!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: kidlit movies, kidlit trivia
