British actress (1902-1986). Born Elizabeth Sullivan in London, she was trained as a dancer by Isadora Duncan. She was a lifelong nonconformist, infusing many of her characters with a weird childlike quality. She married actor Charles Laughton in 1929--they remained married until he died in 1962.

In her film debut, she played Clickett in the 1935 version of "David Copperfield". After that, she went on to her most famous movie: "The Bride of Frankenstein", in which she played both "Frankenstein" author Mary Shelley and the bouffant-bedecked, hissing Bride of the monster. Her performance has proven to be almost as famous as Boris Karloff's as the monster and has earned her a permanent place among the superstars of horror cinema.

Among her other films were "Lassie Come Home", "The Razor's Edge", "The Bishop's Wife", "Come to the Stable" (she was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as a flaky artist), "Les Miserables", "Witness for the Prosecution" (another Oscar nomination, this time for her performance as Miss Plimsoll, Laughton's nurse), "Bell, Book and Candle", "Mary Poppins" (she was Katie Nanna, the Banks' previous nanny), "That Darn Cat!", "Willard", "Murder by Death", and "Die Laughing", her last movie, in 1980. She died in Woodland Hills, California on the day after Christmas in 1986.

Much research assistance from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).