“Living Dead Buried Again!,” comedian Dana Gould shouted out as this reporter left. “There’s your headline!”
Between the gentle chirping of songbirds and the screaming roar of jets taking off from nearby Burbank airport, dozens of fans gathered this morning at Valhalla Cemetery to hear tributes to the late actress Elsa Lanchester, best known for portraying the titular role in The Bride of Frankenstein.
Credit: Photo by Chris Nichols
The British actress died the day after Christmas in 1986 at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, and her cremated remains were said to be scattered at sea. Scott Michaels of Dearly Departed Tours dug deeper and found out that her urn was buried in the Rose Garden at Valhalla, not far from the Portal of the Folded Wings.
Elsa Lanchester in the 1940sCredit: Turnabout Theatre Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
Scott Michaels with the new grave markerCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols
That 1920s landmark was where fans met up today on the anniversary of Lanchester’s 1902 birth to celebrate her and unveil a new grave marker ordered by Michaels and paid for by fans. Michaels has organized several tombstone unveilings for unmarked graves of lesser-known stars. “Biographers, historians, archivists all thought she was scattered in the Pacific Ocean,” Michaels said. “It was just fascinating that she ended up being right under our nose the whole time.”
Actors Charles Laughton and wife, Elsa Lanchester after taking the United States oath of citizenship, 1950Credit: Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection/UCLA Library Special Collections
Lanchester was nominated for multiple Academy Awards and won a Golden Globe. She accepted a Grammy Award for her husband Charles Laughton’s live album The Story-Teller … A Session with Charles Laughton shortly after he passed away in 1962. Laughton was buried at Forest Lawn but Michaels notes that Lanchester was not a fan of the cemetery of the stars and did not wish to be interred there.
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Elsa Lanchester accepts Charles Laughton’s ‘Grammy’ trophy from Jo Stafford and Lorne Green in 1963Credit: Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
Bruce Davison, who played Lanchester’s son in the 1971 horror film Willard, delighted the crowd with advice the grand dame offered him on the set. “You know when a director is giving you a load of codswallop?” he remembered the actress telling him. “What you do is say ‘Oooh, that’s very interesting, let me do that.’ And then just do whatever the hell you want!”
Actor Bruce Davison remembers Elsa LanchesterCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols
Davison shared that his onscreen mom was grateful for her brief appearance in the Frankenstein film, appreciating what it had done for her career. “So many people emulate that hairdo,” Michaels said. “Madeleine Kahn did it in Young Frankenstein, Magenta in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. They do that Hostess cupcake swirl. There are lots of scream queens but she played the only female monster.”
A “Bride of Frankenstein” figure on displayCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols
The granddaughter of Bela Lugosi, cinema’s first great Dracula, sent a note of appreciation for fans of movie monsters who enjoy visiting their heroes at the cemetery. “Being able to touch the gravestone and lay flowers allows for a visceral connection,” Lynne Lugosi Sparks wrote. “It is wonderful that after so long …they can visit and honor her place in Hollywood history.”
Fan Melida Daly views the programCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols
During the 1960s, a softer Lanchester appeared in a number of Disney films, including Mary Poppins, That Darn Cat! and Blackbeard’s Ghost. She performed at comedy cabaret clubs in Los Angeles, being especially fond of the Turnabout Theatre, where she sang alongside marionettes. A few of her comedy musical albums, like Bawdy Cockney Songs and Songs For a Smoke-Filled Room, were on display at the cemetery.
Valhalla CemeteryCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols
The mostly black-clad crowd dispersed after the speeches as the mercury pushed past 90° but some stayed behind the film the tombstones or pose for pictures with a man dressed as Abraham Lincoln. A clutch of comics traded showbiz stories in the shade, “Living Dead Buried Again!,” comedian Dana Gould shouted out as this reporter left the scene. “There’s your headline!”
Valhalla CemeteryCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols