Elsa Buchanan
Encyclopedia
Elsa Buchanan was an English
character actress
with a brief career in theatre and film.
Born Elsie Winifred Buchanan Tinker, Buchanan made her stage debut at age three at the Palace Theatre
at a performance attended by Queen Mary
. Buchanan was later the first Englishwoman admitted to the training school of the Académie française
.
She made seventeen films in the United States
, where she was noted for her blonde hair and called "the girl with the largest eyes and the smallest waist in Hollywood." She accepted the proposal of her husband, a merchant sailor named Noll Charlton, while attending a coronation ball for King George VI and retired from film thereafter.
Shortly before her death saw Gosford Park
, in which one of the characters, a Hollywood producer, discusses casting for Charlie Chan in London, inviting a blonde maid to audition for the part that she actually played in that movie.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
character actress
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
with a brief career in theatre and film.
Born Elsie Winifred Buchanan Tinker, Buchanan made her stage debut at age three at the Palace Theatre
Palace Theatre, London
The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. It is an imposing red-brick building that dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus and is located near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road...
at a performance attended by Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
. Buchanan was later the first Englishwoman admitted to the training school of the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
.
She made seventeen films in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where she was noted for her blonde hair and called "the girl with the largest eyes and the smallest waist in Hollywood." She accepted the proposal of her husband, a merchant sailor named Noll Charlton, while attending a coronation ball for King George VI and retired from film thereafter.
Shortly before her death saw Gosford Park
Gosford Park
Gosford Park is a 2001 British-American mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon...
, in which one of the characters, a Hollywood producer, discusses casting for Charlie Chan in London, inviting a blonde maid to audition for the part that she actually played in that movie.
Filmography
- Riptide (1934)
- Charlie Chan in LondonCharlie Chan in LondonCharlie Chan in London is a 1934 American mystery film directed by Eugene Forde. The film stars Warner Oland as Charlie Chan, with Drue Leyton....
(1934) - The Little MinisterThe Little MinisterThe Little Minister is a 1934 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace. The screenplay by Jane Murfin, Sarah Y. Mason, and Victor Heerman is based on the 1891 novel and subsequent 1897 play of the same title by J. M. Barrie. It was the fifth feature film adaptation of the works, following...
(1934) - The Mystery of Edwin DroodThe Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935 film)The Mystery of Edwin Drood was the third film adaptation and first sound film version of Charles Dickens's unfinished novel of the same name. It starred Claude Rains in the role of the villainous John Jasper...
(1935) - Here's to Romance (1935)
- Peter IbbetsonPeter IbbetsonPeter Ibbetson is an American black-and-white drama film released in 1935 and directed by Henry Hathaway.The picture is based on a novel by George du Maurier, first published in 1891. In 1917, du Maurier's story was adapted into a very successful Broadway play starring John Barrymore, Lionel...
(1935) - I Found Stella ParishI Found Stella ParishI Found Stella Parish is a 1935 melodrama starring Kay Francis as a beloved actress whose dark secret is revealed to the world.-Plot:In London, Stella Parish has her greatest stage triumph in a play produced and directed by Stephen Norman . However, her happiness is short-lived. She finds a man...
(1935) - Sylvia ScarlettSylvia ScarlettSylvia Scarlett is a 1935 romantic comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, based on The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, a novel by Compton MacKenzie. Directed by George Cukor, it was notorious as one of the most famous unsuccessful movies of the 1930s...
(1935) - Little Lord FauntleroyLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1936 film)Little Lord Fauntleroy is a 1936 drama film based on the 1886 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The film stars Freddie Bartholomew, Dolores Costello, , and C. Aubrey Smith...
(1936) - Love on the RunLove on the Run (1936 film)Love on the Run is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film starring Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, and Clark Gable in a story about rival newspaper correspondents assigned to cover the marriage of a socialite. The screenplay by Gladys Hurlbut, John Lee Mahin and Manuel Seff was based upon the story by...
(1936) - Lloyd's of LondonLloyd's of London (film)Lloyd's of London is a 1936 American drama film directed by Henry King. It stars Tyrone Power, Madeleine Carroll, and Guy Standing. The supporting cast includes Freddie Bartholomew, George Sanders, Virginia Field, and C. Aubrey Smith. Loosely based on history, the film follows the dealings of a man...
(1936) - Ready, Willing, and AbleReady, Willing, and Able (film)Ready, Willing, and Able is a 1937 musical film starring Ruby Keeler and Ross Alexander. It also featured Lee Dixon, Allen Jenkins, Winifred Shaw, Louise Fazenda, and Carolyn Hughes. The director was Ray Enright....
(1937) - Call It a Day (1937)
- Song of the ForgeSong of the ForgeSong of the Forge is a 1937 British musical film directed by Henry Edwards and starring Stanley Holloway, Lawrence Grossmith and Eleanor Fayre...
(1937) - The Thirteenth Chair (1937)
- The Dark StairwayThe Dark StairwayThe Dark Stairway is a 1938 British crime film, directed by Arthur B. Woods and starring Hugh Williams, Chili Bouchier and Garry Marsh.The film was a quota quickie production, based on the 1931 novel From This Dark Stairway by Mignon G. Eberhart...
(1938) - Invisible Enemy (1938)