Isobel Elsom
Encyclopedia
Isobel Elsom was an English
screen
, stage
, and television
actress.
, England
, Elsom usually was cast as an aristocratic lady of the upper class. Over the course of three decades she appeared in 17 Broadway
productions, beginning with The Ghost Train in 1926. Her best-known stage role was the wealthy murder victim in Ladies in Retirement
(1939), a role she repeated in the 1941 film version. Her other theatre credits included The Innocents
and Romeo and Juliet
.
Elsom made her first screen appearance during the silent film
era (she frequently co-starred with Owen Nares
) and appeared in nearly 100 films throughout her career.
She met her first husband, director Maurice Elvey
, when he cast her in his 1919 film Quinneys. He went on to direct her in eight more films before they divorced. Elsom's other screen credits included The White Cliffs of Dover
(1944), The Unseen
(1945), Of Human Bondage
(1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
, Monsieur Verdoux
, The Paradine Case
, and The Two Mrs. Carrolls
(all 1947), The Secret Garden
(1949), Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
(1955), Lust for Life
and 23 Paces to Baker Street
(both 1956), and The Pleasure Seekers
and My Fair Lady
(both 1964).
She appeared opposite Jerry Lewis
in four of his late 1950s/early 1960s films. Elsom's television credits included Armstrong Circle Theatre
, Hallmark Hall of Fame
, Lux Video Theatre
, Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(at least 4 appearances), Playhouse 90
, Hawaiian Eye
, and Dr. Kildare.
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
screen
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
actress.
Career
Born as Isobel Jeannette Reed in CambridgeCambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Elsom usually was cast as an aristocratic lady of the upper class. Over the course of three decades she appeared in 17 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
productions, beginning with The Ghost Train in 1926. Her best-known stage role was the wealthy murder victim in Ladies in Retirement
Ladies in Retirement
Ladies in Retirement is a 1941 film starring Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward. It is based on a 1940 Broadway play of the same title by Reginald Denham and Edward Percy which starred Flora Robson in the lead role....
(1939), a role she repeated in the 1941 film version. Her other theatre credits included The Innocents
The Innocents (play)
The Innocents is a 1976 play written by William Archiblad. The show opened at the Morosco Theatre on October 21, 1976 and closed on October 30, 1976 after 12 performances.-Setting:...
and Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
.
Elsom made her first screen appearance during the silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
era (she frequently co-starred with Owen Nares
Owen Nares
Owen Ramsay Nares had a long stage and film career and, for most of the 1920s, was Britain's favourite matinée idol and silent film star...
) and appeared in nearly 100 films throughout her career.
She met her first husband, director Maurice Elvey
Maurice Elvey
Maurice Elvey was the most prolific film director in British history. He directed nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. During the silent film era he directed as many as twenty films per year....
, when he cast her in his 1919 film Quinneys. He went on to direct her in eight more films before they divorced. Elsom's other screen credits included The White Cliffs of Dover
The White Cliffs of Dover (1944 film)
The White Cliffs of Dover is a 1944 film made by Loew's and MGM. It was directed by Clarence Brown and produced by Clarence Brown and Sidney Franklin. The screenplay was by Claudine West, Jan Lustig and George Froeschel, based on the Alice Duer Miller poem titled The White Cliffs with additional...
(1944), The Unseen
The Unseen (1945 film)
The Unseen is a 1945 film directed by Lewis Allen. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Recording , and is based on the novel Midnight House by Ethel Lina White. The film was Paramount's follow-up to the film The Uninvited .-Cast:...
(1945), Of Human Bondage
Of Human Bondage (1946 film)
Of Human Bondage is a 1946 American drama filmdirected by Edmund Goulding. The second screen adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's 1915 novel, the Warner Bros. release was written by Catherine Turney...
(1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir romantic fantasy film starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. It is based on a 1945 novel written by Josephine Leslie under the pseudonym of R. A. Dick...
, Monsieur Verdoux
Monsieur Verdoux
Monsieur Verdoux is a 1947 black comedy film directed by and starring Charles Chaplin. The supporting cast includes Martha Raye, William Frawley, and Marilyn Nash.-Plot:...
, The Paradine Case
The Paradine Case
The Paradine Case is a 1947 American courtroom drama film, set in England, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick. The screenplay was written by Selznick and an uncredited Ben Hecht, from an adaptation by Alma Reville and James Bridie of the novel by Robert Smythe Hichens...
, and The Two Mrs. Carrolls
The Two Mrs. Carrolls
The Two Mrs. Carrolls is a 1947 film noir made by Warner Brothers. It was directed by Peter Godfrey and produced by Mark Hellinger, with Jack L. Warner as executive producer, from a screenplay by Thomas Job based on the play by Martin Vale...
(all 1947), The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden (1949 film)
The Secret Garden is a 1949 US drama film. It is the second screen adaptation of the classic 1909 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett . The screenplay by Robert Ardrey was directed by Fred M. Wilcox...
(1949), Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (film)
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing is a 1955 American drama-romance film. Set in 1949-50 Hong Kong, it tells the story of a married, but separated, American reporter , who falls in love with a Eurasian doctor originally from China , only to encounter prejudice from her family and from Hong Kong...
(1955), Lust for Life
Lust for Life (film)
Lust for Life is a MGM biographical film about the life of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, based on the 1934 novel by Irving Stone and adapted by Norman Corwin.It was directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by John Houseman...
and 23 Paces to Baker Street
23 Paces to Baker Street
23 Paces to Baker Street is a 1956 American drama film released by 20th Century Fox. The Hitchcockian mystery thriller, filmed in Cinemascope on location in London, focuses on Philip Hannon, a blind playwright who overhears a partial conversation he believes is related to the planning of a kidnapping...
(both 1956), and The Pleasure Seekers
The Pleasure Seekers
The Pleasure Seekers is a 1964 20th Century Fox motion picture starring Ann-Margret, Anthony Franciosa, and Carol Lynley, with Gardner McKay, Pamela Tiffin, Brian Keith, and Gene Tierney....
and My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady (film)
My Fair Lady is a 1964 musical film adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical, of the same name, based on the 1938 film adaptation of the original stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The ballroom scene and the ending were taken from the previous film adaptation , rather than from...
(both 1964).
She appeared opposite Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
in four of his late 1950s/early 1960s films. Elsom's television credits included Armstrong Circle Theatre
Armstrong Circle Theatre
Armstrong Circle Theatre is an American anthology drama television series which ran from 1950 to 1957 on NBC, and then until 1963 on CBS. It alternated weekly with The U.S. Steel Hour.-Synopsis:...
, Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
, Lux Video Theatre
Lux Video Theatre
Lux Video Theatre, is a weekly television anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays....
, Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
(at least 4 appearances), Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
, Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...
, and Dr. Kildare.
Family/death
Her second husband was actor Carl Harbord. She died in Woodland Hills, California, aged 87.National Portrait Gallery
Five portraits of Elsom are included in the Photographs Collection of the National Portrait Gallery in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Selected filmography
- Onward Christian SoldiersOnward Christian Soldiers (film)Onward Christian Soldiers is a 1918 British silent romance film directed by Rex Wilson and starring Isobel Elsom, Owen Nares and Minna Grey.-Cast:* Isobel Elsom - The Girl* Owen Nares - The Soldier* Minna Grey - The Sister* Tom Reynolds - The Man...
(1918) - A Member of Tattersall'sA Member of Tattersall'sA Member of Tattersall's is a 1919 British silent sports film directed by Albert Ward and starring Isobel Elsom, Malcolm Cherry and Campbell Gullan. It was based on a play by H.V. Browning.-Cast:* Isobel Elsom - Mary Wilmott...
(1919) - Mrs. ThompsonMrs. ThompsonMrs. Thompson is a 1919 British silent drama film directed by Rex Wilson and starring Minna Grey, C.M. Hallard and Isobel Elsom. It was released in the United States on 6 April 1923. It was adapted from a novel by William Babington Maxwell.-Cast:...
(1919) - The Last WitnessThe Last Witness (1925 film)The Last Witness is a 1925 British silent crime film directed by Fred Paul and starring Paul, Isobel Elsom, and Stella Arbenina. A barrister prosectues his own wife, who has recently had an affair with a Member of Parliament, for murder. It was based on a novel by F. Britten Austin.-Cast:* Fred...
(1925) - The Primrose PathThe Primrose Path (film)The Primrose Path is a 1934 British romance film directed by Reginald Denham and starring Isobel Elsom, Whitmore Humphries and Max Adrian. A doctor's wife has to choose between her settled life with her husband in a small town or a more turbulent relationship with a successful artist...
(1934) - Between Two Worlds (1944)
- My Fair LadyMy Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
(1964)