Isobel Elsom

Biography

The epitome of opulent, grande dame pomposity, British character actress Isobel Elsom was born Isabelle Reed in Cambridge, England on March 16, 1893. She began on the stage in 1911 and went on to grace a number of silent and sound pictures in England, marrying and divorcing director Maurice Elvey in the interim. Isobel made an elegant entry into British feature films as Lady Monkhurst in the drama Milestones (1916) and continued in leading roles with the silent films Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor (1918), Onward Christian Soldiers (1918), A Member of Tattersall's (1919), For Her Father's Sake (1921), Dick Turpin's Ride to York (1922), the title role in The Love Story of Aliette Brunton (1924), The Last Witness (1925) and Tragödie einer Ehe (1927). Her voice suitable for sound pictures, she continued her leading status with such early British talkies as The Other Woman (1931), Stranglehold (1931), The Crooked Lady (1932), The Thirteenth Candle (1933), and The Primrose Path (1934). In the late 1920s, she made a transatlantic visit to the American stage, taking her first Broadway curtain all in "The Ghost Train" in 1926. She continued on the New York stage with such plays as "The Mulberry Bush" (1927), "People Don't Do Such Things" (1927), "The Silver Box" (1928), "The Behavior of Mrs. Crane" (1928) and "The Outsider" (1928). Settling in America in the 1930s, Isobel achieved great character success in the role of retired actress Leonora Fiske in the play "Ladies in Retirement" (1940), which she also took to film (Ladies in Retirement (1941)) starring Ida Lupino). She would alternate between film and the Broadway stage for the next two decades. Broadway shows included "Hand in Glove" (1944), "The Innocents" (1950), "Romeo and Juliet" (as Lady Capulet) (1951), "The Climate in Eden" (1952), "The Burning Glass" (1954) and "The First Gentleman" (1957). What the tiny-framed Elsom lacked in stature, she certainly made up for in pure chutzpah. The matronly actress remained in Hollywood and played a number of huffy blue-bloods in both comedies and drama for over two decades, including The War Against Mrs. Hadley (1942), You Were Never Lovelier (1942), Between Two Worlds (1944), Of Human Bondage (1946), The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Ivy (1947), Smart Woman (1948), The Secret Garden (1949), Lust for Life (1956), The Miracle (1959) and The Second Time Around (1961). One standout blue-blooded role was as one of Charles Chaplin's intended victims in the black comedy Monsieur Verdoux (1947). In later years, Isobel served as a frequent foil to Jerry Lewis in a few of his solo pictures (Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958), The Bellboy (1960), The Errand Boy (1961), Who's Minding the Store? (1963)). She ended her film career playing Mrs. Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady (1964). Isabel remarried in 1942 and was the widow of actor Carl Harbord in 1958. The couple both met when they appeared in the film Eagle Squadron (1942). Isobel Elsom died at age 87 of heart failure at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California on January 12, 1981. She had no children.