For many years, it was widely believed that the actress famous for Bride of Frankenstein had been incinerated and her remains scattered in the ocean following her passing in 1986.
However Scott Michaels, creator of Dearly Departed Tours, made a surprising discovery: her ashes were actually interred in a rose garden under her legal name, Elsa Lanchester Laughton.
"For nearly four decades no one had made the connection – until now," he states.
An Interest for Hollywood's Dark Side
The historian, sixty-three, specializes in the dark side of Hollywood. He provided expertise for films including the director's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Deeply passionate about unsung Hollywood, he organizes fundraisers for marginalized or iconic performers, including the actor known as Pinhead and Ken Weatherwax.
It was this interest that inspired Mr Michaels to look into what happened to Lanchester's remains.
The Life of a Hollywood Legend
Born on October 28, 1902 in Lewisham, London, she was a young performer in theatre and musical shows, and even made records of ancient Victorian songs.
When she was 25 she met and married fellow actor her husband, and appeared with him in The Private Life of Henry VIII, for which Laughton won the Best Actor Oscar.
He played the title role in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the pair worked on twelve films together, including a courtroom drama in 1957, for which they were both nominated for Academy Awards.
Lanchester had been previously nominated in 1949 for a drama, and after Laughton's death she continued to work regularly, including a number of Disney films such as a musical and That Darn Cat!.
Memories from Fellow Actors
Bruce Davison, who played Willard alongside Lanchester as his controlling mother Henreitta, recalls warmly of their collaboration.
She told me: 'When a director gives you nonsense? What you do is say 'Oooh, that's very interesting, let me do that.' Then perform exactly as you please!' he laughs.
He also remembered an incident that would tantalise genre enthusiasts now.
"I used to take a home movie camera to set, and one time I recorded her at the top of the stairs when she recreated her Bride role," he added. "She was glad for the iconic part," she understood its impact on her career.
The Puzzle of Where She Was Buried
Although the 1935 film – in which her hair was stretched up over a wire beehive contraption – did indeed earn her a place in film history, the question of what happened to her remains posthumously was less well recorded.
She wrote in her memoirs that she disliked the site of her husband's burial plot in Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills cemetery – Laughton died in 1962. She wrote she would prefer to be cremated with no ceremony, which is a reason it was believed for years that her remains were dispersed.
The Expert's Early Interest with Death
A fascination with mortality started young for Mr Michaels, who was born and grew up in Detroit.
He remembers observing the funeral canopy at a relative's burial and asking his mom "are we going to the circus? He was three years old.
More than that, the family home was on one of the riskiest crossroads in the city. A young Mr Michaels witnessed so many collisions that it almost became business as usual, and the catalyst for an unique profession honoring those who have passed away.
Upon discovering of Lanchester's interment, during his ongoing investigations into historic death certificates, he decided she would be his latest tribute effort.
An Impact Worth Remembering
Her seven-minute, wordless appearance with the horror icon as the Bride of Frankenstein was legendary – she deserved to have her legacy remembered.
After all, she was essentially the sole leading lady of the Universal Horror cast.
"Many people also forget that she played the author at the start of the film," he notes.
Interest in Lanchester had been ignited earlier in the year when Universal Studios issued products and collector's versions of the classic to mark the film's nine-decade milestone.
The discovery was unexpected when Mr Michaels found that her representative had placed her ashes at a cemetery in North Hollywood – and that her ashes had remained interred as had been widely believed.
"Maybe she didn't really care about what occurred posthumously," he suggests.
A Fitting Tribute
Within a day and a half, he had crowdfunded sufficient money for a commemorative plaque to honor this cinema icon.
The unveiling ceremony will be conducted on October 28 – the anniversary of her birth.
"I wanted to celebrate on her 123rd birth anniversary," Michaels says, "and honestly I forgot that it was only days before Halloween."
