Her seven-minute, dialogue-free appearance alongside Boris Karloff as the Bride was legendary – she deserved to have her legacy remembered.
She was, after all, basically the only female star of the Universal Horror cast, he says.
“Many people also forget that she played Mary Shelley, who tells her frightening tale of man trying to play God to poets Shelley and Byron, at the beginning of the film,” Mr Michaels says.
Interest in Lanchester had been sparked earlier in the year when Universal Studios released merchandise and special editions of Bride of Frankenstein to celebrate the film’s 90th anniversary. In July, a blue plaque was unveiled at Lanchester’s childhood home in Battersea, London, that also noted her mother Edith, who was a socialist, feminist, and suffragette.
It was a surprise when Mr Michaels discovered that Lanchester’s agent, Herschel Green, had interred her at Valhalla Memorial Park, in North Hollywood – and that her ashes had not been scattered as had been widely believed.
“Maybe she didn’t really care much about what happened after she was gone,” he suggests.
In less than 36 hours, Mr Michaels had crowdfunded enough for a formal wall marker to recognise this horror legend. The unveiling ceremony will be held on 28 October – her birthday.
“I wanted to celebrate on her 123rd birthday,” Michaels says, “and honestly I forgot that it was just a few days before Halloween.”
James Bartlett is a culture/travel journalist and true crime author living in Los Angeles
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.bbc.co.uk ’
