Bonus! Prince Charming's affair with the Bride of Frankenstein's bisexual husband
Added 2025-10-12 16:00:11 +0000 UTCSome very fun gossip in this week's bonus video: Back in the 1940s, the actor who voiced Disney's Prince Charming had a not-very-secret affair with the actor married to The Bride of Frankenstein. Bill Phipps was the man behind Cinderella's Prince Charming, and he met a fellow actor named Charles Laughton backstage at an Actor's Lab performance. Charles was married to actress Elsa Lanchester at the time (who, in addition to being the Bride, was also Katie Nanna in Mary Poppins... and the Bearded Lady in Three Ring Circus) but this wasn't the first time Charles had fallen head over heels for a gentleman, so by that point Elsa was at least accustomed to it.
That story, plus the tale of their transatlantic dirty book, and the fate of an unfortunate sofa, in this week's bonus video!
Backup link to the video: https://youtu.be/2rKXhpqvKNQ
Comments
Not me snarfing imaginary popcorn over old, spicy celebrity gossip! THANK YOU for all these delightful extra videos!
BekiLybi
2025-10-31 16:40:08 +0000 UTCLaughton is definitely on my list to research more! I don't have any video plans for him, but might do some more bonus videos depending on what I find. The story of his doomed production of I Claudius is especially intriguing.
Matt Baume
2025-10-27 21:12:23 +0000 UTCDo I hear clamoring for a Charles Laughton essay? Let me ring the bell a little louder. I find him to be a very intriguing and under-lauded character (especially when you realize he created the film Night of the Hunter (1955)) ; I love being shocked to find he was married. I probably first noticed him in Spartacus (Kubrick, 1960). I guessed I had seen him years before when I was going through a Humphrey Bogart phase and stumbled across a movie called, We’re no Angels (Michael Curtiz,1955), where I was so annoyed by this scene-stealing man who was audaciously portraying, it seemed to me, a gay angel. I kept asking myself who the heck is this guy- but I was, through memory, mistaking Laughton with Peter Ustinov. Regardless, next thing you know, I’m on an entire Charles Laughton kick, watching as much as I can, and just blown away by his range, humor, lack of compunction, and skill. One film in particular stands out, White Woman (Stuart Walker, 1933) where his performance as an evil plantation owner, left my jaw on the floor. Witness For the Prosecution ( Wilder, 1957) is also high on my list, just because his character is entirely nothing like I would expect from him. Today I’m circling back to this post because last night I was watching The Old Curiosity Shop (Kevin Connor, 1995). I was certainly the old man I was seeing in the lead role was Charles Laughton , but I looked it up and I had again, nearly 50 years between performances, mistaken Peter Ustinov for Charles Laughton. I’m certain, they both being in Spartacus, and both being writers, and having an uncanny resemblance in their performance styles, that they must have been, at least friends, but unless someone looks into it, it’s just a feeling I have.
That Lana Lady
2025-10-26 20:11:07 +0000 UTCA new biography of eccentric US art collector Albert C. Barnes talks about the Barneses' friendship with Laughton. Barnes, who was completely bonkers yet a visionary civil rights activist, associated with several queer men, such as openly gay artist Charles Demuth. Laughton had a guest room permanently reserved at Barnes's summer home. It seems Laughton's room was indicated by an antique cookie cutter in the shape of a fat man.
SG
2025-10-16 21:05:29 +0000 UTCI know at one time they had a house on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County. I guess that was as close to the English Coast as you could be near Hollywood. It was also fairly remote and away from prying eyes when guests would come. I guess they kept bee hives there...https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/movie-couple-charles-laughton-and-elsa-lanchester-in-their-news-photo/3064110?adppopup=true
Jim
2025-10-13 14:42:58 +0000 UTCI remember Elsa being on the Dick Cavett show one time and Cavett asked her about Laughton being homosexual. Elsa said that he might have visitors in the evening. I can't find the clip though. I found this one and she's pretty funny. https://www.austinfilm.org/2016/10/watch-this-bride-of-frankenstein-elsa-lanchester-inside-you-pretty-girls-is-the-devil/
Jim
2025-10-13 14:37:49 +0000 UTCThe story of the dirty book pages reminded me of a saying I heard years ago, "And if that's not true, then it should be."
Chris Weakley
2025-10-13 00:38:15 +0000 UTCOh I've only ever heard it said as "chester" in interviews with her!
Matt Baume
2025-10-12 17:22:23 +0000 UTCHer name was pronounced Lancaster
Scott Sheidlower
2025-10-12 16:57:35 +0000 UTC
