Elsie Wagstaff (1 July 1899 – 16 July 1985) was an English actress. Educated at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

, her stage work began in the chorus in 1919, and one of her first leading roles was as Sadie Thompson in an adaptation of

Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

's ''

Rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

''. In 1928, she appeared on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

John Van Druten John William Van Druten (1 June 190119 December 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observation ...

's ''Diversion'', and in

Arnold Ridley William Arnold Ridley, OBE (7 January 1896 – 12 March 1984) was an English playwright and actor, earlier in his career known for writing the play '' The Ghost Train'' and later in life in the British TV sitcom ''Dad's Army'' (1968–1977) as ...

and Bernard Merivale's '' The Wrecker''. She also worked sporadically in films, and with some regularity on television.

Selected filmography

* ''

Cotton Queen ''Cotton Queen'', also known as ''Crying Out Loud'', is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Bernard Vorhaus, and starring Stanley Holloway, Will Fyffe, and Mary Lawson. Production The film was directed by Vorhaus at Elstree Studios for th ...

'' (1937) as Emily (uncredited) * '' John Halifax'' (1938) as Jael * ''

Lassie from Lancashire ''Lassie from Lancashire'' is a 1938 British romantic musical comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Marjorie Browne, Hal Thompson and Marjorie Sandford. It was made by British National Films at Welwyn Studios. The film's a ...

'' (1938) as Aunt Hetty * '' Trouble Brewing'' (1939) as Mrs. Hopkins * ''

Crimes at the Dark House ''Crimes at the Dark House'' (originally titled ''The Woman in White'') is a (1940) British film directed by George King starring Tod Slaughter, Sylvia Marriott and Hilary Eaves. It is loosely based on the 1860 novel '' The Woman in White'' by ...

'' (1940) as Mrs. Catherick * '' The Dark Tower'' (1943) as Eve * ''

Headline The headline or heading is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents. The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th centur ...

'' (1944) as Mrs Daly * '' Welcome, Mr. Washington'' (1944) as Miss Jones * ''

Meet Sexton Blake ''Meet Sexton Blake!'' is a 1945 British supporting feature drama film directed by John Harlow and starring David Farrar, Manning Whiley, Dennis Arundell, and John Varley. It was one of two films in which David Farrar played Sexton Blake, th ...

'' (1945) as Mrs. Baird * ''

Old Mother Riley at Home ''Old Mother Riley at Home'' is a 1945 British comedy film directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Arthur Lucan, Kitty McShane and Freddie Forbes. It is the 11th film in the long-running Old Mother Riley series. Plot summary Mother Riley's daugh ...

'' (1945) as Mrs. Ginochie * ''

Appointment with Crime ''Appointment with Crime'' is a 1946 British crime film directed by John Harlow and starring William Hartnell, Raymond Lovell, Joyce Howard and Robert Beatty. Plot Leo Martin (Hartnell) works for a criminal gang run by Gus Loman (Lovell) tha ...

'' (1946) as Mrs. Wilkins * ''

The Interrupted Journey ''The Interrupted Journey'' is a 1949 British thriller film directed by Daniel Birt and starring Valerie Hobson, Richard Todd, Christine Norden and Tom Walls. The railways scenes were shot at Longmoor in Hampshire. The film includes a train c ...

'' (1949) as Wilding's Maid * '' Celia'' (1949) as Aunt Nora * ''

Eight O'Clock Walk ''Eight O'Clock Walk'' is a 1954 British drama film directed by Lance Comfort and starring Richard Attenborough, Cathy O'Donnell, Derek Farr and Maurice Denham. Its plot involves a taxi driver who is tried for the murder of a young girl on a bo ...

'' (1954) as Mrs Peskitt * ''

The End of the Affair ''The End of the Affair'' is a 1951 novel by British author Graham Greene, as well as the title of two feature films (released in 1955 and 1999) that were adapted from the novel. Set in London during and just after the Second World War, the n ...

'' (1955) as Bendrix Landlady * ''

You Pay Your Money ''You Pay Your Money'' is a 1957 British crime drama film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Hugh McDermott (actor), Hugh McDermott, Jane Hylton and Honor Blackman. The thriller was one of the Butcher's Film Service's 1950s B movies, B film ...

'' (1957) as Ada Seymour * '' Barnacle Bill'' (1957) as Mrs Gray * ''

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' is the first novel by British author Alan Sillitoe and won the Author's Club First Novel Award. It was adapted by Sillitoe into a 1960 film starring Albert Finney, directed by Karel Reisz, and in 1964 was ...

'' (1960) as Mrs Seaton * ''

The Snake Woman ''The Snake Woman'' (a.k.a. ''The Terror of the Snake Woman'') is a low budget black-and-white 1961 British horror film produced by George Fowler and directed by Sidney J. Furie. It stars Susan Travers and John McCarthy. The film was shown o ...

'' (1961) as Aggie Harker * '' Whistle Down the Wind'' (1961) as Auntie Dorothy *'' Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow'' (1963) as Mrs. Ransley * ''

Heavens Above! ''Heavens Above!'' is a 1963 British satirical comedy film starring Peter Sellers, directed by John and Roy Boulting, who also co-wrote along with Frank Harvey, from an idea by Malcolm Muggeridge. It is in a similar vein to the earlier collab ...

'' (1963) as Lady on Parish Church Council * ''

Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell ''Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell'' is a 1974 British horror film, directed by Terence Fisher and produced by Hammer Film Productions. It stars Peter Cushing, Shane Briant and David Prowse. Filmed at Elstree Studios in 1972 but not releas ...

'' (1974) as Wild one

References

External links

* * 1899 births 1985 deaths Actresses from London British stage actresses British film actresses British television actresses 20th-century British actresses Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama 20th-century English women 20th-century English people {{UK-film-actor-stub