Isobel Elsom

• Birth name:

  Isobel Jeannette Reed

• Date of Birth:

  12 January 1893 Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

• Height:

  5' 4" (1.63 m)

The epitome of opulent, grande dame haughtiness, British character actress Isobel Elsom 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. In the late 30s she settled in America and earned major Broadway success with the play "Ladies in Retirement," which she also took to film in 1941. What the tiny-framed Elsom lacked in stature, she certainly made up for in pure chutzpah. The matronly... more

The epitome of opulent, grande dame haughtiness, British character actress Isobel Elsom 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. In the late 30s she settled in America and earned major Broadway success with the play "Ladies in Retirement," which she also took to film in 1941. 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 bluebloods in both comedies and drama for over two decades, often as a minor Margaret Dumont-like foil to Jerry Lewis in his solo pictures of the late 50s and early 60s. She sometimes was billed under the last name of a second husband, appearing as Isobel Harbold.