What is the name of the actress who played the Bride in Bride of Frankenstein?

The actress who played the Bride in Bride of Frankenstein is Elsa Lanchester. She performed a dual role in the 1935 Universal film, also appearing as Mary Shelley in its opening prologue.

Director James Whale chose Lanchester after considering actresses including Brigitte Helm and Phyllis Brooks. Her Bride is remembered for the towering, electrically streaked hairstyle created by makeup artist Jack Pierce, which became one of cinema’s defining horror images. Lanchester modeled the Bride’s distinctive hissing on swans and reportedly strained her throat while filming the sequence.

The Bride is not a speaking character in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. Victor Frankenstein begins creating a female companion for the Monster but destroys the unfinished body before bringing it to life. The film expands that idea into its central plot, with Henry Frankenstein pressured to construct a mate for Boris Karloff’s Monster. Valerie Hobson, Una O’Connor, and Mae Clarke are associated with other roles in the film, not the Bride.