Elsie Randolph: Bright Young Thing

December 9 was the birthday of English actress and comedian Elsie Randolph (1904-1982).

Wasn’t it lucky that just a couple of nights ago I was re-watching the early Alfred Hitchcock film Rich and Strange (1931) and was reminded of Randolph’s hilarious performance as an annoying Old Maid. It’s well worth watching; this bespectacled character is the prototype of many such Hitch would stick in his movies over the years for comic relief. (Truth to tell, the real prototype was probably his wife Alma. But let us just say this was early onscreen iteration). Rich and Strange was Randolph’s first big screen role. Her last was in Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy (1972)! Thus you can say that Hitchcock pictures surround Randolph’s screen career like bookends.

Randolph was a great character comedienne, with enormous range, able to look fetching and attractive if a part called for it (see above), and also otherwise when the opposite was the case. Here she is in Rich and Strange:

London native Randolph was only 15 when she made her West End debut. She was a stage star for a quarter century, often paired with Jack Buchanan in musicals both in theatre and films with titles like That’s a Good Girl and This’ll Make You Whistle.

In 1946 she married a stockbroker named Leopold Vernon Page and largely retired from show business until his death in 1959. Whereupon she became a frequent sight on British television. Shortly before her death she guest starred on the tv show Funny Man (1981) which was set in an English music hall. Her professional career lasted for over 60 years.

For more on variety history,including vaudeville and music hall,please see my book No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous;