Isobel Elsom appeared as the leading lady for the Elitch season of 1928. At Elitch, she appeared in the role she created in the play The Outsider earlier that year on Broadway. A reviewer of the play wrote:
If there is anybody in this man’s town who doubts that Isobel Elsom, leading woman at the Elitch Gardens Theatre, is an actress of the highest rank, let that doubting Thomas see her work in The Outsider … She not only is scoring a brilliant personal triumph, but is demonstrating to local playgoers exactly why she was one of the most popular actresses London ever knew!
In 1929, Miss Elsom was signed for a second summer at Elitch, again as the leading lady.
[Borrillo, Theodore A., (2012). Denver’s historic Elitch Theatre : a nostalgic journey (a history of its times). pp. 155.]
New York Times Obituary:
Isobel Elsom Harbord, a British-born actress who as Isobel Elsom appeared in supporting roles in dozens of Broadway plays and Hollywood films in a 50-year career, died of heart failure Monday at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif. She was 87 years old.
Miss Elsom portrayed elegant society women in addition to a wide range of other roles. She made her stage debut in the chorus of a London production of ”The Quaker Girl” in 1911 and her Broadway debut in ”The Ghost Train” in 1926. The next year she appeared with Claudette Colbert on Broadway in ”The Mulberry Bush.” Her best-known Broadway role was as the actress for whom Flora Robson kept house in ”Ladies in Retirement.” Miss Elsom repeated the role in the movie with Ida Lupino.
Her other Hollywood films included ”Monsieur Verdoux,” with Charlie Chaplin; ”My Fair Lady,” with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn; ”The Philadelphians,” with Paul Newman; ”The Miracle,” with Kim Stanley, and ”Love Is a Many Splendored Thing,” with William Holden and Jennifer Jones.
Miss Elsom was married to the actor Carl Harbord in 1947. He died in 1958.
[New York Times: this article appears in print on Jan. 16, 1981, Section D, Page 17]
Seasons at the Theatre
Elitch Theatre Productions/Roles:
Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:
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