{{Short description|English actress (1908–2004)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use British English|date=February 2015}} {{Infobox person | name = Elsa Buchanan | image = Elsa Buchanan in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936).jpg | imagesize = | caption = Buchanan in ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (1936) | birth_name = Elsie Winifred Buchanan Tinker | birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|12|22|df=y}} | birth_place = London, England, UK | death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|1|17|1908|12|22|df=y}} | death_place = Childswickham, Worcestershire, UK | other_names = | website = | years_active = 1912–1938 | occupation = Actress | spouse = Noll Charlton (1938–1966) (his death) }}
'''Elsa Buchanan''' (22 December 1908 – 17 January 2004) was an English character actress with a brief career in theatre and film.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elsa Buchanan |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1456682/Elsa-Buchanan.html |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref>
Born Elsie Winifred Buchanan Tinker, Buchanan made her stage debut at age three at the Palace Theatre, London at a performance attended by Queen Mary. Buchanan was later the first Briton admitted to the training school of the Académie Française.
She made seventeen films in the United States, where she was noted for her blonde hair and called "the girl with the largest eyes and the smallest waist in Hollywood." She accepted the proposal of her husband, a merchant sailor named Noll Charlton, while attending a coronation ball for King George VI and retired from film thereafter.
Shortly before her death, she saw ''Gosford Park'', in which one of the characters, a Hollywood producer, discusses casting for ''Charlie Chan in London'', inviting a blonde maid to audition for the part that she actually played in that film.
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1934|| ''Riptide'' || Daphne || Uncredited |- |1934|| ''Charlie Chan in London'' || Alice Rooney || |- |1934|| ''The Little Minister'' || Villager || Uncredited |- |1935|| ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' || Mrs. Tisher || |- |1935|| ''Here's to Romance'' || Enid || |- |1935|| ''Peter Ibbetson'' || Madame Pasquier || |- |1935|| ''I Found Stella Parish'' || Stella's Maid || Uncredited |- |1935|| ''A Tale of Two Cities'' || Candy Clerk || Uncredited |- |1935|| ''Sylvia Scarlett'' || Minor Role || Uncredited |- |1936|| ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' || Susan || |- |1936|| ''Love on the Run'' || English Department Store Girl || Uncredited |- |1936|| ''Lloyd's of London'' || Servant Girl || |- |1937|| ''Ready, Willing and Able'' || Maid at Party || Uncredited |- |1937|| ''Call It a Day'' || Vera, the Maid || Uncredited |- |1937|| ''Song of the Forge'' || || Uncredited |- |1937|| ''The Thirteenth Chair'' || Miss Stanby || |- |1937|| ''The Dark Stairway'' || || Uncredited |- |1938|| ''Invisible Enemy'' || Sophia || (final film role) |}
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} {{Portal|Biography}} *{{IMDb name|0118003}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, Elsa}} Category:English film actresses Category:English people of Scottish descent Category:Actresses from London Category:English expatriate actresses in the United States Category:1908 births Category:2004 deaths Category:English child actresses Category:English stage actresses Category:Actresses from Worcestershire