I have a unique take on the Universal Monster movies being a descendent of Uncle Carl and Junior Laemmle who produced these films at Universal almost a century ago. Each Universal Monster movie brings something unique to the table, and every time I watch, I find something in them. So often, though, we take only of the monsters in the Universal Monsters, or even all the male co-stars … but where’s the love for our Leading Ladies? I’m here to deliver!

Today, I will be ranking the top billed female across each of the classic Universal Monster movies. Chronologically, that is Mary Philbin in Phantom of the Opera, Helen Chandler in Dracula, Mae Clarke in Frankenstein, Zita Johann in The Mummy, Gloria Stuart in The Invisible Man, Elsa Lanchester in Bride of Frankenstein, Evelyn Ankers in The Wolf Man, and Julie Adams in Creature from the Black Lagoon.

I will be ranking on performance, as well as cultural impact, and plight behind the scenes…because many of these women had trouble behind the scenes of these movies. Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments - especially if you disagree, because who knows - you just might sway my opinion!

8. Helen Chandler, Dracula

It feels wrong to rank anything Dracula last place, but maybe this just speaks to the caliber of the other women on this list. Her character is very normal, kind of sweet, kind of giggly. Honestly, I think even given the choice, I might choose Mina’s friend, Lucy Weston, over Mina. A lot less screen time, but a little more edge.

Helen Chandler didn’t even want to be cast in Dracula as Mina; she found the subject matter kind of silly. She and David Manners had that in common. She’s beautiful, and she plays the role well, exactly as she was intended to, I believe, but there’s just not a lot of depth there. I appreciate that she’s a vital piece of the plot, but she doesn’t really have strength or agency, she’s mostly a tool for the men and all they have going on. I do love Mina’s metallic dress toward the end of the film though!

All of my gripes with Mina are a sign of the times, and not a problem with Helen Chandler herself, but it is what it is. I do feel especially bad because Helen Chandler had a very tragic life off -screen too, but I think I’m going to make it up to her by making a Helen Chandler video in 2024. So, look out for that because she deserves it.

7. Mae Clarke, Frankenstein

I am stressing about having Dracula and Frankenstein this low! I almost feel guilty, like I’m doing something wrong. But Mae Clarke’s Elizabeth, is very similar to Mina in a lot of ways. She plays a supporting role in a very male-driven story. They both have some good screen time, they both have some great moments, but both characters lack depth. Elizabeth gets the slight edge from me, because she’s just a little more headstrong. Mae Clarke wasn’t the first choice to play Elizabeth. There was a time where Bette Davis might have played the role, but James Whale wasn’t a fan.

Behind the scenes, Mae Clarke was genuinely afraid of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein. The two of them had to work together to plan how she could make it through her scenes without falling into hysterics. Boris Karloff suggested she look at only his little finger which he would wiggle to signal to her that it was just him inside the costume, and it worked.

Unfortunately, Mae Clarke was not hired back on for the Bride of Frankenstein a few years later. And after she had some health issues, and her contract at Universal wasn’t renewed either, and I know that this was heartbreaking for her. Just like Helen Chandler, Mae Clarke had some rather tragic years, and just like Helen Chandler she deserves to have a video honoring her. So, looks like I’ve got a lot coming up in 2024.

6. Evelyn Ankers, Wolf Man

Evelyn Ankers is beautiful, there’s no doubt, and I love that in The Wolf Man her character is a little bit sassy. If you haven’t figured it out yet, personality will get you everywhere on this list. Evelyn gains some major bonus points from me because she did not have it easy behind-the-scenes. And while something like that might take a film’s ranking down, it will only add to the actresses, for having to endure so much while they worked.

First, a few days before filming started, Lon Chaney Jr. got drunk and vandalized studio property. So as punishment, Evelyn Ankers was given his dressing room, and he was not happy about it. He would often sneak up behind her and try to scare her as revenge on set. There was also a scene with a bear in it, and the bear escaped its cage and tried to attack Evelyn Ankers! To add salt to the wound, the scene ended up cut from the movie.

And finally, while filming a scene where she was supposed to faint, she actually did faint from fog fumes around her, and nobody noticed until the end of the night when they were breaking down set. Yikes! You may remember that the Wolf Man took my last place spot in my Universal Monster ranking, well Evelyn Ankers, is two spots higher at number six.

Gloria Stuart as Flora Cawley in Invisible Man (1933).

5. Gloria Stuart, Invisible Man

Gloria Stuart plays Flora Crawley in The Invisible Man, and this was her third movie with James Whale, after The Old Dark House and The Kiss Before the Mirror. Gosh, if I said there were similarities between Helen Chandler and Mae Clarke’s roles, there are really similarities between Mae Clarke’s and Gloria Stuart’s. In her first scene, Flora Crawley is fretting about her leading man who is asking her to leave him alone while he’s working hard on his science experiments.…just like Elizabeth in Frankenstein. Flora is continually concerned about Jack Griffin, and much of her role is either worrying about him or pining over him.

Like Mae Clarke, Gloria Stuart brought more strength and personality to the table than Helen Chandler. I’m afraid it’s going to start sounding like I don’t like Helen Chandler, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. I just think that in this list of Monster women, she’s kind of the weakest. But that’s mostly because of her character, and I think that Gloria Stuart brought more to the table.

Behind the scenes, Gloria Stuart thought that Claude Rains was kind of difficult to work with. He was an actor’s actor, and not so much fun. He had a habit of trying to upstage Gloria, forcing her back to the camera instead of her face. Gloria was strong willed though, and she wasn’t just going to take it. The first time he did it while they were rolling, she stopped the scene and called him out on it. Then when he tried to do it again, now James Whale was on her side, and he stopped the scene and fixed it.

Gloria Stuart and my Aunt Carla Laemmle became friends over the years, and I got to see the two of them from time to time at events and conventions. She gets bonus points for that! But it won’t take her to the top, just to number five.

Julie Adams is the perfect fit in Creature of the Black Lagoon.

4. Julie Adams, Creature from the Black Lagoon

Julie Adams, billed in the movie as Julia Adams, wasn’t too excited to be cast as Kay Lawrence in Creature from the Black Lagoon. She kind of thought she was above a monster movie. But she didn’t want to make the studio upset by turning down the role. She decided to accept and make the most of it. I am so glad that she did. She is perfect in this role. She is so charismatic. And her looks and her fashion is on point. I think every summer about recreating all of her looks from the movie because I love them so much.

I love that in Creature, Julie Adam’s character is a scientist, and her intelligence or her right to be there is never really questioned. It doesn’t mean that she’s the feminist dream though. When things really start going, she kind of does a lot of screaming and falling, and one of her big storylines is just falling in love.

Unlike many of the other women on this list, Julie Adams had a good experience behind the scenes of Creature. The one exception to this is an injury that got quite a bit of press. The Creature on land was played by Ben Chapman. In costume, he wore a mask with very narrow slits that were difficult to see out of. In one scene he carries Julie Adams through a cave, and he accidentally hit her head against the wall. A photographer happened to be there that day taking PR shots, so they caught the aftermath and the story gained quite a bit of notoriety - though Julie Adams claims it wasn’t nearly as bad as everyone made it sound.

My family didn’t make Creature from the Black Lagoon, which you know, makes it a little less exciting for me, but I love the movie, and I think Julie Adams as Kay Lawrence is perfect. She plays it with such charisma. So, she comes in at number four.

3. Mary Philbin, Phantom of the Opera

Mary Philbin was such a sweet girl. She was quiet and naive and shy. One of her first, and closest friends, was my Aunt Carla - the two of them knew each other as they grew up in Chicago. Aunt Carla and her dad Joseph were even a big part of Mary coming out to Hollywood.

In 1925, both Mary and my Aunt Carla were cast in Phantom of the Opera. Aunt Carla as the prima ballerina and Mary as Christine, opposite Lon Chaney. Now I’ll be transparent, Mary Philbin has never been known for her dazzling acting chops, but I think she does a fine job in this movie. Though Mary would later recall her time in Phantom of the Opera rather fondly, she didn’t have it easy behind the scenes. Director Rupert Julian was rather obsessed with her and always adjusting her costume inappropriately. It got so bad that his wife had to step in and take over Mary’s costuming. Norman Kerry would touch Mary inappropriately as well. There’s an even an instance of him doing it on camera. While he’s hugging her, he slowly moves his hand down her waist, and she has to take her own hand and physically remove his.

Lon Chaney also found himself getting frustrated with Mary’s acting at times, and he would yell at her until she cried so he could get the right shot. And then he would immediately apologize after but I’m not really sure if that makes it any better.

Mary Philbin’s role is sizable, and there really isn’t a movie without her. I commend her bravery unmasking the Phantom in the famous scene. In addition to all the hardships she faced behind the scenes, Mary Philbin ranks so highly for playing a pivotal part in one of the most iconic scenes in one of the most iconic movies in horror history. She will forever be a part of history for revealing the Phantom’s face. For that, Mary Philbin comes in at number three.

2. Zita Johann, The Mummy

I didn't know the order of this list before I started making this list. I kind of laid out all my thoughts and then figured out where everybody slotted in. If you would have asked me if I thought Zita Johann was going to be number two, I would have said “absolutely not”, but here we are. I love the faraway setting in The Mummy, and Zita Johann is gorgeous as Helen. I love that she gets to play this dual role as Helen, and also as Boris Karloff’s long lost love Ankh-es-en-amun. Zita Johann has such an interesting look, and she plays the role with such restraint that it really draws me in, it makes me want to know more.

Behind the scenes, Zita Johann had a terrible time. So, major bonus points. She and director Karl Freund did not get along at all, and the set was wrought with tension. Freund was under a lot of pressure directing his first movie, and with a shooting schedule of just 23 days. Zita Johann felt like she was the scapegoat, and that he was just looking for any way to give her trouble so that he could point to her as the problem. At one point, he told her that she would have to appear naked from the waist up. To her credit, she told him that if he thought he could get it past the censors, she would be okay with it. And she never really heard about it again.

He also refused to get her a chair with her name on it, he would make her stand for hours on end against a board on a wall saying he that didn’t want her to wrinkle her dress, and he left her unprotected amongst real lions for a now-deleted scene, as he and the rest of the crew were protected inside cages. She worked demanding hours, even sharing of one Saturday night at 11pm when she passed out cold for an hour. It was too late to get a doctor, so in her words, the crew “prayed her back to consciousness.” Despite all her trouble, she still gave a great performance.

Zita Johann only spent a few years in Hollywood, and I have to imagine that experiences like the Mummy led to a certain disillusionment with the industry. But because she endured so much behind the scenes, because she gave such a good performance, and because she managed to give Karl Freund a little hell in the process, Zita Johann in The Mummy comes in at number two.

1. Elsa Lanchester, Bride of Frankenstein

I’m almost mad at myself for making this number one. If you have asked me I would have said it wasn’t. I would have said this was an obvious choice. I do love Elsa Lanchester. I highly recommend you read her autobiography, Elsa Lanchester, Herself. I do love Bride of Frankenstein, but I did not think she was going to be number one. Of course Elsa Lanchester as the Bride has the best look of everyone on the list, and she’s the face you’ll remember. There’s no movie without her, and arguably, Bride of Frankenstein is the better movie when comparing it to Frankenstein.

Elsa Lanchester was inspired by a swan’s hiss for her very own in the film, which I think is the most brilliant idea, and of course she’s the only woman on this list who plays an actual monster, not just a woman in love or a woman who’s scared. What’s a shame, is that she’s only on screen for like 5 minutes, and she doesn’t even have any sequels, and the Bride is not in any other movies.

And just so you don’t think I forgot, Elsa Lanchester also played Mary Shelley in Bride of Frankenstein. This scene is so often forgotten, but I love it. I always find myself laughing with it. I think James Whale infused a lot of his humor in this scene, and Elsa Lanchester plays Mary Shelley with such a twinkle in her eye - setting us up for all the trouble and fun we’re about to see. Elsa Lanchester described Mary Shelley as this beautiful, delicate young woman, but she and James Whale believed inside every pretty woman was the devil. What nuance to bring to The Bride of Frankenstein. I love it.

There was a time when I did not think that Bride of Frankenstein was going to be number one. But the more I think about it, the more I talk about it, the more excited I get. There’s nowhere else that Elsa Lanchester as The Bride of Frankenstein and Mary Shelly deserve to be on this list but number one. Let me know your ranking in the comments.

Additional Recommended Reading: Women In Horror Films, 1930s - Gregory William Mank

Ranking the Universal Monster WOMEN!

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