Actress Elsa Raven, Back to the Future’s ‘Clocktower Lady,’ dies at 91

By World News On Nov 6, 2020

Jewish actress Elsa Raven, perhaps best known for her role as the ‘Clocktower Lady’ in the original Back to the Future movie, passed away this week on Monday at the age of 91, Variety reported.

She is survived by her sister-in-law Lynne Rabinowitz and her 15 nieces and nephews.

Raven’s career was filled with small but significant roles in a number of well known films and television series.

Prominent movie rolls include her role as Ida Strauss in Titanic. While many of her scenes were later cut, Celine Dion featured one of Raven’s cut scenes showing a couple in the stateroom while water poured in, in her music video for the film.

She also featured in the movie Amityville Horror as the realtor who sold the house.

Raven’s roles in prominent TV shows include a one-off appearance in a 1992 episode of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and a 1994 roll in Seinfield.

Most notable however, were long time rolls in the TV shows Amen and Wiseguy, in both of which she was a character in for many seasons in the late 80s and early 90s. In Wiseguy she played Vinnie Terranova’s mother Carlotta. In addition, she played Tugboat Tessie in General Hospital briefly in 1986.

Later in the 90s she played a recurring role in the famed TV show Days of Our Lives as Lucille until the year 1999, and in 2006 she played herself in the “Looking Back to the Future” documentary.

Her final role came when she played the character of Mrs. Harrison in Answers to Nothing in 2011.

The actress was born as Elsa Rabinowitz before taking the stage name ‘Elsa Raven’ when she began her successful career performing in New York City. It was there that she assisted Joseph Papp in bringing the Free Shakespeare Festival to Central Park, according to The Jewish Federation of Charleston South Carolina. She was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1929, the fourth child of Louis and Rosalie Rabinowitz, the Federation reported.Her first on-screen performance was in the 1970s, when she played a matron in The Honeymoon Killers.