
Charles Laughton
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Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was an English-American stage and film actor, director, producer and screenwriter. Laughton was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future wife Elsa Lanchester, with whom he lived and worked until his death. He played a wide range of classical and modern parts, making an impact in Shakespeare at the Old Vic. His film career took him to Broadway and then Hollywood, but he also collaborated with Alexander Korda on notable British films of the era, including The Private Life of Henry VIII, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the title character. He portrayed everything from monsters and misfits to kings. Among Laughton's biggest film hits were The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Mutiny on the Bounty, Ruggles of Red Gap, Jamaica Inn, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Big Clock. In his later career, he took up stage directing, notably in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, and George Bernard Shaw's Don Juan in Hell, in which he also starred. He directed one film, the thriller The Night of the Hunter. Daniel Day-Lewis cited Laughton as one of his inspirations, saying: "He was probably the greatest film actor who came from that period of time. He had something quite remarkable. His generosity as an actor, he fed himself into that work. As an actor, you cannot take your eyes off him."
Known for
Credits

Spartacus (1960)
as Sempronius Gracchus

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
as The Hunchback Quasimodo

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
as Sir Wilfrid

Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
as Marmaduke Ruggles

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
as Captaine Bligh

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
as (in "The Bribe") (archive footage)

The Old Dark House (1932)
as Sir William Porterhouse

O. Henry's Full House (1952)
as Soapy (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")

The Big Clock (1948)
as Earl Janoth

The Sign of the Cross (1932)
as Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar

Jamaica Inn (1939)
as Sir Humphrey Pengallan

Island of Lost Souls (1932)
as Dr. Moreau

If I Had a Million (1932)
as Phineas V. Lambert

The Paradine Case (1947)
as Judge Lord Thomas Horfield

Advise & Consent (1962)
as Senator Seabright Cooley

This Land Is Mine (1943)
as Albert Lory

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Hobson's Choice (1954)
as Henry Horatio Hobson

Captain Kidd (1945)
as Captain Kidd

On Our Merry Way (1948)
as Reverend

Young Bess (1953)
as King Henry VIII

The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
as Henry VIII

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991)
as actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited)

Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952)
as Capt. William Kidd

Arch of Triumph (1948)
as Ivon Haake

Forever and a Day (1943)
as Bellamy

St. Martin's Lane (1938)
as Charles Staggers

Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972)
as Self (archive footage)

They Knew What They Wanted (1940)
as Tony Patucci

The Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949)
as Inspector Jules Maigret

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)
as Self (archive footage)

Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man' (1999)
as Self (archive footage)

It Started with Eve (1941)
as Jonathan Reynolds

Tales of Manhattan (1942)
as Charles Smith

Charmed Lives: A Family Romance (2028)
as Self (archive footage)

1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year (2009)
as Self (archive footage)

Stand by for Action (1942)
as Rear Admiral Stephen Thomas

Salome (1953)
as King Herod

The Strange Door (1951)
as Sire Alain de Maletroit

Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers! (1982)
as Self (archive footage)

Les Misérables (1935)
as Inspector Emile Javert

Monster Madness: The Golden Age of the Horror Film (2014)
as Dr. Moreau (archive footage)

Devil and the Deep (1932)
as Cmdr. Charles Sturm

The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
as Edward Moulton-Barrett

Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies (1988)
as (archive footage) (uncredited)

Cavalcade of the Academy Awards (1940)
as Self

The Canterville Ghost (1944)
as Sir Simon de Canterville / The Ghost

The Suspect (1945)
as Philip Marshall

Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld (1994)
as Self (archive footage)

The Art Director (1949)
as Self - from 'The Big Clock' (archive footage) (uncredited)

The Man from Down Under (1943)
as Jocko Wilson

The Tonic (1928)
as Father of the Family

In the Presence of Mine Enemies (1960)
as Rabbi Adam Heller

The Horror Show (1979)
as (archive footage)

The Bribe (1949)
as J.J. Bealer

The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942)
as Jonas

The Epic That Never Was (1969)
as Tiberius Claudius (archive footage)

The Girl from Manhattan (1948)
as The Bishop

I, Claudius (1937)
as Claudius

The Blue Veil (1951)
as Fred K. Begley

Piccadilly (1929)
as A Continental Visitor

Under Ten Flags (1960)
as Admiral Russell

Vessel of Wrath (1938)
as Ginger Ted

Blue Bottles (1928)
as Burglar

Rembrandt (1936)
as Rembrandt van Rijn

Comets (1930)
as Himself

Payment Deferred (1932)
as William Marble

Because of Him (1946)
as John Sheridan

The Clerk (1933)
as Phineas V. Lambert

White Woman (1933)
as Horace H. Prin

Leben des Galilei (1947)
as Galileo Galilei

Daydreams (1928)
as Lecherous Boarder / Ram Das in Dream Sequence

Down River (1931)
as Captain Grossman

Charles Laughton Directs "The Night of The Hunter" (2002)
as Self (archive footage)

Wolves (1930)
as Captain Job





