Charles Laughton
Acting
Born 1899-06-30
Died 1962-12-15
Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK
88 credits
Read biography
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."
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Filmography
— top 60 of 88
What's My Line?
The Steve Allen Show
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Witness for the Prosecution
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Spartacus
MGM Parade
Startime
The Night of the Hunter
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The George Gobel Show
The Jimmy Durante Show
Mutiny on the Bounty
The Lux Show
The Sign of the Cross
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Island of Lost Souls
The Paradine Case
The Big Clock
O. Henry's Full House
Jamaica Inn
Hobson's Choice
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau
The Suspect
Advise & Consent
Captain Kidd
General Electric Theater
This Land Is Mine
Blue Bottles
Under Ten Flags
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
The Private Life of Henry VIII
The Old Dark House
Les Misérables
Salome
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
Arch of Triumph
If I Had a Million
On Our Merry Way
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
The Horror Show
The Blue Veil
Tales of Manhattan
Rembrandt
Young Bess
Forever and a Day
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
The Bribe
Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Piccadilly
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
The Tonic
The Clerk
The Canterville Ghost
It Started with Eve
The Tuttles of Tahiti
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