Charles Laughton

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 H…

Movies & TV Shows

1. Spartacus (1960) — Sempronius Gracchus
2. Witness for the Prosecution (1957) — Sir Wilfrid
3. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) — (in "The Bribe") (archive footage)
4. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) — Captaine Bligh
5. The Old Dark House (1932) — Sir William Porterhouse
6. Island of Lost Souls (1932) — Dr. Moreau
7. The Paradine Case (1947) — Judge Lord Thomas Horfield
8. Jamaica Inn (1939) — Sir Humphrey Pengallan
9. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) — The Hunchback Quasimodo
10. The Big Clock (1948) — Earl Janoth
11. Hobson's Choice (1954) — Henry Horatio Hobson
12. Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014) — Self (archive footage)
13. Advise & Consent (1962) — Senator Seabright Cooley
14. The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) — Henry VIII
15. Ruggles of Red Gap (1935) — Marmaduke Ruggles
16. This Land Is Mine (1943) — Albert Lory
17. The Suspect (1945) — Philip Marshall
18. Les Misérables (1935) — Inspector Emile Javert
19. The Sign of the Cross (1932) — Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar
20. Salome (1953) — King Herod
21. If I Had a Million (1932) — Phineas V. Lambert
22. O. Henry's Full House (1952) — Soapy (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
23. The Canterville Ghost (1944) — Sir Simon de Canterville / The Ghost
24. Arch of Triumph (1948) — Ivon Haake
25. Tales of Manhattan (1942) — Charles Smith
26. Rembrandt (1936) — Rembrandt van Rijn
27. Captain Kidd (1945) — Captain Kidd
28. The Bribe (1949) — J.J. Bealer
29. Piccadilly (1929) — A Continental Visitor
30. It Started with Eve (1941) — Jonathan Reynolds
31. Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952) — Capt. William Kidd
32. The Strange Door (1951) — Sire Alain de Maletroit
33. What's My Line? (1950) — Self
34. St. Martin's Lane (1938) — Charles Staggers
35. The Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949) — Inspector Jules Maigret
36. The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) — Edward Moulton-Barrett
37. The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) — Self
38. Young Bess (1953) — King Henry VIII
39. Under Ten Flags (1960) — Admiral Russell
40. Payment Deferred (1932) — William Marble

Directed

1. The Night of the Hunter (1955) — Director