Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton was the son of Eliza and Robert Laughton who were hotel keepers in Yorkshire. He was born in North Riding of Yorkshire and a blue plaque can be seen marking his birthplace there which represents his importance. He first attended Scarborough College for a short duration due to his mother’s wish as she was a devoted Roman Catholic. Her mother also had an Irish ancestry. Later, he joined Stonyhurst College which was a Jesuit school. An important part of his life was when he served during World War I with two different Battalions. He was even gassed during WWI. For further studies, he took permission from his family to study drama. When he was allowed, he got into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Although he always participated in amateur theater plays, his first appearance as a professional actor was seen at the Barnes Theatre and then at Gaiety Theatre in London. Both the appearances were in the comedic play called The Government Inspector. He then continued to do several more roles in plays like The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters, The Silver Tassie and a few more, all based in London. After impressing the audiences in the UK, he moved to the US where he made his debut at the Lyceum Theatre in 1931. He moved back to London for a year to participate in the Old Vic season. After participating in a few Shakespeare plays in London, he went to Paris to participate at Comédie-Française and became the first English actor to perform there. He received a lot of applause from the audience also since he acted the part in French. He moved to Britain to begin his film career while simultaneously acting in plays on stage.

He also participated in many short films, talkies and silent comedies during that time. His appearance on the New York Click to look into! >> Read More... stage in 1931 led him to be offered his first Hollywood movie called The Old Dark House (1932). He did around six movies in the same year like Payment Deferred, If I Had a Million and his much-appreciated movie The Sign of the Cross. He won an Academy Award in his second year in Hollywood for his role in the movie The Private Life of Henry VIII. He returned to the UK in 1936 where he did movies like Rembrandt and later, with Erich Pommer If there is everything and well-equipped, and you >> Read More... , founded the Mayflower Pictures production company. Initially, the company released three movies starring Laughton which were not as commercially successful as expected. Their fourth release called The Hunchback of Notre Dame saved the company from bankruptcy. Mayflower Pictures had to shut down as a side effect of WWII.

He did several movies until 1962 although a short period during the 1940's was considered his worst acting period. The bad duration did not stick with him for long and he revived back from it. His last movie as an actor before dying was Advise & Consent (1962). In his career, he directed a film called The Night of the Hunter which is considered as one of the best movies of the 1950's. It is preserved in the Library of Congress by the US National Film Registry. Ironically, when the movie was first released, it did not gain enough appreciation by the audience after which Charles did not direct another movie again. Sometimes he also hosted a few episodes on TV like in The Ed Sullivan Show. He also did many spoken recordings which were a big hit. The Story Teller: A Session with Charles Laughton won a Grammy for the Best Spoken Word Recording in 1962. He was married to Elsa Lanchester Elsa Lanchester took birth on 28th October of 1902 >> Read More... since 1927 until his death in 1962. They appeared in many films and plays together. He died due to kidney cancer in 1962.