Charles Laughton
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."
Acting
Movie
Spartacus
as Sempronius Gracchus
1960
Movie
Witness for the Prosecution
as Sir Wilfrid
1957
Movie
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
as (in "The Bribe") (archive footage)
1982
Movie
Mutiny on the Bounty
as Captaine Bligh
1935
Movie
The Old Dark House
as Sir William Porterhouse
1932
Movie
Island of Lost Souls
as Dr. Moreau
1932
Movie
The Paradine Case
as Judge Lord Thomas Horfield
1947
Movie
Jamaica Inn
as Sir Humphrey Pengallan
1939
Movie
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
as The Hunchback Quasimodo
1939
Movie
The Big Clock
as Earl Janoth
1948
Movie
Hobson's Choice
as Henry Horatio Hobson
1954
Movie
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau
as Self (archive footage)
2014
Movie
Advise & Consent
as Senator Seabright Cooley
1962
Movie
The Private Life of Henry VIII
as Henry VIII
1933
Movie
Ruggles of Red Gap
as Marmaduke Ruggles
1935
Movie
This Land Is Mine
as Albert Lory
1943
Movie
The Suspect
as Philip Marshall
1945
Movie
Les Misérables
as Inspector Emile Javert
1935
Movie
The Sign of the Cross
as Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar
1932
Movie
Salome
as King Herod
1953
Movie
The Canterville Ghost
as Sir Simon de Canterville / The Ghost
1944
Movie
If I Had a Million
as Phineas V. Lambert
1932
Movie
O. Henry's Full House
as Soapy (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
1952
Movie
Arch of Triumph
as Ivon Haake
1948
