Laughton, Charles

Laughton, Charles (1899-1962), English-born American actor, born in Scarborough, and educated at Stonyhurst College and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). One of the most popular and versatile character actors of his time, Laughton made his London stage debut in 1926 in The Government Inspector, by Nikolay Gogol. Early British films include Piccadilly (1929) and Comets (1930). New York theatre audiences first saw him in 1931 in Payment Deferred.

His success as a film actor was almost immediate. In 1933 he won an Academy Award for the title role in the British film The Private Life of Henry VIII (directed by Alexander Korda). Success in Hollywood quickly followed, and over a period of almost 30 years he appeared in such outstanding films as The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Les Misérables (1935), Rembrandt (1936), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), Jamaica Inn (1939, Alfred Hitchcock), It Started with Eve (1941), The Paradine Case (1948, Hitchcock), Hobson’s Choice (1954, David Lean), Witness for the Prosecution (1957, Billy Wilder), Spartacus (1960, Stanley Kubrick), and Advise and Consent (1962, Otto Preminger). His first and only film as director was Night of the Hunter (1955) featuring Lillian Gish, Shelley Winters, and Robert Mitchum as the sinister preacher in one of his greatest performances.

Other stage plays in which Laughton appeared included Galileo (1947), The Cherry Orchard (1950), Don Juan in Hell (1951), Major Barbara (1956), and King Lear (1959). Laughton became an American citizen in 1950.