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."
Known for
Spartacus
Sempronius Gracchus
What's My Line?
Self - Mystery Guest
The Steve Allen Show
Self - Guest
Witness for the Prosecution
Sir Wilfrid
Les Misérables
Inspector Emile Javert
Advise & Consent
Senator Seabright Cooley
Rembrandt
Rembrandt van Rijn
Jamaica Inn
Sir Humphrey Pengallan
Salome
King Herod
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Self
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self
Island of Lost Souls
Dr. Moreau
Young Bess
King Henry VIII
The Suspect
Philip Marshall
The Paradine Case
Judge Lord Thomas Horfield
Payment Deferred
William Marble
Piccadilly
A Continental Visitor
The Old Dark House
Sir William Porterhouse
O. Henry's Full House
Soapy (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
White Woman
Horace H. Prin
The Man on the Eiffel Tower
Inspector Jules Maigret
Tales of Manhattan
Charles Smith
The Big Clock
Earl Janoth
Devil and the Deep
Cmdr. Charles Sturm
This Land Is Mine
Albert Lory
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Self (archive footage)
Wolves
Captain Job
If I Had a Million
Phineas V. Lambert
The Tuttles of Tahiti
Jonas
The Sign of the Cross
Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar
Hobson's Choice
Henry Horatio Hobson
The Man from Down Under
Jocko Wilson
The Blue Veil
Fred K. Begley
The Horror Show
(archive footage)
The Private Life of Henry VIII
Henry VIII
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Self (archive footage)
The Canterville Ghost
Sir Simon de Canterville / The Ghost
Ruggles of Red Gap
Marmaduke Ruggles
The George Gobel Show
Self
Forever and a Day
Bellamy
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Self (archive footage)
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
(in "The Bribe") (archive footage)
The Girl from Manhattan
The Bishop
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback Quasimodo
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd
Capt. William Kidd
The Strange Door
Sire Alain de Maletroit
Startime
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Self
Because of Him
John Sheridan
Arch of Triumph
Ivon Haake
It Started with Eve
Jonathan Reynolds
Under Ten Flags
Admiral Russell
They Knew What They Wanted
Tony Patucci
Leben des Galilei
Galileo Galilei
Monster Madness: The Golden Age of the Horror Film
Dr. Moreau (archive footage)
In the Presence of Mine Enemies
Rabbi Adam Heller
Stand by for Action
Rear Admiral Stephen Thomas
The Epic That Never Was
Tiberius Claudius (archive footage)
Down River
Captain Grossman
On Our Merry Way
Reverend
The Lux Show
Self
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Self (archive footage)
The Art Director
Self - from 'The Big Clock' (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Jimmy Durante Show
Self
Daydreams
Lecherous Boarder / Ram Das in Dream Sequence
Vessel of Wrath
Ginger Ted
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
Edward Moulton-Barrett
Brecht
Galileo (voice)
Mutiny on the Bounty
Captaine Bligh
Star Time
Self
The Clerk
Phineas V. Lambert
General Electric Theater
Edwin Kensington
General Electric Theater
Henry Denry
General Electric Theater
M. Hamel
Comets
Himself
Captain Kidd
Captain Kidd
St. Martin's Lane
Charles Staggers
Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Bribe
J.J. Bealer
The Tonic
Father of the Family
Blue Bottles
Burglar
Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld
Self (archive footage)
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self