Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton born 1 July 1899 (d. 1962)

Charles Laughton was a distinguished Yorkshire-born stage and screen actor and director, as well as a noted orator and storyteller. He was also a tormented soul who, for much of his life, suffered from self-loathing - he especially hated the way he looked.

He told his wife, Elsa Lanchester, in 1930, after a year of marriage that he was homosexual, and she publicly discussed it for the first time in her 1983 book Elsa Lanchester, Herself. She allegedly decided to stay married to him despite this but decided not to have children with him. The marriage lasted until his death from cancer in 1962 and worked for both in many ways - certainly as cover for Laughton's homosexuality.

Working in Britain as well as the United States, Laughton appeared in 38 plays, 52 films, and gave hundreds of readings in one-man shows.

Horrified at his homosexuality, Laughton lived with self loathing, torturous shame, and constant fear of public exposure. Accepting and intensifying society's prejudices against homosexuals, Laughton turned against himself. He channelled his pain and suffering into his stage and screen characterisations, although as he grew older he became more self-accepting.

After scoring a series of successes in London, Laughton appeared on Broadway in 1931 and then made the journey to Hollywood. His first film role was in gay director James Whale's comedy-horror movie The Old Dark House (1932). Laughton won an Academy Award for The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). Laughton was a popular star after his Oscar-winning performance. His international fame and high critical regard were secured by his intense interpretations of Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939).

In the early 1950s Laughton embarked on reading or story-telling tours, bringing alive the works of writers he loved to audiences in relatively small venues.

The Night of the Hunter (1955), the only film Laughton directed, failed commercially and perplexed critics but today is considered a brilliant work of art, years ahead of its time.

In his later years, Laughton appeared less frequently in films, and then most often in smaller roles. Among his later successes were his memorable characterisations in Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and Advise and Consent (1962), his final appearance.

Charles Laughton died from bone cancer in 1962 and is buried in Forest Lawns, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in his adopted home of Los Angeles.