Charles laughton was a popular actor in Hollywood between the 1930's and 1950's, thought he did not have the typical looks and build as the usual leading men of the period. He was one of the pioneers of naturalistic acting on film. He served on the Western Front during World War 1. After studying at RADA he worked in the theatre and developed his ability as a charcter actor and he developed a very expressive vocie. Whilst working on the stage he appeared in a few British films and married the actress Elsa Lanchester. His acting came to the notice of Paramount and his first Hollywood film was Devil and the Deep.
If I Had a Million is a series of stories of 8 random people being givin money with each segment directed by a different director. He played Nero in The Sign Of The Cross, his first big epic film and the biggest film of the year. After the horror film The Island of Lost Souls, he stared in another historical drama with The Private Life of Henry VIII. This film from director Alexander Korda is one of Charles Laughton's best known films and really defined the film version of Henry VIII. He won the Best Actor Oscar. The film was mad by London Film Productions and was the first non-Hollywood film to win an Oscar. Now a major star he continued to appear in historical dramas including Les Misérables and Mutiny On The Bounty.
These cemented his place playing the villan character. He returned to London to again work with director Alexander Korda in Rambrant in a more subtle performance rather than being the villan. The Beachcomber was one of several films in which he worked with his wife Elsa Lanchester. The Sidewalks Of London shows a slice of London life and one of the better films to come out of Mayflower Studio's. Jamaica Inn was made with Alfred Hitchcock and not one of Hitchcock's better films partially because Charles Laughton had a lot of influence over the film. The performance for which he is best remembered is playing Quasaimodo in the Hunchback Of Notre Dame and this is one of the better adaptations of the novel. He returned to working with Alfred Hitchcock in The Paradine Case.
He returned to playing Henry VIII in Young Bess. He was David Lean's first choice for the lead role in his adaptation of Hobson's Choice. The Night of the Hunter (1955) was the only film that Charles Laughton directed. Witness For The Prosecution was an adaptation of the Agatha CHristie novel and earned him another Oscar nomination. Later in his career he had suppporting roles inth eepics Spartacus and Lawrence Of Arabia.
