Trivia of Charles Laughton

 Trivia of Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 - 15 December 1962)

*He was a drama student at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1925, where actor Claude Rains was one of his teachers. Laughton made his first professional appearance on 28 April 1926 at the Barnes Theatre, as Osip in the comedy The Government Inspector.

*In 1927, Laughton began a relationship with Elsa Lanchester, at the time a castmate in a stage play. The two were married in 1929, became US citizens in 1950, and remained together until Laughton's death.The couple appeared in seven films: The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), Rembrandt (1936), Vessel of Wrath (1938), Tales of Manhattan (1942), Forever and a Day (1943), The Big Clock (1948) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957).

*In his first Hollywood appearance, he played Sir William Porterhouse in the horror comedy ‘The Old Dark House’ (1932) with Boris Karloff. The same year he received the opportunity to share the screen space with prominent superstars like Tallulah Bankhead, Gary Cooper, and Cary Grant in the drama film ‘Devil and the Deep (1932)'.

*His most famous role was King Henry VIII in ‘The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)', a film which focused on the marriages of King Henry VIII of England.Charles Laughton known as a method actor, and when his co-star Wendy Barrie giggled during a scene to the actor's aggravation, he bit her on the arm, breaking her skin, exactly as the real Henry often did when angry with his wives.Later, he cast as King Henry VIII again in film Young Bess (1953) opposite Jean Simmons' and Stewart Granger.

*Opposite Clark Gable in movie Mutiny on The Bounty (1935), Charles Laughton playing as William Bligh, who performed one of the world's greatest feats of navigation after having been cast adrift at sea by the Bounty mutineers.In reality, he was terrified of the ocean and violently seasick throughout most of the filming.

*During the filming of Jamaica Inn (1939), he allegedly became captivated by his teenage co-star Maureen O'Hara, who was introduced in the film, and even spoke about wanting to adopt her. His wife, Elsa Lanchester, later dismissed this as a passing whim and suggested that O'Hara had exploited his kindness in her ambition to get ahead (her first Hollywood film, later that same year, starred Laughton). Lanchester never tried to hide her dislike of O'Hara, famously saying of her that "she always looked as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth - or anywhere else!"; in her memoirs, O'Hara made her dislike of Lanchester equally clear.

*Robert Mitchum once stated that Laughton was the best director he had ever worked for, ironic in that Laughton never directed another movie after The Night of the Hunter (1955) with Mitchum.