Editing Charles Laughton (section)

==Early life and career==
Laughton was born on 1 July 1899 in [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]], North Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Robert Laughton (1869–1924) and Eliza (née Conlon; 1869–1953), Yorkshire hotel keepers.<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=37658|title=Laughton, Charles (1899–1962)}}</ref> A [[blue plaque]] marks his birthplace.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/articles/Charles-Laughton-9374728|title=Charles Laughton profile|publisher=Biography.com|access-date=10 May 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100719043617/http://www.biography.com/articles/Charles-Laughton-9374728|archive-date=19 July 2010}}</ref> His mother was a devout [[Roman Catholic]] of Irish descent, and she sent him to briefly attend a local boys' school, [[Scarborough College]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Burton|first1=Peter|title=Six Inches of Bath Water: One Hundred Years of Scarborough College in Memories & Photographs, 1898-1998|date=1998|publisher=Michael Russell|location=Norwich|isbn=085955239X|page=15|edition=First}}</ref> before sending him to [[Stonyhurst College]], the pre-eminent English [[Jesuit]] school.<ref>RonaldBruceMeyer.com {{cite web |url=http://www.ronaldbrucemeyer.com/rants/0701almanac.htm |title=1 July Almanac. |access-date=22 March 2006 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060508103103/http://www.ronaldbrucemeyer.com/rants/0701almanac.htm |archive-date=8 May 2006 }} Retrieved 12 August 2007.</ref> Laughton served in [[World War I]], during which he was [[Chemical warfare|gassed]], serving first with the 2/1st Battalion of the [[Huntingdonshire Cyclist Battalion]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.huntscycles.co.uk/C%20L%201%20Home%20Page.htm|title=The Huntingdonshire Cyclist Battalions|access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref> and then with the 7th Battalion of the [[Northamptonshire Regiment]].

He started work in the family hotel, though also participating in amateur theatrical productions in Scarborough. He was permitted by his family to become a drama student at [[RADA]] in 1925, where actor [[Claude Rains]] was one of his teachers. Laughton made his first professional appearance on 28 April 1926 at the [[Barnes, London|Barnes Theatre]], as Osip in the comedy ''The Government Inspector'', in which he also appeared at London's [[Gaiety Theatre, London|Gaiety Theatre]] in May. He impressed audiences with his talent and had classical roles in two Chekov plays, ''The Cherry Orchard'' and ''The Three Sisters''. Laughton played the lead role as Harry Hegan in the world premiere of [[Seán O'Casey]]'s ''[[The Silver Tassie (play)|The Silver Tassie]]'' in 1928 in London. He played the title roles in Arnold Bennett's ''Mr Prohack'' ([[Elsa Lanchester]] was also in the cast) and as [[Samuel Pickwick]] in ''Mr. Pickwick'' at the [[Haymarket Theatre|Theatre Royal]] (1928–29) in London.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kent.ac.uk/library/specialcollections/theatre/r.php/31929/show.html|title=Theatre collections: record view – Special Collections & Archives – University of Kent|website=kent.ac.uk|access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/play/2zp/mr-pickwick/production/6qp|title=Production of Mr Pickwick &#124; Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com|access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref>

He played Tony Perelli in [[Edgar Wallace]]'s ''[[On the Spot (play)|On the Spot]]'' and William Marble in ''Payment Deferred''. He took the last role across the Atlantic and made his United States debut on 24 September 1931, at the [[Lyceum Theatre (Broadway)|Lyceum Theatre]]. He returned to London for the 1933–34 Old Vic season and was engaged in four Shakespeare roles (as Macbeth, Henry VIII, Angelo in ''Measure for Measure'' and Prospero in ''The Tempest'') and also as Lopakhin in ''The Cherry Orchard'', Canon Chasuble in ''The Importance of Being Earnest'', and Tattle in ''Love for Love''. In 1936, he went to Paris and on 9 May appeared at the [[Comédie-Française]] as Sganarelle in the second act of [[Molière]]'s ''Le Médecin malgré lui'', the first English actor to appear at that theatre, where he performed the role in French and received an ovation.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-the-sun-dial-at-home-a/149213286/ |title=The Sun Dial: 'At Home Abroad' |newspaper=The Evening Sun |publication-place=Hanover, Pennsylvania |page=4 |date=27 May 1936 |access-date=12 June 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Laughton commenced his film career in Great Britain while still acting on the London stage. He also accepted small roles in three short silent comedies starring his wife [[Elsa Lanchester]], ''Daydreams,'' ''Blue Bottles,'' and ''The Tonic'' (all 1928), which had been specially written for her by [[H. G. Wells]] and were directed by [[Ivor Montagu]]. He made a brief appearance as a disgruntled diner in another silent film ''[[Piccadilly (film)|Piccadilly]]'' with [[Anna May Wong]] in 1929. He appeared with Lanchester again in ''Comets'' (1930), a [[film revue]] featuring assorted British variety acts, in which they sang a duet, "[[The Ballad of Frankie and Johnnie]]". He made two other early British talkies: ''[[Wolves (1930 film)|Wolves]]'' with [[Dorothy Gish]] (1930) from a play set in a whaling camp in the frozen north, and ''[[Down River (1931 film)|Down River]]'' (1931), in which he played a drug-smuggling ship's captain.

His New York stage debut in 1931 immediately led to film offers, and Laughton's first Hollywood film, ''[[The Old Dark House (1932 film)|The Old Dark House]]'' (1932) with [[Boris Karloff]], in which he played a bluff [[Yorkshire]] businessman marooned during a storm with other travelers in a creepy remote Welsh manor. He then played a demented submarine commander in ''[[Devil and the Deep]]'' with [[Tallulah Bankhead]], [[Gary Cooper]] and [[Cary Grant]], and followed this with his best-remembered film role of that year as [[Nero]] in [[Cecil B. DeMille]]'s ''[[The Sign of the Cross (1932 film)|The Sign of the Cross]].'' Laughton gave other memorable performances during that first Hollywood trip, repeating his stage role as a murderer in ''[[Payment Deferred (film)|Payment Deferred]]'', playing [[H. G. Wells]]' mad vivisectionist Dr. Moreau in ''[[Island of Lost Souls (1932 film)|Island of Lost Souls]]'', and the meek raspberry-blowing clerk in the brief segment of ''[[If I Had A Million]]'', directed by [[Ernst Lubitsch]]. He appeared in six Hollywood films in 1932. His association with director [[Alexander Korda]] began in 1933 with the hugely successful ''[[The Private Life of Henry VIII]]'' (loosely based on the life of King [[Henry VIII]]), for which Laughton won the [[Academy Award for Best Actor]].