-
Sir William Porterhouse: Oh, nothing like roast beef when a man's hungry.
[sings]
Sir William Porterhouse: Oh, the roast beef of Old England... how does that go? Do you remember that Mr Waverton or was that before your time?
Philip Waverton: Penderel's our song expert.
Sir William Porterhouse: Oh, so you're musical, are you? Well, I've got a bit of a good ear myself...
Horace Femm: [knocking loudly on the table] Have a potato!
-
Horace Femm: [picking up a bunch of flowers] My sister was on the point of arranging these flowers.
[He tosses them into the fire]
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton (Charles Laughton, July 1, 1899-December 15, 1962), was born in Yorkshire , England, a British actor, and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He has performed Shakespeare's plays in London, Stratford , New York and other places.
Lawton is an actor whose performance palette is extremely rich and colorful, and he can play all kinds of roles and life experiences with ease. The 6th Academy Awards for Best Actor " The Private Life of Henry VIII. ". In 1950, he became a citizen of the United States. However, his most successful acting is the British films " Hobson's Choice " and " Witness for the Prosecution ". These two films won the 1954 British Academy Award for Best British Film and Oscar for Best Actor Award. Nomination.
In 1962, Charles Laughton died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Performing Experience
In 1928, he entered the film industry and played roles in three short comedies directed by Ivor Montagu , one of the British film pioneers , "Big Flies", "Tonics" and "Daydreaming". The actress who played with him is called Elizabeth Lanchester Sullivan . Later the two became married. After his debut, he participated in two large-scale feature films "Bicadili" and "The Dim Old House". "The Dim Old House" was his first filming in Hollywood.
In 1931, he and his wife came to the United States to perform with the "Payment Delay" troupe. Then signed a contract with Paramount Pictures, Inc. and successfully performed several films. Some directors took a fancy to Lawton's unique appearance and invited him to play roles such as PX-0 .
In 1933, the famous British director and producer Alexandre Korda was preparing to make the historical blockbuster " The Private Life of Henry VIII. ". All the female roles invited first-class actresses, and the role of Henry VIII chose Lawton as a rookie. The film tells the five marriages of Henry VIII. The script was poorly written and filmed in a hurry, but it broke the box office record after it was released in the UK and the US. This should be attributed to Lawton's outstanding performance. He portrayed the emperor's lust, greed, and tyranny into the woods. Lawton won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for this reason .
In 1935, he successfully portrayed the self-contained, cruel and vicious Captain Brie in Mutiny on the Bounty . "The Mutiny and Butterflies" is based on one of the three series of novels about the rebellion on the "Pondy" written by American writers Nohoff and Hall in the early 1930s. The story takes place in 1787, the British one called "Pondy number" three-masted large troop, carrying the bread fruit tree seedlings from the South Pacific in Tahiti towards Jamaica. The captain of the "Pondy", Brei, was stubborn and cruel. Because the warship was caught in a storm during the voyage, Bulay was very impatient when he could not reach the destination on time. Regardless of the life and death of his subordinates, he forced them to drive at full speed. This incident aroused dissatisfaction with the young navy officer Bym and first officer Doug Christie . Doug Christie is very popular among sailors, and everyone is happy to make friends with him. Bry fell into isolation, hated Doug Christie's human bones, and did everything against him. At the destination, Doug Christie and Bym met two beautiful local girls respectively, and they had a good relationship. After the "Pondy" was unloaded and set sail, several sailors could not stand the captain's abuse and were ready to escape. But it was discovered by Brie that he harshly punished them, which aroused the great indignation of the sailors. Most people on the ship headed by Doug Christie rose up to rebel. After fierce fighting, Bry and his besties were captured, thrown into a small boat and banished into the ocean. Unexpectedly, Bry and others were rescued by a British naval ship. Just as the sailors of the uprising returned to Tahiti in bliss , Bulay took a beating. According to Lawton's acting skills, he should have won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role this year. He was nominated because of the strong lineup of the film, but he was finally unsuccessful. However, this acting master does not want to be limited to a single type. Behind his ugly appearance, there are outstanding talents capable of acting various complex personalities.
In 1936, his culmination work came out, the title "Rembrandt", with his tragic and humane performance, he brilliantly portrayed the image of the great Dutch painter. Two years later, Lawton and his friend Erich Bummer founded the "Mayflower" film company. Lawton is a producer and starring player, and has filmed films such as "The Scourge" and " Jamage Inn ". In the latter film. He plays a marshal who colludes with pirates. This villain has no facial makeup, but a gentle appearance and full of poison in his bones.
His film career reached its peak in 1935. In this year, he not only won the Best Actor of the New York Film Critics Award for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. film " Mutiny on the Bounty ", but also the British film " "Rembrandt" (1936) has received extremely high reviews from many people, such as the famous director Josef von Sternberg said: "Lawton's well has almost no bottom".
In 1950, he became a citizen of the United States. Since then, he has shot many films rich in American style, such as "Manhattan Anecdotes", "Palatinate Case", "Arc de Triomphe" and so on. These films follow Lawton's basic creative concept, that is, the integrity of human nature should be protected at all costs. In 1954, he returned to England and filmed " Hobson's Choice " as a gift to his homeland. In his later years, Lawton tried to work as a director. In 1955 he independently directed a piece of " The Night Of The Hunter ". The last time he met with the audience was to play a senator in the film "Advice and Promise". However, his most successful acting is the British films " Hobson's Choice " and " Witness for the Prosecution ". These two films won the 1954 British Academy Award for Best British Film and the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading. Nomination of Role .
On December 15, 1962, he died in Washington District of Columbia from a cerebral hemorrhage .
Character Evaluation
Bette Davis once said: "Charles Laughton is a rare embodiment master of performance ever." His performance palette is extremely colorful, and he can play all kinds of roles and life experiences with ease. Especially his baby-faced face is bloated and childish, and it changes when he says it changes. It can reveal the complex inner activities of the character. Therefore, it is not excessive to call him a "man with a thousand faces".
Extended Reading
