CHARLES LAUGHTON - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 254457

CHARLES LAUGHTON
He writes about the film version of a Christie Poirot mystery he did on stage.
Autograph Letter Signed: "Charles", 1½p, 7¼x10½. Hotel Chatham, New York, no date. To Gilbert. In full: "Mr. Reilly told me that Mr. Lasky did not advise you to do 'Alibi' as the English film had already got too far distributed. If you remember, when I spoke to you about it in the first place, I took it for granted that Alibi could not be done as a film but suggested that so far as film rights were concerned the play would serve as a showcase for the other Poirot books. Mr. Lasky told me that he had had a favorable report on 'The Blue Train' from his readers. I would like to know what your present views are upon the subject." The English film Alibi (1931) was based on Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, published in 1926. Austin Trevor starred as Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who solves the murder of a doctor. The play had starred CHARLES LAUGHTON as Poirot. Laughton was unable to appear in the film. Christie's The Mystery of the Blue Train, another Poirot book, was published in 1928. British stage and screen actor CHARLES LAUGHTON (1899-1962) won the 1932-1933 Best Actor Academy Award for The Private Life of Henry VIII, which he had reprised from his stage role, and he was nominated for Best Actor Oscars for Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957). Laughton, who made his film debut in 1928, starred in a long list of feature films, including Island of Lost Souls (1933), The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), Les Misérables (1935), The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Jamaica Inn (both in 1939), It Started With Eve (1941), The Canterville Ghost (1944), Captain Kidd (1945), Young Bess (1953, in which he played King Henry VIII), Spartacus (1960) and Advise and Consent (1962, his last film). The multitalented performer, who became an American citizen in 1950, was also a prolific stage director (he only directed one major film, 1955's Night of the Hunter), producer and drama teacher. Laughton also made several appearances on television from 1949, including roles in several early anthology series, and gave popular one-man tours, reading the works of authors including George Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare. Laughton, who was a veteran of WWI, was married to actress Elsa Lanchester from February 9, 1929 until his death on December 15, 1962. After one week of filming, Laughton quit the film. He also backed out of Marie Antoinette. According to Lanchester, Laughton would never have made a film if it had been left up to him. Nervous about his performances, Laughton was always threatening to quit early in a production. American production executive and producer JESSE LASKY was the founder of the Jesse Lasky Feature Play Company which later merged and merged again to become Paramount. Creased. Slightly worn edges. ¾-inch diagonal tear at right margin at horizontal fold, which also has a ½-inch separation at blank left margin. ¼- and ½-inch tears at top blank margin. Staple at upper right corner touches 1 word on verso.