CHARLES LAUGHTON - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 159357

CHARLES LAUGHTON
Small black and white publicity photograph of Charles Laughton wearing glasses.
Photograph signed: "Charles Laughton". B/w, 3¼x5¼. 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. Slightly soiled at blank right margin. Pencil note (unknown hand) and mounting strips on verso (no show through). Poor contrast on signature, priced accordingly.