Charles Laughton

查尔斯·劳顿是一位英国演员兼导演，1899年7月1日出生于约克郡斯卡伯勒。他在皇家戏剧艺术学院接受训练，1926年首次登上职业舞台，并迅速确立了自己作为多才多艺表演者的地位，在旧维克剧院演绎古典莎士比亚角色，同时在伦敦西区出演现代作品。他的事业很快扩展到百老汇和好莱坞，以饰演从怪物、怪人到国王的一系列非凡角色而闻名。劳顿凭借在《亨利八世的私生活》（1933年）中饰演的君主赢得了奥斯卡最佳男主角奖，并获得了另外两项奥斯卡提名：在《叛舰喋血记》（1935年）中饰演威廉·布莱船长，以及在《控方证人》（1957年）中饰演一位脾气暴躁的律师。在他的职业生涯中，他出演了40多部电影和众多舞台剧，还获得了一项格莱美奖，并获得了两次英国电影学院奖和一次金球奖提名。他于1960年在好莱坞星光大道上获得了一颗星。[编辑]

劳顿是罗伯特和伊丽莎·劳顿三个儿子中的长子，他们在斯卡伯勒经营酒店。他的母亲是一位虔诚的爱尔兰裔罗马天主教徒，送他进入英国顶尖的耶稣会学校斯托尼赫斯特学院。14岁时，在斯托尼赫斯特，他在学校制作的《私人秘书》中饰演一个圆胖的旅馆老板，完成了他的表演首秀。1915年，他的母亲坚持让他离开学校去伦敦的克拉里奇酒店接受培训，学习家族生意，但晚上他把钱花在剧院门票上，曾把同一部戏看了十三遍。

第一次世界大战期间，劳顿在亨廷顿郡自行车营，后来在北安普敦郡团担任列兵。他拒绝了军官委任，后来解释说他不想要指挥他人的责任。他在法国服役，经历了一场他很少谈论的可怕战斗；他的妻子埃尔莎·兰彻斯特后来说，他告诉她他不得不刺死几个人。战争结束前不久，他遭到毒气攻击，留下了持久的身心创伤。

战后，劳顿回到约克郡，开始与斯卡伯勒剧团一起表演和导演。1924年父亲去世后，他搬到伦敦，进入皇家戏剧艺术学院学习，并因在《温莎的风流娘儿们》中的表演获得了班克罗夫特金奖。他于1926年首次职业登台，并很快成为古典和现代作品中炙手可热的表演者。[编辑]

劳顿的电影首秀是在1928年的英国无声喜剧《蓝色瓶子》中，他在那里遇到了未来的妻子埃尔莎·兰彻斯特。1931年，他在纽约的舞台首秀《延期付款》引起了好莱坞的关注，从而带来了他的第一部美国电影《老黑屋》（1932年），与鲍里斯·卡洛夫合作。同年，他出演了另外五部电影，包括在《十字记号》中饰演尼禄，在《失落灵魂之岛》中饰演莫罗博士。

突破出现在1933年，他在《亨利八世的私生活》中饰演亨利八世国王，赢得了奥斯卡最佳男主角奖。随后他凭借在《悲惨世界》（1935年）中饰演的沙威、《叛舰喋血记》中饰演的布莱船长（获得第二次奥斯卡提名），以及在《红谷奇缘》（1935年）中饰演的美国化管家获得好评。1937年，他与制片人埃里希·波默共同创立了五月花影业公司。他在《巴黎圣母院》（1939年）中饰演的卡西莫多至今仍是他最具标志性的角色之一。

在1950年代，劳顿在大卫·里恩的《霍布森的选择》（1954年）中贡献了令人难忘的表演，并凭借《控方证人》（1957年）获得了他的第三次奥斯卡提名。他只执导了一部电影，《猎人之夜》（1955年），这部惊悚片后来获得了邪典经典的地位。他的最后一部电影是《华府千秋》（1962年）。[编辑]

劳顿被铭记为他那一代最多才多艺的表演者之一，他挑战了好莱坞的类型化体系。凭借其平凡的面容和魁梧的身材，他扮演了各种角色，既有邪恶的也有善良的。他的标志性风格涉及沉浸式的角色塑造，经常使用厚重的妆容和假体，尤其是在饰演卡西莫多时。媒体对他的描绘强调了他精湛的技艺以及在舞台和电影上取得巨大成功的能力。[编辑]

Charles Laughton's admirers have never had a formal name, and that's fitting for an actor who defied easy categorization. Instead, his fanbase is a diffuse but passionate community of classic film enthusiasts, united by a shared reverence for his craft and for his singular directorial vision. There are no official fan clubs, no coordinated campaigns, no birthday billboards, just generations of cinephiles who keep his legacy alive through film retrospectives, academic writing, and preservation efforts. The Criterion Collection's championing of The Night of the Hunter has been central to this, elevating the film to canonical status among those who appreciate the darker corners of American cinema.

In the world of fame, Charles Laughton's place is secure, though not currently quantified. iFANN's Global Fame Engine has evaluated his enduring presence, the continued circulation of his films, the scholarly discourse, the cultural memory of his iconic performances, and determined that he does not currently hold a placement in the published rankings. This is a neutral statement of fact, not a measure of his significance. His fame is of a different kind: it lives in the reverence of film societies and the quiet persistence of his work in the public eye.

His fanbase may lack a label, but it is united by a shared understanding of his genius, the unlikely star who transformed his physicality into art, the one-time director whose sole film became a touchstone. That is the legacy that continues to draw new admirers to his work.[编辑]

Charles Laughton was a prolific oral reader during World War II, reading aloud at Birmingham Hospital in the San Fernando Valley to wounded Allied soldiers. He once held a television audience spellbound by reading from the Bible on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town. Some recordings of his readings and anecdotes were made but are reportedly out of print. When asked why he became an actor, he replied, "Because I like to imitate great men." He was the only actor to win an Oscar for playing Henry VIII.

One of the most retold stories in his career is the fate of The Night of the Hunter (1955), his sole directorial effort. It was a commercial and critical failure upon release, effectively ending his directorial ambitions. Decades later, it is hailed as a masterpiece of American gothic cinema, and the irony of its initial rejection and subsequent rehabilitation has become a central part of his legend. Another iconic moment was his portrayal of Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), a performance that has become a cultural touchstone for tyrannical authority. And fans still delight in the fact that the man who played Henry VIII and Captain Bligh was married to Elsa Lanchester, the Bride of Frankenstein, an enduring partnership of golden-age Hollywood.[编辑]

劳顿是罗伯特·劳顿（1869–1924）和伊丽莎·康伦·劳顿（1869–1953）三个儿子中的长子，他们在斯卡伯勒经营维多利亚酒店，后来经营帕维利恩酒店。他的母亲是一位虔诚的爱尔兰裔罗马天主教徒。他有两个弟弟，罗伯特·托马斯（生于1903年）和弗朗西斯（生于1907年）。劳顿于1929年2月9日与女演员埃尔莎·兰彻斯特结婚，两人一直在一起直到他去世；他们没有孩子。[编辑]

劳顿经常与他的妻子埃尔莎·兰彻斯特合作，并与导演亚历山大·科达合作了《亨利八世的私生活》及其他电影。他与制片人埃里希·波默共同创立了五月花影业，并与鲍里斯·卡洛夫共同主演了《老黑屋》。作为导演，他指导了罗伯特·米彻姆、雪莉·温特斯和莉莉安·吉什出演《猎人之夜》。[编辑]

劳顿于1927年与女演员埃尔莎·兰彻斯特在共同出演一部戏剧时相识。他们于1928年合作了无声喜剧片《蓝瓶》和《白日梦》，并于1929年2月9日结婚。据报道，这段婚姻非同寻常；两人均被认为有同性吸引倾向，但他们始终是忠诚的伴侣。他们没有子女。劳顿于1962年去世时，仍与兰彻斯特保持婚姻关系。[编辑]

The film community lost a titan of character acting and direction when Charles Laughton passed away in Hollywood, California, on December 15, 1962. At the age of sixty-three, his final days were marked by circumstances unrecorded in public archives., the event was treated as a natural occurrence requiring no formal legal inquiry or police investigation. Tributes from peers and institutions at the time reflected a deep respect for a man who had redefined the boundaries of screen performance, though immediate fan vigils or chart surges are not documented in the historical record. His posthumous reputation has only grown more luminous, particularly through the rediscovery of his sole directorial effort, The Night of the Hunter. Modern retrospectives frequently cite this thriller as a visionary masterpiece, analyzing its status as a one-and-done classic seventy years after its release. His portrayal in Witness for the Prosecution remains central to discussions of his career. Recent articles continue to highlight his influence on cinema, ensuring that the memory of this English actor and director endures.[编辑]

As Charles Laughton died in 1962, his estate has been managed by various entities over the decades. Revenue sources include royalties from film and television broadcasts of his 40-plus films, licensing of his image and likeness, ongoing sales of The Night of the Hunter (now a cult classic), home video and streaming rights, and merchandise related to The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Mutiny on the Bounty. iFANN currently estimates the estate's value in 2026 at $10 million.[编辑]

劳顿凭借《亨利八世的私生活》获得奥斯卡最佳男主角奖，并获得格莱美最佳纪录片或朗诵录音奖。他还获得了皇家戏剧艺术学院的班克罗夫特金奖，并在好莱坞星光大道上拥有一颗星。[编辑]