Book description
The creator of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Henry VIII and Captain
Bligh, Charles Laughton's career spans 50 films and 40 stage roles. This
entralling biography follows him from his parents' hotel in Scarborough
to his climactic assumption of the role of King Lear in Statford at the
end of his life. Along the way we meet a galaxy of Hollywood greats -
from Korda, Hitchcock and Billy WIlder to Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum
and Marilyn Monroe. We also discover a hugely talented and complex man -
a legend in his own lifetime who nonetheless counted himself a failure.
Simon Callow is an actor, director and writer. He has appeared on the
stage and in many films, including the hugely popular
Four Weddings and a Funeral.
His books include Being an Actor, Shooting the Actor, Love is Where
it Falls
, the first two volumes of his three-volume life of Orson Welles, his
theatrical memoir My Life in Pieces
, and, most recently, the highly acclaimed Charles Dickens and the
Great Theatre of the World.
