Charles Lawton (Lawton) is an English and American theater, film and television actor. During his creative career, he also managed to act as a director, including theater plays, screenwriter, producer. In February 1960, he was honored with a personalized star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at number 7021.
Charles Lawton's career began in the 1920s. Initially, he worked in the theater, and then got into big cinema. Born in Great Britain, the artist received American citizenship only in 1950.
During his work in the entertainment industry, Lawton managed to star in more than 80 projects. Among them were successful full-length films, short films, documentaries (chronicles). He also starred in several famous TV series.
In 1938, the artist made his debut as a screenwriter and producer. The first film he produced was called The Vessel of Anger. Charles Lawton wrote his first script for the film "St. Martin's Lane", which became quite successful at the box office.
As a director, Lawton tried his hand in 1949. Then the film "The Man on the Eiffel Tower" was released, but this film did not become famous. Often he is not mentioned at all in the artist's biography. Charles Lawton took the director's chair for the second time as part of the "Night of the Hunter" project. The film premiered in 1955. At first, she was treated very critically, but over time this film received well-deserved positive reviews and a good rating at the box office.
Biography facts
Charles Lawton was born in 1899. His birthday: July 1st. He was born in a resort town called Scarborough. This settlement is located in North Yorkshire, UK.
The boy's father was named Robert Lawton, by birth he was an Englishman. He had nothing to do with art or creativity in the same way as Charles's mother. Robert was in the hotel business, was the owner of one of the largest hotels in Scarborough.
The mother of the future famous actor was Eliza Conlon, who after the wedding took her husband's surname. She helped Charles' father manage the hotel. She was Irish by birth. Eliza was a very devout woman, she tried to educate her son according to all the laws of the Catholic faith.
Initially educated, Charles went to a closed Catholic school for boys, located in his hometown. A little later he transferred to Stonehurst, a British Jesuit school. Despite the fact that the boy was very interested in theater and cinema from an early age, during his school years he was engaged in a drama club, his parents assumed that Charles would go into business. His father planned to transfer the ownership of the hotel to him immediately after graduation. However, Lawton had completely different plans in this regard.
Having received basic education, the young man flatly refused to associate his life with the hotel business. The scene beckoned him. Therefore, Charles went to continue his studies at the Royal Academy of Arts and Drama. He entered this prestigious educational institution in 1925. And, it should be noted that the future actor graduated from the Academy successfully, having received a gold medal.
While studying at the academy, Lawton began to build his professional acting career. In 1926 he made his stage debut. One of his first performances was The Inspector General, based on the work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. And in 1928 he became the first actor to play Poirot in the play Alibi, based on the novel by Agatha Christie.
Already in the early 1930s, Charles Lawton went to America, where he made his debut on the stage of one of the theaters in New York. By this time, the young artist managed to try his hand at cinema. Cinematography attracted Lawton more than acting in the theater, so he soon completely switched to the development of his film career. And in 1933 he was awarded the "Oscar" for his work in the film "The Private Life of Henry VIII". The artist received a gold statuette in the Best Actor nomination. From that moment on, it became clear that in the cinema of Lawton, great success awaits.
In 1937, in partnership with Erich Prommer, Lawton opened his own film company, which was named Mayflower Pictures Corp.
The artist found the First World War and the Second World War. In both cases, he went to the front, temporarily ceasing to actively engage in the development of his creative career. During the First World War, while still a teenager, he served as a private. At first he was among the soldiers of the Bicycle Regiment, and then joined the Northamptonshire Regiment, which was based on the Western Front.
For quite a long time, the famous Charles Lawton acted as a "mentor" for the young promising actress Maureen O'Hara. They met when the girl was 18 years old. Charles highly appreciated her natural talent, had the most tender feelings for her, and at one time even wanted to adopt a girl, despite her adult age.
The actor's creative career ended in 1962. The last picture in which he appeared was the political drama "Advice and Consent". After his death, Charles Lawton was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in this film.
Film career: best work
The first films with the participation of the young artist were little-known short films released in 1928. A year later, the film "Piccadilly" was released, which had rather high ratings and became a very successful work at the start of Charles Lawton's career.
During the 1930s, the talented actor appeared in such sensational films as The Old Scary House, If I Had a Million, The Sign of the Cross, The Island of Lost Souls, The Private Life of Henry VIII, The Barrets from Wimpole Street, Ruggles of Red Gep, Les Miserables, Rebellion on the Bounty, Rembrandt, St. Martin's Lane, Tavern Jamaica, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
In subsequent years, many projects in which the artist was involved received high marks from film critics and positive reviews from viewers. Charles Lawton appeared, for example, in such successful films as "It All Started with Eve", "Tales of Manhattan", "This Land Is Mine", "The Canterville Ghost", "The Suspect", "The Paradine Affair", "Arc de Triomphe", " Big Hours”,“The Leader of the Redskins and Others”,“Baby Bess”,“Hobson's Choice”.
The last most striking works in cinema for Charles Lawton were the roles in the films: "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957), "Spartacus" (1960), "Advice and Consent" (1962).
Personal life and death
In his entire life, the actor was married only once. Actress Eliza Lanchester became his wife. Their acquaintance took place in 1928 on the set of one of the films. After the marriage, the husband and wife appeared together in 7 films.
Eliza and Charles' wedding took place in the winter of 1929. The spouses did not have children. According to one version, Eliza could not get pregnant. According to another, Lawton was homosexual. According to the third version, the actor simply did not like children very much and did not want to continue his family.
In the past few years, the artist has been struggling with cancer. Some sources say that he was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer. Others say Lawton was diagnosed with kidney cancer.
The famous actor died in mid-December in 1962 in Hollywood, USA. He was buried in the Hollywood Hills Cemetery. At the time of his death, Charles Lawton was only 63 years old.
