Talk:Charles Laughton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page. | ||
| B | This article has been rated as B-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ] | ||
 |
This article is supported by the Arts and Entertainment work group. | ||
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject LGBT studies, which tries to ensure comprehensive and factual coverage of all LGBT related issues on Wikipedia. For more information, or to get involved, visit the project page. |
| B | This article has been rated as B-class on the quality scale. |
 |
WikiProject Echo has identified Charles Laughton as a foreign language featured article. You may be able to improve this article with information from the Catalan language Wikipedia. |
Contents |
[edit] Gay actor?
No evidence cited here, so I have removed him from the category.Paul Tracy|\talk
-
- He should be included in the category. There is a good deal of evidence that he was a homosexual, though he was married to Elsa Lancaster. I'll see what I can dig up and cite the sources and then re-add him to the category. *Exeunt* Ganymead | Dialogue? 16:09, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
- Go to it. I just though it was odd that he had been added to the category when the strongest mention in the article was to "his rumored homosexuality". Lots of actors and other humans have had "rumored homosexuality" at one time or another!Paul Tracy|\talk
- He should be included in the category. There is a good deal of evidence that he was a homosexual, though he was married to Elsa Lancaster. I'll see what I can dig up and cite the sources and then re-add him to the category. *Exeunt* Ganymead | Dialogue? 16:09, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
There was nothing rumored about Laughton's homosexuality.
-
- I don't know if I want to step into this or not, but here goes . . . I really could not care less whether or not Laughton was gay. There certainly is no reason that I can think of that could not have been. Nonetheless, I have seen over the years that activist groups sometimes claim "as their own" people who are dead and beyond the ability to speak for themselves. I think that his wife's biographical testimony is clearly a significant piece of evidence supporting his possible homosexuality, but I have been looking online for a while now, and can find nothing else. On the other side of the debate, we have the testimony of his protege, Ms. O'Hara, who says that he was not gay. Also providing some evidence (though by no means indisputable) for the proposition that he was not gay is the fact that he did remain married to the same woman for over thirty years. The evidence about why they did not have children is also very disputed, with one argument from his defenders—that Elsa had had a botched abortion—providing a motive for her [Elsa] to have been untruthful about his sexuality.
-
- So when all is said and done, here's what I think: It appears quite likely that Laughton was gay, but it is far from certain. Unfortunately, historical conditions often keep us from knowing a great many things with certainty. It seems to me that, without further independent and disinterested verification, it is not unreasonable to place the word "rumored" in front of Laughton's homosexuality. (And the plethora of gay organizations' websites that tout him as a homosexual, and the gazillions of lists that use such websites as their source material, do not constitute credible independent verification.) Unschool 21:41, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
I agree that regarding the sexual tendencies of famous people there's often much unconfirmed rumour going around just for the sake of gossip: often people would do better in learning about these people's splendid work first, and not whether or what they did in their private lifes. However, regarding Laughton's homosexuality, there's more than mere rumour and there are certainly a good number of testimonies (printed and recorded, not merely on websites) of it beyond that of his widow Elsa Lanchester : Laughton himself revealed the fact to friends like Billy Wilder (read the book-interview by Cameron Crowe), musician Larry Adler, Robert Mitchum or the writer Christopher Isherwood to name a few. I recommend you read two fine books on him and excellent analyses of his work : "A Difficult Actor" by Simon Callow and "Heaven and Hell to Play with" by Preston Neal Jones. It is not a matter of making lists or making him part or not of one clique (to which I don't belong so I have no particular interest in the issue): his homosexuality was a factor of his personality , just as, say, his Yorkshire background, his love of painting, literature or gardening, or his Catholic upbringing: by obliteraring any of these (or other) factors you miss a relevant facet of him... His being gay -whether you warm to the idea or not-certainly shouldn't prevent you from admiring him and enjoying his magnificent work. Regarding Maureen O'Hara, I have read her recent autobiography and, if I understood it well, what she denies is Elsa's statement that Laughton didn't want to be a father, not whether he was homosexual or not. (Gloria Porta 15:09, 30 May 2006 (UTC))
- That's good enough for me. I just didn't want to go on Elsa alone. (And yes, he was magnificent—one of my favorites of all time.) Unschool 05:28, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Irish?
Does anyone have a source for his Irish background? This site [1] does say his mother was a devout Catholic, but that's about it... JackO'Lantern 01:20, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
While Elizabeth (born Conlon) Laughton -his mother- is stated as being from Seaham Harbour (Yorkshire), she was -from all printed reference- of Irish stock, and a Roman Catholic. His husband's religion's is not stated, but his son Tom Laughton (Charles' brother) indicated that his father's religion was not the same of his mother's Gloria Porta
Seaham Harbour isn't in Yorkshire. It's in County Durham, just south of Sunderland. Bandalore 16:01, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Contrasting contradictory versions in first sources
Sorry, in the edit history, I say O'Hara's article, I meant Lanchester's. Zelse81 04:01, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
Zelse, I'm considering editing the reference, as I believe is in open contradiction with what Elsa stated in her 1983 biography. Namely, that Elsa got once pregnant -from Charles- but decided not to have the kid (she records a previous abortion before they met). Lanchester, in her own words, declined having children with him later, but doesn't mention any physical handicap on her side as a reason for it, rather her lack of wish of having children from Charles, as a reckoning against him for having "cheated" her. Probably Charles' statement to O'Hara was meant to excuse, or cover, Elsa's motives for not having children.
The solution is to either mention both versions or delete the mentionGloria Porta 07:13, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Korda
What can be added about his appreciation for Korda's work? - Pernambuco 22:18, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
- More like..."about Korda's appreciation of his work"~, as it was Korda who went after Laughton when he came back from a successful string of performances in Hollywood films in 1932. Indeed, much more information could be added about Korda and other issues (check the Catalan language Wikipedia article), but then it is a matter of finding time to read source bibliography - I have four books on Thalberg and Korda to finish reading- and elaborate the information within a paragraph that doesn't clash with previous contributions (and cross fingers so anyone who's just got an inaccurate bit of info from internet won't vandalize your carefully sourced contribution)Gloria Porta 08:28, 28 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Stand By For Action
I'm intrigued by the comment that Laughton was "mis-cast in Stand by for Action (film)". I have seen this film a number of times and considering that the rôle called for a bombastic arrogant aristocratic naval sort, and came across as such with a certain relish I have to wonder who would say that he was "miscast". Any citation? --Harlsbottom 21:09, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
- If no citation is provided, the statement should be removed. It is certainly POV if no citation is present. *Exeunt* Ganymead | Dialogue? 21:29, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] laughton and brecht
as far as i know, laughton did not direct galileo! it is true that he worked very closely with brecht on the translation and staging of the play and both did most of the director's work as well. however, neither brecht nor laughton were the director of the play. this job was done by joseph losey.
please check up this information in "Bertolt Brecht in America. James K. Lyon. Princeton University Press, 1980." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.113.15.158 (talk) 21:10, 14 May 2007 (UTC).
