Laughton gifted the world with a number of universally recognised film characters: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Captain Bligh, Henry Hobson and Henry VIII, as well as the unfinished epic Claudius. This bio traces a fifty year film and stage career; from West End hits and Old Vic classics, to Broadway and Hollywood, working for the great directors and producers of Hollywood. He was described as ugly, difficult and yet magnetic and endured a lifetime battle to come to terms with his homosexuality as well as a thirty-year marriage to actress Elsa Lanchester. Black and white photos, as well as an intense filmography, playography and bibliography.