Volume 37, Number 2 · February 15, 1990
Quasimodo in America
By James Harvey
Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor
by Simon Callow
Grove Press, 318 pp., $10.95 (paper)
While he was directing the stage production of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial in 1954, Charles Laughton, as Simon Callow recounts in his book, had severe problems with the star, Henry Fonda. One day Fonda, who was unhappy with both the play and his role (as Barney Greenwald, the prosecuting attorney), made a remark in anger for which Laughton never forgave him. During the rehearsals, Laughton made a comment about military behavior and Fonda turned on him and said: 'What do you know about men, you fat, ugly faggot!' Laughton never spoke to Fonda again, not even ten years later when they were in a film together.
Review, 4148 words
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