A page from an autograph album signed in person by Charles Laughton (1899 - 1962), the rubber-faced, thick-lipped, Oscar-winning British actor who was very successful in London theatre in the 1920's, and became one of the most successful screen actors of the 1930s. By the mid 1940s his tendency to ham it up had gone over the top, but he came good again in his last couple of pictures before his death from spinal cancer. Laughton collaborated with Alexander Korda on notable British films of the era, including The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), for which he won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the title character. He received two further nominations for his roles in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957), and reprised the role of Henry VIII in Young Bess (1953). He portrayed everything from monsters and misfits to kings. Among Laughton's biggest film hits were The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), Jamaica Inn (1939), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), The Big Clock (1948), Hobson's Choice (1954) and Spartacus (1960). He was married to the actress Elsa Lanchester, but had several homosexual affairs.