Charles Laughton recites President Lincoln's 'Gettysburg Address' - "Ruggles of Red Gap" (1935)
adam28xx
349,659 views
In 1935, Charles Laughton appeared in his first major comedy role as the Earl of Burnstead's butler, Marmaduke Ruggles. One day he is informed by his employer that he's been won in a poker game by a rich American couple and is to be transported to their Wild West home in Red Gap. Although he is still their butler, he becomes a fixture in Red Gap society and is referred to as a 'Colonel Ruggles.' He avidly reads about United States history and its Presidents and as a result decides to tell his new employers that he wants to leave them and start up on his own. This takes place in a saloon and to the astonishment of the assembled patrons, he is able to recite President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address from memory. It is a famous moment in Laughton''s film career and this clip of that speech comes from the 'Eureka' DVD/Blu-ray release. (Catalogue No. EKA70043).
In his 1987 TV Tribute to Laughton, Simon Callow remarked that "he gave half-a-dozen of the most memorable performances ever committed to celluloid." These included the King in "The Private Life of Henry VIII," Captain Bligh in "Mutiny on the Bounty" and Quasimodo in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in the 1930s, as well those in his later years, such as "Witness for the Prosecution" and "Spartacus" ... Simon Callow's Charles Laughton tribute (1...
Here is another famous moment in Laughton's career, from his last movie "Advise and Consent" in which he played Southern senator "Seab" Cooley. For both personal and professional reasons, here he's forcefully rejecting the President's nomination of Robert A. Leffingwell (Henry Fonda) as the US Secretary of State ... 'Advise and Consent' - Charles Laughton's ...
Two years after appearing in "Ruggles of Red Gap," Laughton went into the recording studio and made a 78rpm disc of the 'Gettysburg Address' ... Here it is ...
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address - Charles Lau...
For those who haven't seen it, here is a Charles Laughton Filmography ...
Charles Laughton - Filmography of a Great ...
20 Comments
But.
4 score n 7yrs ago....
One can appreciate his excellence simply by viewing him in any role. However, his greatness becomes even more profound, if one then watches another actor assay the same role.
In The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), his Quasimodo is extreme in his ugliness, his pain (in every way, expressed by his low whimpers which functioned like stage whispers), and his heroic nobility.
During the mid-1950s, Anthony Quinn played the same role (with Gina Lollobrigida, who was excellent as the Gypsy girl, previously played by Maureen O'Hara, who was also a standout). Tony Quinn was one of the world's greatest actors, and yet he couldn't bear to pull out all the stops, the way Laughton had. He wasn't ugly enough, and did not struggle physically enough as the twisted Quasimodo.
Thank you Adam28xx, that was wonderful and I listened just as all those cowboys did, hardly breathing as Charles read those words like only he could.
Great book too
Charles Laughton recites President Lincoln's 'Gettysburg Address' - "Ruggles of Red Gap" (1935)
adam28xx
349,659 views
In 1935, Charles Laughton appeared in his first major comedy role as the Earl of Burnstead's butler, Marmaduke Ruggles. One day he is informed by his employer that he's been won in a poker game by a rich American couple and is to be transported to their Wild West home in Red Gap. Although he is still their butler, he becomes a fixture in Red Gap society and is referred to as a 'Colonel Ruggles.' He avidly reads about United States history and its Presidents and as a result decides to tell his new employers that he wants to leave them and start up on his own. This takes place in a saloon and to the astonishment of the assembled patrons, he is able to recite President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address from memory. It is a famous moment in Laughton''s film career and this clip of that speech comes from the 'Eureka' DVD/Blu-ray release. (Catalogue No. EKA70043).
In his 1987 TV Tribute to Laughton, Simon Callow remarked that "he gave half-a-dozen of the most memorable performances ever committed to celluloid." These included the King in "The Private Life of Henry VIII," Captain Bligh in "Mutiny on the Bounty" and Quasimodo in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in the 1930s, as well those in his later years, such as "Witness for the Prosecution" and "Spartacus" ... Simon Callow's Charles Laughton tribute (1...
Here is another famous moment in Laughton's career, from his last movie "Advise and Consent" in which he played Southern senator "Seab" Cooley. For both personal and professional reasons, here he's forcefully rejecting the President's nomination of Robert A. Leffingwell (Henry Fonda) as the US Secretary of State ... 'Advise and Consent' - Charles Laughton's ...
Two years after appearing in "Ruggles of Red Gap," Laughton went into the recording studio and made a 78rpm disc of the 'Gettysburg Address' ... Here it is ...
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address - Charles Lau...
For those who haven't seen it, here is a Charles Laughton Filmography ...
Charles Laughton - Filmography of a Great ...