In later years he was frequently accused by the critics of having a tendency to ham, although he remained a popular star.
In the 1928 play "Alibi" he became the first actor to play Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot.
In the opening scene of It Started with Eve (1941), an assistant newspaper editor comments that if Jonathan Reynolds Sr. had lived two centuries earlier, he would have made a great pirate - "Captain Kidd himself." Three years later, Laughton, who played Jonathan Reynolds Sr., played the title role in Captain Kidd (1945) and again in Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952).
Interred at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA, in the Court of Remembrance.
Laughton was originally cast as Micawber in David Copperfield (1935), but resigned after two days of shooting. It was said at the time that "he looked as though he were about to molest the child" (played by Freddie Bartholomew).
Served in First World War. In spite of having Public School education and Officer Training (in Stonyhurst College's OTC), he chose to join the Army as a private in 1917. He served with the Huntingdonshire Cyclist Regiment, and later with 7th Bn. Northamptonshire Regiment in the Western Front. Shortly before the armistice he became a casualty due to mustard gas.
Twice was the Mystery Guest on the popular television quiz show "What's My Line" (1951).
Was an acquaintance of Rev. Felton H. Griffin, a pioneering Alaska minister who founded the Alaska Baptist Convention in the 1940s. Griffin was an avid hunter and fisherman, and on occasion, he flew Laughton to his cabin at Coal Lake, Alaska for weekend retreats.
Was director-writer Billy Wilder's first choice to play the character of Moustache in Irma la Douce (1963). Laughton, who had been directed to a Best Actor Oscar nomination by Wilder in Witness for the Prosecution (1957) in 1958, agreed to play the role, but died before principal photography commenced.
Was the first actor to play Roman Emperor Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, in the aborted film version of Robert Graves' I, Claudius (1937). Production was suspended after Laughton's co-star Merle Oberon, playing his wife Messalina, was involved in an automobile accident in which she crashed through the car's windshield and sustained cuts to her face. The decision was made to shut down the production and the costs were reimbursed to producer Alexander Korda's London Films by Lloyds of London.
Was the first choice to play Professor Henry Higgins in Pygmalion (1938) but he, however, turned it down. Leslie Howard was cast instead.
Was the original choice to play the role of Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). He turned down the part, saying he did not know how to play it convincingly as he did not understand the motivations of the character. He said he only understood the character after seeing the completed film and Alec Guinness' performance.
Was the stand-in for Ed Sullivan for Elvis Presley's first appearance on _"Toast of the Town" in 1956. Later his wife Elsa Lanchester had a small role in Elvis' movie Easy Come, Easy Go (1967).