Laird Cregar

Laird Cregar
as Natalio Curro in the trailer for Blood and Sand (1941)
Born	Samuel Laird Cregar
Years active	1938—1944

Laird Cregar (July 28, 1916 – December 9, 1944) was an American-born British actor.

Early life and career

Samuel Laird Cregar was the youngest of six sons of Edward Matthews Cregar, a cricketer and member of a team called the Gentlemen of Philadelphia. They toured internationally in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Laird's mother was the former Elizabeth Smith.

Laird Cregar was educated at Winchester College in England, spending his summers as a page boy and bit player with the Stratford-upon-Avon theatrical troupe. Upon completing his schooling, Cregar won a scholarship at California's Pasadena Playhouse, supporting himself as a nightclub bouncer when funds ran out. So broke that at times he had to sleep in his car, Cregar forced Hollywood to pay attention to him by staging his own one-man show, in which he portrayed Oscar Wilde.

as Sir Henry Morgan in the trailer for The Black Swan (1942)

After a few minor film roles, Cregar was signed to a 20th Century-Fox contract; among his first major roles was the middle-aged Francis Chesney (ironically, having played the role at the age of only 24) in Charley's Aunt (1941), the first of several showcases for the actor's delightful comic flair. With his sinister portrayal of the psychopathic detective in I Wake Up Screaming (1941), he followed that up with the successful screwball comedy Rings on Her Fingers (1942) playing a con artist opposite Gene Tierney. Cregar became one of filmdom's top "heavies"--both figuratively and literally. Seldom weighing less than 300 pounds throughout his adult life, Cregar came to a tragic end because of his obsession to become a slim "beautiful man".

After top billing in The Lodger (1944), who may or may not be Jack the Ripper, the increasingly sensitive Cregar was growing tired of being thought of as merely a hulking villain.

Death

When assigned the role of demented pianist George Bone in Hangover Square (1945), Cregar decided to give the character a romantic veneer, and to that end, lost more than a hundred pounds on a crash diet which included prescribed amphetamines. The strain on his system resulted in severe abdominal problems; a few days after undergoing stomach surgery, Cregar died of a heart attack. He was only 28. He was laid to rest in a simple grave beside the road in the Eventide Section, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1940	Oh Johnny, How You Can Love	Mechanic
	Granny Get Your Gun	Court clerk	Uncredited
1941	Hudson's Bay	Gooseberry
	Blood and Sand	Natalio Curro
	Charley's Aunt	Sir Francis Chesney	Alternative title: Charley's American Aunt
	I Wake Up Screaming	Police Insp. Ed Cornell	Alternative title: Hot Spot
1942	Joan of Paris	Herr Funk
	Rings on Her Fingers	Warren
	This Gun for Hire	Willard Gates
	Ten Gentlemen from West Point	Maj. Sam Carter
	The Black Swan	Capt. Sir Henry Morgan	Alternative title: Rafael Sabatini's The Black Swan
1943	Hello, Frisco, Hello	Sam Weaver
	Heaven Can Wait	His Excellency
	Holy Matrimony	Clive Oxford
1944	The Lodger	Mr. Slade
1945	Hangover Square	George Harvey Bone

External links

• ‹The template AllMovie name is being considered for deletion.› Laird Cregar at AllMovie
• Laird Cregar at Find a Grave

Template:Persondata