Early life and career

Samuel Laird Cregar was the youngest of six sons of Edward Matthews Cregar, a cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er 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

Winchester College

Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, spending his summers as a page boy and bit player with the Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...

 theatrical troupe. Upon completing his schooling, Cregar won a scholarship at California's Pasadena Playhouse

Pasadena Playhouse

The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...

, 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

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...

.

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 (at the age of only 24) in Charley's Aunt

Charley's Aunt

Charley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances....

(1941), the first of several showcases for the actor's delightful comic flair. With his sinister portrayal of the psychopathic detective

Detective

A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

 in I Wake Up Screaming

I Wake Up Screaming

I Wake Up Screaming is a 1941 film noir. It is based on the novel of the same name by Steve Fisher, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dwight Taylor...

(1941), he followed that up with the successful screwball comedy

Screwball Comedy

Screwball Comedy is an album by the Japanese band Soul Flower Union. The album found the band going into a simpler, harder-rocking direction, after several heavily world-music influenced albums.-Track listing:...

 Rings on Her Fingers

Rings on Her Fingers

Rings on Her Fingers is a 1942 screwball comedy film starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney. A poor man gets mistaken for a millionaire and is swindled out of his life savings.-Cast:* Henry Fonda as John Wheeler...

(1942) playing a con artist opposite Gene Tierney

Gene Tierney

Gene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...

. Cregar became one of filmdom's top "heavies" — both figuratively and literally. Seldom weighing less than 300 pounds (136 kg) throughout his adult life, Cregar became obsessed with his weight.

After top billing in The Lodger

The Lodger (1944 film)

The Lodger is a 1944 horror film about Jack the Ripper, based on the novel of the same name by Marie Belloc Lowndes. It stars Merle Oberon, George Sanders and Laird Cregar, features Sir Cedric Hardwicke and was directed by John Brahm from a screenplay by Barré Lyndon.Lowndes' story had previously...

(1944), who may or may not be Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper

"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...

, 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

Hangover Square (film)

Hangover Square is a film noir directed by John Brahm, based on the novel Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton. The screenplay was written by Barré Lyndon who made a number of changes to the novel, including the transformation of George Harvey Bone into a classical composer-pianist and filming the...

(1945), Cregar decided to give the character a "romantic" veneer, and, to that end, lost more than a hundred pounds on a crash diet

Crash diet

A crash diet is a diet which is extreme in its nutritional deprivations, typically severely restricting calorie intake. It is meant to achieve rapid weight loss and may differ from outright starvation only slightly. It is not meant to last for long periods of time, at most a few weeks. ...

 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 31 years old. Hangover Square was released two months after his death.

Cregar was laid to rest in a simple grave beside the road in the Eventide Section, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park

Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale

Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California. It is the original location of Forest Lawn, a chain of cemeteries in Southern California. The land was formerly part of Providencia Ranch.-History:...

 in Glendale, California

Glendale, California

Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...

.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1940	Oh Johnny, How You Can Love	Mechanic
	Granny Get Your Gun	Court clerk	Uncredited
1941	Hudson's Bay Hudson's Bay (film) Hudson's Bay is a 1941 Historical drama by 20th Century Fox starring Paul Muni, Gene Tierney and Laird Cregar. The film is about a pair of French-Canadian explorers whose findings lead to the formation of the Hudson's Bay Company...	Gooseberry
	Blood and Sand Blood and Sand (1941 film) Blood and Sand is a Technicolor film produced by 20th Century Fox, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth, and Alla Nazimova...	Natalio Curro
	Charley's Aunt Charley's Aunt Charley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances....	Sir Francis Chesney	Alternative title: Charley's American Aunt
	I Wake Up Screaming I Wake Up Screaming I Wake Up Screaming is a 1941 film noir. It is based on the novel of the same name by Steve Fisher, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dwight Taylor...	Police Insp. Ed Cornell	Alternative title: Hot Spot
1942	Joan of Paris Joan of Paris Joan of Paris is a 1942 war film about five Royal Air Force pilots shot down over Nazi-occupied France during World War II and their attempt to escape to England...	Herr Funk
	Rings on Her Fingers Rings on Her Fingers Rings on Her Fingers is a 1942 screwball comedy film starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney. A poor man gets mistaken for a millionaire and is swindled out of his life savings.-Cast:* Henry Fonda as John Wheeler...	Warren
	This Gun for Hire This Gun for Hire This Gun for Hire is a 1942 film noir, directed by Frank Tuttle and based on the novel A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene. The film stars Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar, and Alan Ladd.-Plot:...	Willard Gates
	Ten Gentlemen from West Point	Maj. Sam Carter
	The Black Swan The Black Swan (film) The Black Swan is a 1942 swashbuckler Technicolor film by Henry King, based on a novel by Rafael Sabatini, and starring Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, and won one for Best Cinematography, Color.-Plot:...	Capt. Sir Henry Morgan	Alternative title: Rafael Sabatini's The Black Swan
1943	Hello, Frisco, Hello Hello, Frisco, Hello Hello, Frisco, Hello is a film starring Alice Faye, John Payne, Lynn Bari, and Jack Oakie. The film was made in Technicolor and released by 20th Century-Fox. This was one of the last musicals made by Faye for Fox, and in later interviews Faye said it was clear Fox was promoting Betty Grable as her...	Sam Weaver
	Heaven Can Wait Heaven Can Wait (1943 film) Heaven Can Wait is a 1943 American comedy film produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The screenplay was by Samson Raphaelson based on the play Birthday by Leslie Bush-Fekete. The music score was by Alfred Newman and the cinematography by Edward Cronjager.The film tells the story of a man who has...	His Excellency
	Holy Matrimony	Clive Oxford
1944	The Lodger The Lodger (1944 film) The Lodger is a 1944 horror film about Jack the Ripper, based on the novel of the same name by Marie Belloc Lowndes. It stars Merle Oberon, George Sanders and Laird Cregar, features Sir Cedric Hardwicke and was directed by John Brahm from a screenplay by Barré Lyndon.Lowndes' story had previously...	Mr. Slade
1945	Hangover Square Hangover Square (film) Hangover Square is a film noir directed by John Brahm, based on the novel Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton. The screenplay was written by Barré Lyndon who made a number of changes to the novel, including the transformation of George Harvey Bone into a classical composer-pianist and filming the...	George Harvey Bone

External links