Eddie Laughton

| resting_place = [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City]]

| resting_place = [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City]]

| spouse = [[Mary Eaton]] (?–1948) (her death){{Cite web|url=http://silenceisplatinum.blogspot.com/2010/05/miss-mary-eaton.html|title=Silence is Platinum: Miss Mary Eaton|date=16 May 2010}}

| spouse = [[Mary Eaton]] (?–1948) (her death){{Cite web|url=http://silenceisplatinum.blogspot.com/2010/05/miss-mary-eaton.html|title=Silence is Platinum: Miss Mary Eaton|date=16 May 2010}}

| othername = Edgar Hugh Laughton

| yearsactive = 1935–1952

| yearsactive = 1935–1952

}}

}}

He was born '''Edgar Hugh Laughton''' in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. Laughton's family immigrated to the United States in 1909 and settled in Detroit. He started in [[vaudeville]] and by 1926 was established in [[Toronto]] as a popular master of ceremonies. [[Larry Fine]], not yet one of the Stooges, was touring in vaudeville, and he and Laughton were old friends. (Fine had saved Laughton's job by going onstage one night as an emergency substitute.)Feinberg, Morris and Davis, Bob. ''Larry: The Stooge in the Middle'', Last Gasp of San Francisco, 1984, p.50.

He was born '''Edgar Hugh Laughton''' in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. Laughton's family immigrated to the United States in 1909 and settled in Detroit. He started in [[vaudeville]] and by 1926 was established in [[Toronto]] as a popular master of ceremonies. [[Larry Fine]], not yet one of the Stooges, was touring in vaudeville, and he and Laughton were old friends. (Fine had saved Laughton's job by going onstage one night as an emergency substitute.)Feinberg, Morris and Davis, Bob. ''Larry: The Stooge in the Middle'', Last Gasp of San Francisco, 1984, p.50.

The pencil-mustached Laughton was placed under contract by [[Columbia Pictures]] in 1935, almost certainly thanks to Fine. Laughton worked at Columbia almost exclusively for 10 years, in features, westerns, short subjects, and [[serial film|serials]] throughout the 1930s and 1940s.{{cite book | last1 = Okuda | first1 = Ted | author-link = Ted Okuda | first2 = Edward | last2 = Watz | title = The Columbia Comedy Shorts | publisher = McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers | year = 1986 | pages = 222 | isbn = 0-89950-181-8}} Modern viewers will remember Laughton for his role as "Percy Pomeroy, convict 41144" in the Stooge comedies ''[[So Long Mr. Chumps]]'' and ''[[Beer Barrel Polecats]]'', the desk clerk in ''[[Three Little Beers]]'' and ''[[Idle Ro`omers]]'', or the happy drunk in ''[[Loco Boy Makes Good]]''. Laughton was an excellent utility player, useful in good-guy and bad-guy roles alike. (He and fellow Columbia stock player [[John Tyrrell (actor)|John Tyrrell]] shared many scenes, often as getaway-car drivers in features and shorts.)

The pencil-mustached Laughton was placed under contract by [[Columbia Pictures]] in 1935, almost certainly thanks to Fine. Laughton worked at Columbia almost exclusively for 10 years, in features, westerns, short subjects, and [[serial film|serials]] throughout the 1930s and 1940s.{{cite book | last1 = Okuda | first1 = Ted | author-link = Ted Okuda | first2 = Edward | last2 = Watz | title = The Columbia Comedy Shorts | publisher = McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers | year = 1986 | pages = 222 | isbn = 0-89950-181-8}} Modern viewers will remember Laughton for his role as "Percy Pomeroy, convict 41144" in the Stooge comedies ''[[So Long Mr. Chumps]]'' and ''[[Beer Barrel Polecats]]'', the desk clerk in ''[[Three Little Beers]]'' and ''[[Idle Roomers]]'', or the happy drunk in ''[[Loco Boy Makes Good]]''. Laughton was an excellent utility player, useful in good-guy and bad-guy roles alike. (He and fellow Columbia stock player [[John Tyrrell (actor)|John Tyrrell]] shared many scenes, often as getaway-car drivers in features and shorts.)

According to the United Kingdom's [[Cinematograph Films Act 1927|Cinematograph Films Act of 1927]], Hollywood companies had to release Canadian-made films if they wanted their American films to be distributed in Canada. Columbia complied by sending its casts and crews to Canadian studios in 1938 and 1939, where Columbia could exercise some control over the productions. Many of the Columbia contractees sent to Canada had British or Canadian roots, Eddie Laughton among them. ''Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures'', 1941 edition, Quigley Publications, 1940, p. 227.

According to the United Kingdom's [[Cinematograph Films Act 1927|Cinematograph Films Act of 1927]], Hollywood companies had to release Canadian-made films if they wanted their American films to be distributed in Canada. Columbia complied by sending its casts and crews to Canadian studios in 1938 and 1939, where Columbia could exercise some control over the productions. Many of the Columbia contractees sent to Canada had British or Canadian roots, Eddie Laughton among them. ''Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures'', 1941 edition, Quigley Publications, 1940, p. 227.