Charles Laughton Woman" (1933) in which he co-starred with Carole Lombard as a Cockney river trader in the Malayan jungle. Then came "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" (1934) as Norma Shearer's character's malevolent father (although Laughton was only three years older than Shearer); "Les Misérables" (1935) as Inspector Javert; one of his most famous screen roles in "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935) as Captain William Bligh, co-starring with Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian; and "Ruggles of Red Gap" (1935) as the very English butler transported to early 1900s America. He signed to play Micawber in "David Copperfield" (1934), but after a few
Charles Laughton and José Ferrer as Greenwald based on the original novel, but did not affect that film's box-office performance. Laughton also directed a staged reading in 1953 of Stephen Vincent Benét's "John Brown's Body", a full-length poem about the American Civil War and its aftermath. The production starred Tyrone Power, Raymond Massey (re-creating his film characterisations of Abraham Lincoln and John Brown), and Judith Anderson. Laughton did not appear himself in either production, but "John Brown's Body" was recorded complete by Columbia Masterworks. Laughton returned to the London stage in May 1958 to direct and star in Jane Arden's "The Party"