Tyrant of the Sea Tyrant of the Sea Tyrant of the Sea is a 1950 American historical war film directed by Lew Landers and starring Ron Randell, Rhys Williams and Lester Matthews. It is set during the Napoleonic Wars, with Admiral Horatio Nelson appearing as a character. The film began as a project "The Return of Captain Bligh" and was to star Charles Laughton, who had famously played Captain Bligh in "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935). However Laughton did not want to repeat his performance so the project was rewritten to focus on a fictitious character. Rhys Williams played the part based on Bligh.
Charles Laughton (Ed Sullivan was recuperating from a car accident). That same year, Laughton hosted the first of two programmes devoted to classical music entitled "Festival of Music", and telecast on the NBC television anthology series "Producers' Showcase". One of his last performances was on "Checkmate", in which he played a missionary recently returned from China. He threw himself into the role, travelling to China for several months to better understand his character. In 1927, Laughton began a relationship with Elsa Lanchester, at the time a castmate in a stage play. The two were married in 1929, became US citizens in 1950,