Mutiny on the Bounty (1962 film) to return to Britain and testify to Bligh's wrongdoing and asks his men to sail with him. To prevent this possibility the men set the ship on fire and Christian is fatally burned while trying to save it. Following the success of 1935's "Mutiny on the Bounty", director Frank Lloyd announced plans in 1940 to make a sequel which focused on Captain Bligh in later life, to star Spencer Tracy or Charles Laughton. No film resulted. In 1945 Casey Wilson wrote a script for "Christian of the Bounty", which was to star Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian and focus on
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,