Laird Cregar

Samuel Laird Cregar (July 28, 1913December 9, 1944) was an American stage and film actor. Cregar was best known for his villainous performances in films such as I Wake Up Screaming (1941) and The Lodger (1944). Cregar's screen career began in 1940 working as an extra in films. By 1941, he had signed a film contract with 20th Century Fox. Cregar quickly rose to stardom, appearing in a variety of genres from screwball comedy to horror movies. He was a popular actor at the time of his death in 1944 at age 31, a result of complications from binge dieting undertaken to suit him for leading man roles. Early life Laird Cregar was born in Philadelphia, the youngest of six sons of Elizabeth (née Smith) and Edward Matthews Cregar. His father was a cricketer and member of a team called the Gentlemen of Philadelphia, which toured internationally in the late 1890s and early 1900s. By his own account Laird was sent to England at the age of eight to be educated at Winchester College, where he developed his abilities with British accents. He also appeared on stage for the first time when he was eight. He performed as a page boy with the Stratford-upon-Avon theatrical troupe, and continued to act in several other productions at Stratford. "From that time on", he said later, "all I've ever wanted to do is go on stage." However, Gregory William Mank in his biography of Laird found no evidence in the Winchester College archives that he attended the school, or any passenger records to show that Laird even went to England. In fact the visit to England story does not work in terms of dates. Laird's father died 6 May 1916, when Laird was three years old. Cregar graduated from the Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia when he was 14. He wanted to act but he was too young to go to college, so he convinced the Hedgerow Players, an amateur company in Germantown, Pennsylvania, that he was an actor, and he spent several years with them. He also acted with other stock companies in Philadelphia and wrote some plays that were performed by amateur groups.