Biography
Laird Cregar was an American stage and film actor. Born Samuel Laird Cregar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 28 July 1913, he was educated at Winchester College in England. He spent summers as a page boy and bit player with the Stratford-upon-Avon theatrical troupe before winning a scholarship to the Pasadena Playhouse in California.
Cregar gained attention in Hollywood after staging a one-man show in which he portrayed Oscar Wilde. He signed a contract with 20th Century-Fox and appeared in films including I Wake Up Screaming (1941), This Gun for Hire (1942), The Black Swan (1942), Heaven Can Wait (1943) as His Excellency, The Lodger (1944) and Hangover Square (1945). He died in Los Angeles on 9 December 1944, aged 31.
