Laird Cregar
E244645
Laird Cregar was an American character actor of the early 1940s, known for his imposing presence and memorable performances in film noir and period dramas.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Laird Cregar canonical | 5 |
| Samuel Laird Cregar | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1942947 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Laird Cregar Context triple: [The Black Swan, starring, Laird Cregar]
-
A.
Eddie Bracken
Eddie Bracken was an American comedic actor known for his roles in 1940s and 1950s film comedies and Broadway productions.
-
B.
Henry Hull
Henry Hull was an American character actor best known for his prolific work in early 20th-century stage and film, including notable roles in classic Hollywood productions.
-
C.
Louis Calhern
Louis Calhern was an American stage and film actor known for his sophisticated character roles in classic Hollywood cinema, including notable performances in films like "The Asphalt Jungle" and "Julius Caesar."
-
D.
Lionel Atwill
Lionel Atwill was an English-American character actor best known for his sinister roles in 1930s and 1940s horror and mystery films.
-
E.
Warner Oland
Warner Oland was a Swedish-American actor best known for portraying the detective Charlie Chan in a popular series of 1930s films.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Laird Cregar Target entity description: Laird Cregar was an American character actor of the early 1940s, known for his imposing presence and memorable performances in film noir and period dramas.
-
A.
Eddie Bracken
Eddie Bracken was an American comedic actor known for his roles in 1940s and 1950s film comedies and Broadway productions.
-
B.
Henry Hull
Henry Hull was an American character actor best known for his prolific work in early 20th-century stage and film, including notable roles in classic Hollywood productions.
-
C.
Louis Calhern
Louis Calhern was an American stage and film actor known for his sophisticated character roles in classic Hollywood cinema, including notable performances in films like "The Asphalt Jungle" and "Julius Caesar."
-
D.
Lionel Atwill
Lionel Atwill was an English-American character actor best known for his sinister roles in 1930s and 1940s horror and mystery films.
-
E.
Warner Oland
Warner Oland was a Swedish-American actor best known for portraying the detective Charlie Chan in a popular series of 1930s films.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
American actor
ⓘ
character actor ⓘ film actor ⓘ human ⓘ |
| activeIn | early 1940s American cinema ⓘ |
| attempted | rapid weight loss to obtain romantic leading roles ⓘ |
| birthName |
Laird Cregar
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Samuel Laird Cregar
|
| breakthroughWork | I Wake Up Screaming ⓘ |
| burialPlace | Calvary Cemetery, Los Angeles ⓘ |
| causeOfDeath |
complications following crash diet and surgery
ⓘ
heart attack ⓘ |
| countryOfCitizenship | United States of America ⓘ |
| dateOfBirth | 1913-07-28 ⓘ |
| dateOfDeath | 1944-12-09 ⓘ |
| educatedAt |
Pasadena Playhouse
ⓘ
surface form:
Pasadena Community Playhouse
Winchester College ⓘ |
| employer | 20th Century Fox ⓘ |
| ethnicGroup | Irish American ⓘ |
| genre |
film noir
ⓘ
period drama ⓘ |
| height | approximately 191 cm ⓘ |
| knownFor | expressive acting despite large physique ⓘ |
| legacy |
cult following among classic film enthusiasts
ⓘ
regarded as one of the great character actors of 1940s Hollywood ⓘ |
| name | Laird Cregar self-link ⓘ |
| notableFor |
imposing physical presence
ⓘ
villainous roles ⓘ |
| notableWork |
Charley's Aunt
ⓘ
surface form:
Charley’s Aunt
Hangover Square ⓘ Hudson's Bay Company ⓘ
surface form:
Hudson’s Bay
I Wake Up Screaming ⓘ The Lodger (1932) ⓘ
surface form:
The Lodger
This Gun for Hire ⓘ |
| occupation |
actor
ⓘ
film actor ⓘ stage actor ⓘ |
| performedIn | stage productions in Los Angeles ⓘ |
| placeOfBirth |
Philadelphia
ⓘ
surface form:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
|
| placeOfDeath |
Los Angeles, California, United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
Los Angeles, California, United States
|
| portrayed |
Jack the Ripper-like serial killer in The Lodger
ⓘ
mentally unstable composer in Hangover Square ⓘ |
| screenDebut | bit parts in late 1930s films ⓘ |
| sexualOrientation | closeted gay man ⓘ |
| struggledWith | typecasting as a heavy villain ⓘ |
| studioSystemEra |
Hollywood Golden Age
ⓘ
surface form:
Golden Age of Hollywood
|
| yearsActive | 1938–1944 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Laird Cregar Description of subject: Laird Cregar was an American character actor of the early 1940s, known for his imposing presence and memorable performances in film noir and period dramas.
Referenced by (6)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Blood and Sand (1941 film)
this entity surface form:
Samuel Laird Cregar