Interestingly, he is buried in a Vets Cemetary in Tampa Florida. Some Drs felt that his acromegaly was caused by being gassed in World-War-One.
shareI visited his grave a couple months ago. He is with a lot of other WWI vets all in a row.
shareI'm glad the studio had the grace to be ashamed of taking advantage of Mr. Hatton's illness. I wasn't scared of the creeper's looks at all. This movie's goal seems to make people fearful of folks who look different from normal. Not too cool.
No two persons ever watch the same movie.share
Not to mention the fact that the character Cliff was a jerk and a half. he deserved everything that happened to him, and he barely seemed ot care about what had happened to his friend after he helped to cause the accident that made him that way in the first place. When the guy disappeared out of the hospital, Cliff did nothing to try to find or help him. Creep.
share"he deserved everything that happened to him,"
I don't get this at all. Most of what befell Hal was his own fault. He didn't study, he tried to steal his friend's girl, he didn't control his temper, he blamed everyone for what happened to him except himself. None of his problems would have happened if he hadn't thrown that beaker full of chemicals. That's not Cliff's fault, or the professor's fault, etc. And you're forgetting that Cliff and his girlfriend did visit Hal in the hospital, but Hal refused to talk with them.
They were thinking with their ledgers...
1. Hatton certainly needed the work. They had him.
2. With no makeup, think of all the savings!
They were the creeps.
Taking advantage of Mr. Hatton's illness? How did they do that? Did they threaten to break every bone in his body if he didn't appear in this movie? Who are you to say that they took advantage of him? Do you have any proof?
Mr. Hatton CHOSE to be in this film for whatever reason, and I'm glad he did.
Hatton's story is often totally over-looked. He was voted both his High School's "Handsomest Boy" & "Most Likely to Succeed" upon graduation. Then, like many Patriotic youths he rushed to enlist for service in the first world war, where the Mustard Gas attack sent him to the hospital for months. He came out growing more and more like the man we saw in "The Brute Man." Another thing we know about the disease is that is inflicts constant pain of the sufferer, often leading to drug and alcohol addiction. I've often wondered why some young Sondheim-to-be hasn't written an epic musical about this tragic figure. He deserves it.
shareI agree Rip.
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