Hangover Square (1945)

This nail-biting, grim crime thriller is the final film of talented young actor Laird Cregar, who had the potential of becoming a major Hollywood star had he not died shortly after filming. Set in a dark, foggy turn-of-the-century London, Laird plays an extraordinarily sensitive composer who becomes an enraged psychotic killer after hearing too many strident, harsh sounds. While in his maniacal, paranoid state, he horribly kills three people whom he believes double-crossed him. Meanwhile a Scotland Yard psychologist hastily tries to understand his ailment and see that justice is done. Cregar, who had spent most of his life weighing over 300 pounds decided that he wanted to cut a less cumbersome figure for this film and so began a stringent, severe diet. Sure enough, he lost 100 pounds in short order. His body could not handle the shock and shortly after undergoing surgery, he died.