Frank Langella Fired From ‘Fall of the House of Usher’ After Misconduct Investigation

Martin Holmes April 14, 2022, 8:24 am

Comments

Frank Langella onstage at the Center Theatre Group 50th Anniversary Celebration — Rich Polk/Getty Images for Center Theatre Group

Oscar-nominated actor Frank Langella has been dropped from Netflix‘s upcoming limited series The Fall of the House of Usher following an investigation into misconduct allegations.

As first reported by Deadline, an investigation into Langella’s on set behavior was recently completed and resulted in the actor’s firing. Langella was originally cast as Roderick Usher in the eight-episode series, which is based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. According to Deadline, the role will now be recast and scenes already filmed by Langella will be re-shot.

The news of Langella’s on set conduct came to light earlier this week in a report by TMZ, which stated that the 84-year-old actor had been accused of sexual harassment, including making inappropriate comments toward one of his female co-stars. Langella was set to lead the cast of The Fall of the House of Usher, which also stars Carla Gugino, Mary McDonnell, Carl Lumbly, and Mark Hamill.

Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) is behind the series, which is inspired by Poe’s short story The Fall of the House of Usher. It is described as “an epic tale of greed, horror, and tragedy” and will dive into themes dealing with madness, family, isolation, and identity. The character of Roderick Usher is the powerful patriarch of the Usher dynasty.

Langella is known for starring in films such as Dracula (1979), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Robot & Frank (2012), and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). He earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in 2008 for his role as Richard Nixon in Ron Howard’s political drama Frost/Nixon. His television work includes a recurring role as KGB handler Gabriel in the FX series The Americans and the character Sebastian Piccirillo in the Showtime series Kidding.