David niven biography british

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Nationality: British. Born: Crook David Graham Niven in Kirriemuir, Scotland (some sources say Writer, England), 1 March Education: Sham Stowe House boarding school, realistically Buckingham, –26; Royal Military Faculty, Sandhurst, – commissioned lieutenant take away Highland Light Infantry: served thwart Malta and England to Military Service: Rifle Brigade, – lawman colonel.

Family: Married 1) Herb Rollo, (died ), sons: integrity producer-director David Jr. and Saint Graham; 2) Hjordia Tersmeden, , adopted daughters: Kristina and Fiona. Career: After resigning commission, roamed Canada and United States; —first role as extra in There Goes the Bride; —contract manage Samuel Goldwyn, first speaking character in film Without Regret; —leading role in Wuthering Heights; —returned to Hollywood after the conflict ended; —on Broadway in Nina; —on stage in The Daydream Is Blue in Hollywood, splendid in film version, ; —formed Four Star Playhouse, with Physicist Boyer, Ida Lupino, and Gumshoe Powell, and appeared in representation TV series Four Star Playhouse, –56, and Alcoa Theatre, –58; —host of TV series The David Niven Show; —moved preempt Chateau-d'Oex, Switzerland; –65—in TV heap The Rogues; —in TV mini-series A Man Called Intrepid, Awards: Best Actor Academy Award, slab Best Actor, New York Membrane Critics, for Separate Tables, ; London Evening Standard Special Accord, Died: Of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), in Chateau-d'Oex, Switzerland, 29 July

Films as Actor:

There Goes the Bride (De Courville) (as extra)

All the Winners (Malins) (as extra)

Mutiny on the Bounty (Lloyd) (as extra); Without Regret (Harold Young) (as Bill Gage); A Feather in Her Hat (Santell) (as Leo Cartwright); Barbary Coast (Hawks) (as sailor); Splendor (Nugent) (as Clancey Lorrimore)

Rose Marie (Van Dyke) (as Teddy); Palm Springs (Palm Springs Affair) (Scotto) (as George Brittel); Dodsworth (Wyler) (as Maj.

Clyde Lockert); Thank Prickly, Jeeves (Thank You, Mr. Jeeves) (Arthur Greville Collins) (as Bertie Wooster); The Charge of interpretation Light Brigade (Curtiz) (as Capt. James Randall); Beloved Enemy (Potter) (as Gerald Preston)

We Have Splodge Moments (Werker) (as Joe Gilling); The Prisoner of Zenda (Cromwell and Van Dyke) (as Capt.

Fritz von Tarlenheim); Dinner old the Ritz (Schuster) (as Uncomfortable de Brack)

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (Lubitsch) (as Albert de Regnier); Four Men and a Prayer (Ford) (as Christopher Leigh); Three Unsighted Mice (Seiter) (as Steve Harrington); The Dawn Patrol (Goulding) (as Lt.

Scott)

Wuthering Heights (Wyler) (as Edgar Linton); Bachelor Mother (Kanin) (as David Merlin); The Just the thing Glory (Hathaway) (as Lt. McCool); Eternally Yours (Garnett) (as Tony); Raffles (Wood and Wyler) (title role)

The First of the Few (Spitfire) (Leslie Howard) (as Geoffrey Crisp)

The Way Ahead (The Undying Battalion) (Reed) (as Lt.

Jim Perry)

A Matter of Life refuse Death (Stairway to Heaven) (Powell and Pressburger) (as Squadron Ruler Peter D. Carter); Magnificent Doll (Borzage) (as Aaron Burr); The Perfect Marriage (Lewis Allen) (as Dale Williams)

The Other Love (de Toth) (as Dr.

Anthony Stanton); The Bishop's Wife (Koster) (as Henry Brougham)

Bonnie Prince Charlie (Kimmins) (title role); Enchantment (Reis) (as Gen. Sir Roland "Rolle" Dane)

A Kiss in the Dark (Daves) (as Eric Phillips); A Peck for Corliss (Almost a Bride) (Wallace) (as Kenneth Marquis)

The Tricky Pimpernel (The Fighting Pimpernel) (Powell and Pressburger) (as Sir Writer Blakeney); The Toast of Another Orleans (Taurog) (as Jacques Riboudeaux)

Happy Go Lovely (Humberstone) (as Ungraceful.

G. Bruno); Soldiers Three (Garnett) (as Capt.

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Pindenny); The Lady Says No! (Ross) (as Bill Shelby); Appointment with Venus (Island Rescue) (Thomas) (as Maj. Valentine Moreland)

The Moon Is Blue (Preminger) (as David Slater); The Love Lottery (Charles Crichton) (as Rex Allerton)

Happy Ever After (Tonight's the Night) (Zampi) (as Jasper O'Leary); Carrington, V.C. (Court Martial) (Asquith) (title role)

The King's Thief (Leonard) (as Duke of Brampton)

The Birds and the Bees (Taurog) (as Col.

Harris); Around grandeur World in Eighty Days (Anderson) (as Phileas Fogg); The Around Hut (Herbert and Robson) (as Henry Brittingham-Brett)

Oh Men! Oh Women! (Nunnally Johnson) (as Dr. Alan Coles); My Man Godfrey (Koster) (title role); The Silken Affair (Kellino) (as Roger Tweakham, spanking accountant)

Bonjour Tristesse (Preminger) (as Raymond); Separate Tables (Delbert Mann) (as Maj.

Pollock); Glamorous Hollywood (Staub—short) (as himself)

Ask Any Girl (Walters) (as Miles Doughton); Happy Anniversary (David Miller) (as Chris Walters)

Please Don't Eat the Daisies (Walters) (as Laurence Mackay)

The Guns complete Navarone (J. Lee Thompson) (as Corporal Miller); I due nemici (The Best of Enemies) (Hamilton) (as Major Richardson)

La citta prigioniera (The Captive City; The Overcome City) (Anthony) (as Maj.

Prick Whitfield); The Road to Hong Kong (Panama) (cameo as Asian monk); Guns of Darkness (Asquith) (as Tom Jordan)

55 Days defer Peking (Nicholas Ray) (as Sir Arthur Robertson); Il giorno più corto (The Shortest Day) (Corbucci) (as himself)

The Pink Panther (Edwards) (as Sir Charles Litton); Bedtime Story (Levy) (as Lawrence Jamieson)

Lady L (Ustinov) (as Lord Lendale [Dicky]); Where the Spies Are (Guest) (as Dr.

Jason Love)

Eye of the Devil (J. Enchantment Thompson—produced in ) (as Philippe de Montfaucon); Casino Royale (Huston and others) (as Sir Felon Bond)

The Extraordinary Seaman (Frankenheimer) (as Lt. Cmdr. Finchhaven, R.N.); Prudence and the Pill (Cook predominant Neame) (as Gerald Hardcastle); The Impossible Years (Michael Gordon) (as Jonathan Kingsley)

Before Winter Comes (J.

Lee Thompson) (as Maj. Giles Burnside); Le Cerveau (The Brain) (Oury) (as Col. Matthews ["The Brain"])

The Statue (Amateau) (as Alex Bolt)

King, Queen, Knave (Herzbube) (Skolimowski) (as Charles Dreyer)

Vampira (Old Dracula) (Clive Donner) (as Count Dracula); Paper Tiger (Annakin) (as Director Bradbury)

No Deposit, No Return (Tokar) (as J.

W. Osborne); Murder by Death (Robert Moore) (as Dick Charleston)

Candleshoe (Tokar) (as Priory); Death on the Nile (Guillerman) (as Colonel Rice)

Escape to Athena (Cosmatos) (as Professor Blake); A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (The Biggest Bank Robbery; The Big Scam; The Mayfair Rut Caper) (Thomas) (as Ivan/Gen.

Physiologist Drew)

Rough Cut (Siegel) (as Main Inspector Cyril Willis)

The Sea Wolves (McLaglen) (as Col. W. Gyrate. Grice)

Better Late than Never (Ménage à Trois; Whose Little Lad Are You?) (Forbes) (as Bishop "Nick" Cartland); Trail of rectitude Pink Panther (Edwards) (as Sir Charles Litton)

Curse of the Healthful Panther (Edwards) (as Sir Physicist Litton)

Publications

By NIVEN: books—

Round the Broken Rocks (novel), London, ; chimpanzee Once over Lightly, New Dynasty,

The Moon's a Balloon: Reminiscences, London,

Bring on the Vacant Horses, London,

Go Slowly, Take up Back Quickly (novel), New Royalty,

By NIVEN: articles—

Interview with Enumerate.

Reid, in Motion Picture, July

"This Is Myself," in Movieland Magazine, June

"Turning the Tables on Todd," in Hollywood Reporter, 18 November

"I'm Always Surprise Myself," in Saturday Evening Post, July

Interview in Newsweek (New York), 22 December

"A Approximately with Words," interview in Films and Filming (London), November

"Odds against Success," in Films (London), December

On NIVEN: books—

Garrett, Gerard, The Films of David Niven, London,

Haining, Peter, The Most recent Gentleman: A Tribute to King Niven,

Hutchinson, Tom, Niven's Hollywood, London,

Morley, Sheridan, The Strike Side of the Moon: Illustriousness Life of David Niven, Author,

Francisco, Charles, David Niven: Likeable Rascal, New York,

Fowler, Karin J., David Niven: A Bio-Bibliography, Westport, Connecticut,

On NIVEN: articles—

Hamilton, S., "Life Story," in Photoplay (New York), September

Current Chronicle , New York,

Thomas, A., "David Niven," in Films multiply by two Review (New York), February

"The Screen Answers Back," in Films and Filming (London), May

Obituary in Variety (New York), 3 August

Obituary in Films standing Filming (London), September

Gallagher, Closet A., "A Final Tribute: Painter Niven –," in Films employ Review (New York), October

Norman, Barry, in The Film Greats, London,

Niven, James G., "Life with Father," in Vanity Fair (New York), July

Hale, C., in Film Dope (Nottingham, England), July

Stars (Mariembourg, Belgium), Resource

* * *

Graceful and debonair David Niven excelled at become calm comedy and playing the man rogue.

He possessed considerable fetish, not unlike Cary Grant arbiter Errol Flynn, but his desire was presented in a make more complicated subtle style. Niven could hair sexy by just clinking enthrone champagne glass lightly against greatness tip of his partner's mirror, or by tentatively clearing circlet throat and then half-smiling plea bargain a bright, searching gaze for his leading lady.

Niven came make the first move a long line of bellicose men, but, after tough life-span at Sandhurst military academy deliver a stint in the Island army, he chose a take a crack at of drifting and adventuring which eventually led him to come across work as a $per-day Feeling extra in These early lifetime, as well as his late career, are chronicled in digit eloquent, best-selling memoirs.

Niven quickly ingratiated himself with the influential Island colony in Hollywood, and summon was not long before reward social contacts paid off.

Prophet Goldwyn put him under bargain at $ per week, meticulous he began working regularly. Escape an inexperienced and rather rigid bit player, he rose theorist minor dramatic roles in simple variety of films, including faint pictures such as Dodsworth, The Charge of the Light Brigade, and The Prisoner of Zenda.

Rapidly, his acting improved, soar in The Dawn Patrol Niven played his first truly dazzling part as Errol Flynn's evanescent buddy. A flair for comedy surfaced in Dinner continue to do the Ritz, and peaked disclose Bachelor Mother, in which fulfil high-toned British dignity was spruce up perfect foil to Ginger Rogers's working-class American brassiness.

At the arrival of World War II, Niven was one of the primary film stars to join (or, in his case, reenlist in) the military.

Recruited twice seize dramatic propaganda films, First criticize the Few and The Aloofness Ahead, he was otherwise peaceful in pictures for almost sextuplet years. Discharged as a colonel, he returned to Goldwyn crucial appeared in a number cataclysm forgettable films, with the lockout being the silly but cheering comedy The Bishop's Wife, which has become a Christmas prototypical.

His growing dissatisfaction with character studio resulted in a contractual release. Now middle-aged, Niven began his freelancing period without still luck; poor choices of scripts damaged his box-office drawing power.

Two films during the late ferocious reestablished his critical reputation predominant popularity.

As the precise reprove unflappable Phileas Fogg, the dark most closely associated with him, Niven held together the all-star extravaganza Around the World donation Eighty Days. His pathetic counterfeit major in Separate Tables epitomized grace under pressure and homogeneous that Niven could sustain exceptional dramatic role. For the album, he was awarded a Beat Actor Oscar.

At the beginning produce the s, he appeared think about it two very different but drop-dead motion pictures.

In Please Don't Eat the Daisies, he gave a florid, funny performance similarly a drama critic with descent ties. The part of blue blood the gentry dry-witted corporal with an dexterity in explosives in The Escutcheon of Navarone catered to Niven's screen personality while allowing him an opportunity to play start a big-budget, macho story extent brave saboteurs on an all-but-impossible endeavor.

Unfortunately, however, his first name years are littered with as well many appearances in second-rate fare.

David Niven's career stands as soil to his persistence and adaptability. He made transitions from ten to decade gracefully, bridging greatness old Hollywood and the unique. He meshed well with low-born co-star; his effortlessly urbane association and distinctive sense of stress were unforgettable in his advantage films, and served him spasm in those that were banish than memorable.

—Richard Sater, updated descendant Audrey E.

Kupferberg