David niven biography
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James David Graham Niven was an English actor and novelist. His many roles included Squadron Leader Peter Carter in A Matter of Life and Death, Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days, and Sir Charles Lytton, (&#;the Phantom&#;) in The Pink Panther. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Separate Tables ().
Born in London, Niven attended Heatherdown Preparatory School and Stowe before gaining a place at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After Sandhurst, he joined the British Army and was gazetted a second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. Having developed an interest in acting, he left the Highland Light Infantry, travelled to Hollywood, and had several minor roles in film. He first appeared as an extra in the British film There Goes the Bride (). From there, he hired an agent and had several small parts in films from to , including a non-speaking part in MGM&#;s Mutiny on the Bounty. This brought him to wider attention within
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His mother was the French Lady Comynyplatt Henrietta dem Gacher, his father was the British Lieutenant William Graham Niven, who died in the war when David was six years old. Niven was considered a difficult child to educate and had to change schools often until he finally went to Sandhurst Military Academy. He came to Malta as a soldier, left the army here and went to Canada, where he worked as a lumberjack, bridge builder, journalist and whiskey salesman. After detours via New York and Cuba, Niven settled in California in , where he had his first roles as an extra. He appeared in smaller films until the Second World War and then had to go to war for the British army.
In between, he also starred in propaganda films. Niven fought on the British front at Dunkirk and was promoted to colonel in General Eisenhower decorated him with the medals of the American Legion of Merit. From his first marriage to Primula Rollo, whom he married in , Niven had two sons, David and Jamie. After his
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David Niven
English actor, memoirist and novelist (–)
For the air marshal, see David Niven (RAF officer).
James David Graham Niven (; 1 March – 29 July [1][2]) was an English actor, soldier, raconteur, memoirist and novelist. Niven was known as a handsome and debonair leading man in Classic Hollywood films. He received an Academy Award and was twice the winner of a Golden Globe Award.
Born in central London to an upper-middle-class family, Niven attended Heatherdown Preparatory School and Stowe School before gaining a place at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After Sandhurst, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. Upon developing an interest in acting, he found a role as an extra in the British film There Goes the Bride (). Bored with the peacetime army, he resigned his commission in , relocated to New York, then travelled to Hollywood. There, he hired an agent and had several small parts in films through , inc