David Niven Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
David Niven, born
James David Graham Nevins (
March 1,
1909 -
July 29,
1983), was an
English actor who achieved the unusual distinction of success in both the British and the
Hollywood film industry.
He was born in London, the son of was William Edward Graham Niven and Henrietta Julia de Gacher. His father died during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915 and his mother remarried Sir Thomas Comyn-Platt. After attending Stowe as a boy Niven trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which gave him the "officer and gentleman" bearing that was to be his trademark. Niven often claimed that he was born in Kirriemuir in Scotland which he believed sounded more romantic than London.
Arriving in Hollywood during the 1930s, he first worked as an extra in westerns, then had a walk-on part in the 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty and progressed to leading man in MGM comedies such as Bachelor Mother (1939).
During World War II he served in the British army, rising to the rank of colonel in the British Commandos and landing at Normandy.
He resumed his career afterwards with roles such as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days and James Bond in the unofficial series spoof Casino Royale.
He won an Academy Award for his performance in Separate Tables (1958).
Late in life, he gained critical acclaim for his memoirs of his acting career, The Moon's A Balloon (1971) and Bring On the Empty Horses (1975).
He died in Switzerland in 1983 of Motor Neurone Disease, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Quotations
- "It really is amazing. Can you imagine being wonderfully overpaid for dressing up and playing games? It's like being Peter Pan" -- David Niven
- "I don't think his acting ever quite achieved the brilliance or the polish of his dinner-party conversations." -- John Mortimer
- "The only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping... and showing his shortcomings." David Niven, spontaneously commenting on the streaker who crossed the stage while he was hosting the Academy Awards in 1974.
Selected filmography
- Curse of the Pink Panther - 1983
- Trail of the Pink Panther - 1982
- Better Late Than Never - 1982
- Rough Cut - 1980
- The Sea Wolves: The Last Charge of the Calcutta Light Horse - 1980
- Escape to Athena - 1979
- A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square - 1979
- Death on the Nile - 1978
- Candleshoe - 1977
- Murder by Death - 1976
- No Deposit, No Return - 1976
- Paper Tiger - 1975
- Old Dracula - 1974
- King, Queen, Knave - 1976
- The Statue - 1971
- Before Winter Comes - 1969
- Le Cerveau - 1969
- The Extraordinary Seaman - 1969
- The Impossible Years - 1968
- Prudence and the Pill - 1968
- Casino Royale - 1967
- Eye of the Devil - 1967
- Lady L - 1965
- Where the Spies Are - 1965
- Bedtime Story - 1964
- The Pink Panther - 1963
- 55 Days at Peking - 1963
- Guns of Darkness - 1962
- The Road to Hong Kong - 1962
- La Cittą Prigioniera - 1962
- Il Giorno Pił Corto - 1962
- The Guns of Navarone - 1961
- The Best of Enemies - 1961
- Please Don't Eat the Daisies - 1960
- Ask Any Girl - 1959
- Happy Anniversary - 1959
- Bonjour Tristesse - 1958
- Separate Tables - 1958
- Oh, Men! Oh, Women! - 1957
- The Little Hut - 1957
- My Man Godfrey - 1957
- The Silken Affair - 1957
- Around the World in Eighty Days - 1956
- The Birds and the Bees - 1956
- Carrington, V.C. - 1955
- The King's Thief - 1955
- Happy Ever After - 1954
- The Moon is Blue - 1953
- The Love Lottery - 1953
- Appointment with Venus - 1951
- Happy Go Lovely - 1951
- The Lady Says No - 1951
- Soldiers Three - 1951
- The Toast of New Orleans - 1950
- The Elusive Pimpernel - 1950
- A Kiss for Corliss - 1949
- Kiss in the Dark - 1949
- Bonnie Prince Charlie - 1948
- Enchantment - 1948
- The Bishop's Wife - 1947
- The Other Love - 1947
- Magnificent Doll - 1946
- A Matter of Life and Death (a.k.a. Stairway to Heaven) - 1946
- The Perfect Marriage - 1946
- The Way Ahead - 1944
- The Immortal Battalion - 1944
- Spitfire (a.k.a. The First of the Few) - 1942
- Raffles - 1940
- Bachelor Mother - 1939
- Eternally Yours - 1939
- The Real Glory - 1939
- Wuthering Heights - 1939
- The Dawn Patrol - 1938
- Bluebeard's Eighth Wife - 1938
- Four Men and a Prayer - 1938
- Three Blind Mice - 1938
- Dinner at the Ritz - 1937
- The Prisoner of Zenda - 1937
- We Have Our Moments - 1937
- The Charge of the Light Brigade - 1936
- Palm Springs - 1936
- Rose-Marie - 1936
- Beloved Enemy - 1936
- Dodsworth - 1936
- Thank You, Jeeves - 1936
- Mutiny on the Bounty (uncredited bit part) - 1935
- Barbary Coast - 1935
- A Feather in Her Hat - 1935
- Splendor - 1935
- Without Regret - 1935
- Tres Amores - 1934
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