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David Niven
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Spouse
'Hjordis Tersmeden' (1948 - 1983) (his death); 2 daughters
'Primula Susan Rollo' (1940 - 1946) (her death); 2 sons
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
One of many dap per, urbane actors who emigrated to Hollywood from the United Kingdom, this wavy-haired charmer with the pencil mustache enjoyed a lengthy film career, alternating starring roles with second leads and finely drawn character parts. Born into a family of professional soldiers (he himself attended military school and served briefly in the infantry), Niven bounced around Europe quite a bit-in jobs of dubious merit and legality-before taking up acting and making his film debut in 1932's There Goes the Bride He got to Hollywood in 1935, initially doing extra work (in 1935's Mutiny on the Bounty and Barbary Coast among others) but becoming a dependable supporting player in short order. Niven made a delightfully dotty Bertie Wooster in Fox's forgotten "Jeeves" films of 1936-37, and a suave Raffles in 1940.
Blood will tell, and Niven was back in military uniform at the outbreak of World War 2, serving with the British commandos and attaining the rank of colonel. After the war he frequently commuted between the United States and England to appear in films, and increasingly took supporting roles in comedies, in which his mischievous wit and marvelous timing were put to good use. Niven won an Oscar for a memorable dramatic role, as the fraudulent major in Separate Tables (1958). He also worked frequently on TV, cofounding the Four Star Production company and starring in the series "The David Niven Show" (1959) and "The Rogues" (1964-65). Niven also authored two volumes of memoirs, "The Moon's a Balloon" (1971) and "Bring on the Empty Horses" (1975), as well as a 1951 novel, "Round the Rugged Rocks." In his final film, Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), the ailing actor's voice was dubbed by mimic Rich Little. |  |
