biography
| name: |
Niven, David
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popular name of James David Graham Nevins
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1909–83)
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| biography:
| Actor, born in Kirriemuir, Angus, E Scotland, UK. He trained at Sandhurst Military Academy, served in the army, and had a variety of jobs before he arrived in Hollywood, where he joined the social set led by Errol Flynn and Clark Gable, and worked as an extra in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). Signed by Samuel Goldwyn, he developed into a polished light comedian and gallant hero in such films as The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) and The Dawn Patrol (1938). After service as an army officer in World War 2, he spent 30 years as an urbane leading man, perfectly cast as the gentlemanly voyager Phineas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days (1956), and winning an Oscar for Separate Tables (1958). An inimitable raconteur, he published two volumes of lighthearted autobiography: The Moon's a Balloon (1972) and Bring on the Empty Horses (1975). |
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