WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers

Born: 1st March 1910

Died: 29th July 1983 (aged 73)

James David Graham Niven was born in Grosvenor Gardens, London, the fourth child of William and Henrietta Niven. He was given the name David as he was born on St David’s day – probably also the reason why he dropped the James when he began his career. His father died whilst fighting for the Berkshire Yeomanry in Gallipoli when he was five, two years later his mother Conservative politician and diplomat Sir Thomas Walter Comyn-Platt* (whom David detested) and they moved to the Isle of Wight. David was sent away to boarding school where he became known as a prankster and as was the norm then he received punishment and he was expelled from school at the age of 10 ½. When he started at Stowe School and found a whole new form of education that was more conducive for learning. At the age of 18, Niven attended Sandhurst and two years later he joined the British Army as a second lieutenant and was assigned to the Highland Light Infantry, with whom he served two years. In 1933, now a lieutenant, he resigned his commission.

David Niven went to America to start an acting career only to find he needed a work permit to live and work there. He moved to Mexico and worked as a ‘gun-man’ (cleaning guns for visiting hunters) until he received his resident alien visa from the American consulate meaning he could return to the States and he was accepted by Central Casting. His first films were as extras in films such as Barbary Coast and Mutiny on the Bounty. It was in this latter film that he caught the eye of Samuel Goldwyn who signed him to a contract, but it wasn’t until 1938 when he got his first lead, playing Paul de Brack in 20th Century Fox’s film Dinner at the Ritz.

 *There is speculation, and David himself supposedly admitted this shortly before he died, that Comyn-Platt was his biological father.

In Around the World in 80 Days Phileas Fogg is the archetypal English Gentleman, which is the perfect role for David Niven. The humour plays around the character, yet it is Niven’s reaction (or non-reaction) that makes the film what it is. I was surprised to see that Mr Niven was not playing a commissioned officer in The Guns of Navarone – he has the demeanour of an officer, but here he plays Corporal John Anthony Miller and seems to be the light relief, which he plays so naturally, yet when called upon he eases into the seriousness of the situation his monologue about the traitor and whether or not they be killed and then his speech about how he feels about his friend’s life are actually quite emotional. Niven seems to have a knack of effortlessly gliding through this film without breaking under the pressure of his character which shows his extensive talent. Now, I don’t know why but I was expecting a lot more from Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, I thought it fell a bit flat. Don’t get me wrong but I’d have thought David Niven and Doris Day would have made a perfect pairing for this romantic comedy but, for me, there was something lacking not with them as actors they play well off each other but in the script maybe I don’t know I just didn’t feel either the romance or the comedy was as strong as it could be! Niven plays Laurence Mackay, a professor turned theatre critic and father of four. There is so much room for comedy with the four children, but he is given little time there’s also room for it with his wife (Day) but again it falls short. I’m saying that Niven is useless in the role he does well with what he’s given I just feel his talent is underused.

For me you can never go wrong with a murder mystery or a Neil Simon script, and then add Mr Niven, and his assemble cast, and you have another hit with Murder by Death. Using characters loosely based on literary detectives it is fun to guess which one each actor is playing; and to be honest I had no idea who Niven’s Dick Charleston was based on but then I’m not up on all my detectives. But he is based on a Dashiell Hammett detective called Nick Charles (none the wiser!) so not sure if he is supposed to be a stiff upper lip Englishman but he plays the role that way which means there is no distraction of a false American accent. Niven and Maggie Smith play off each other beautifully as he does with the rest of the cast – several of whom he had worked with before. When I read the synopsis of The Bishop’s Wife, I was thinking it was going to be a bit like What a Wonderful Life but it’s not. Yes, there’s an angel and someone needing help, but it totally takes a different twist. I’m not sure if Niven’s Bishop Henry Brougham is supposed to be English in this American based film but it doesn’t really matter it doesn’t distract – what I love is Niven’s awkwardness that brings the humour like when he and Dudley enter the study my only problem is, and maybe I’m looking at this film from a modern perspective, that he does not show enough anger or emotion when its possibly needed. It’s always nice though to find a new gem while I’m doing these articles and in The Bishop’s Wife I found one

I have to admit David Niven’s number one box office hit is also my number one. Around the World in 80 Days was probably my first introduction to Niven when I was younger. I think it was Cantinflas’ acrobatics that I was first drawn too but as I grew up, I began to appreciate Niven’s portrayal of Phileas. He is the quintessential Victorian Englishman travelling abroad (and I don’t mean shouting in English in the hope that a foreigner will understand him better!) – always impeccably dressed, a suite for every occasion, drinking tea and always eating his usual English food (maybe that is still the Englishman abroad). As the two main characters it is essential that the two actors get along and it looks like they did – there are no obvious egos between them even though in their own countries they are each as successful as each other if anything Cantinflas was probably more successful. There have been several incarnations of the story including the recent BBC production with David Tennant as Fogg, a cartoon (Around the World with Willy Fogg) that I adored as a child and the 2004 Steve Coogan and Jackie Chan  version – now I love Jackie and his antics are on a par to Cantinflas’ but I will take Niven over Coogan any day.

David Niven was an accomplished actor, he starred in over one hundred films, yet he never received the credit for them – he only received one Oscar throughout his career for Separate Tables (1959) and he didn’t even receive a nomination for Around the World in 80 Days which itself won five out of eight nominations! Yet this was not all he was as David Niven was also a talented writer; he wrote four novels, his biography as well as a book of reminiscences from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Niven married twice. His first wife, ‘Primmie’ Rollo was eight years his junior and she bore him two sons – David Jnr (who followed his father into the business) and James. ‘Primmie’ died at the age of 28 after falling down stairs at Tyrone Powers’ home and fracturing her skull. He married his second wife, Hjördis Tersmeden a Swedish model and actress, two years later and together they adopted two daughters. Although reportedly this was a stormy marriage it lasted until his death.

Diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as motor neuron disease) in 1980 at the age of 70, David Niven made his final public appearance a year later hosting a tribute to his friend, Fred Astaire. In February 1983 he was checked into a clinic for ten days, on discharge he returned to his chalet in Switzerland where he died five months later aged 73.