Page 187 - They Also Served

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David Niven 1930.
James David Graham Niven was born in
London in 1910 and, in 1915, his father
was killed at Gallipoli. An unruly pupil,
Niven was expelled from prep school
but flourished at the newly founded
Stowe School and entered Sandhurst in
1928. On duty as commandant’s stick
orderly, his cross-belt was inspected by
the college sergeant-major and found to
have cigarettes, matches and condoms in
the pouch. However, despite his inherent dislike of authority, he was commissioned in 1930 with the military bearing that was to be the hallmark of his later career. His third choice of arm was ‘anything but the Highland Light Infantry’, which was, of course, where he was sent. Serving firstly in Malta and latterly in Dover, he grew bored of peacetime soldiering. Matters came to a head when, during questions after a lengthy lecture from a general, he asked for the time, ‘because I have a train to catch’. Placed under close arrest, he was allowed to escape by his escorting officer and boarded a ship for the USA, sending his resignation to his commanding officer by telegram.
Working as a whisky salesman and rodeo rider and after stints in Bermuda, Cuba and Mexico, he arrived in Hollywood and was accepted by Central Casting as ‘Anglo- Saxon Type no. 2008’. After bit parts, including in Mutiny on the Bounty, he was signed by Samuel Goldwyn and appeared in bigger and better roles until 1938. That year he was cast as the lead in The Dawn Patrol and in Raffles the following year. By now a major star, Niven was part of a group of influential British actors known as ‘The Hollywood Raj’ and much in demand. However, upon the outbreak of the Second World War, despite advice from the British Embassy to the contrary, Niven travelled to the UK to enlist, one of the few British Hollywood stars to do so. In early 1940, Winston Churchill said to him, ‘Young man. You did a fine thing giving up your film career to fight for your country. Mark you – had you not done so, it would have been despicable!’
Commissioned into the Rifle Brigade, Niven soon transferred to the Commandos, but was given leave to star in two propaganda films, The First of the Few (1942) and The Way Ahead (1944). He landed in Normandy a week after D-Day, serving in the
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