David Niven

David Niven was one of Britain's best known actors and, in later years, a bestselling author - his autobiography, The Moon's A Balloon which was first published in 1971, sold over 5 million copies worldwide. Often remembered for playing the archetypal English gentleman he made ninety films during a career that stretched over forty years.

David Niven was born in London in 1910. After losing his father during the First World War his childhood was quite unsettled until he attended Stowe School. After passing out from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst he gained a commission with the Highland Light Infantry serving for a time in Malta. Resigning his commission at the age of twenty-three he took off for Canada and the United States where for three years he tried his hand at a variety of jobs (including a spell as a whisky salesman) before heading west to Hollywood. Of his pre-war films the best known is probably The Prisoner of Zenda (1937).

When war broke out Niven returned to England and rejoined the army, this time in the Rifle Brigade. In 1946 Niven was widowed after the tragic death of his first wife, Primmie. Over the next twenty years he went on to make some of his best films including the Oscar winning Separate Tables, Around the World in Eighty Days, Casino Royale, The Guns of Navarone, Please Don't Eat the Daisies and Death on the Nile. A natural storyteller he published his first novel, Round the Rugged Rocks in 1951 and his two volumes of autobiography The Moon's A Balloon (1971) and Bring on the Empty Horses (1975) were instant bestsellers. His last book, Go Slowly, Come Back Quickly was published in 1981. David Niven died in July 1983, survived by his second wife and his four children.