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David Niven, born James David Graham Niven (1
March, 1910 – 29 July, 1983), was an
England|English actor who achieved the distinction
of success in both the United Kingdom|British and
the Hollywood film industry.

==Biography==
He was born in London, England, the son of William
Edward Graham Niven and Henrietta Julia de Gacher.
His father died during the Gallipoli Campaign in
1915 and his mother remarried Sir Thomas
Comyn-Platt. After attending Stowe as a boy Niven
trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst,
which gave him the "officer and gentleman" bearing
that was to be his trademark. Niven often claimed
that he was born in Kirriemuir in Scotland which
he believed sounded more romantic than London.

Arriving in Hollywood during the early 1930s, he
first worked as an extra in western film|westerns,
then had a walk-on part in the 1935 in film|1935
version of Mutiny on the Bounty (fiction)#The 1935
Version|Mutiny on the Bounty. He then landed a
long term contract as a suporting player with
independent film producer Samuel Goldwyn which
firmly established his career and allowed him to
progress to leading man status in many films such
as the RKO comedy Bachelor Mother (1939) with
Ginger Rogers.  

During World War II he served in the British army,
rising to the rank of colonel in the British
Commandos and landing at Battle of
Normandy|Normandy. 

He resumed his career afterwards with films such
as Around the World in Eighty Days (1956
movie)|Around the World in Eighty Days (as Phileas
Fogg), The Guns of Navarone, The Pink Panther and
as James Bond in the unofficial series spoof
Casino Royale.

He won an Academy Award for his performance in
Separate Tables (1958 in film|1958).

Late in life, he gained critical acclaim for his
memoirs of his acting career, The Moon's A Balloon
(1971) and Bring On the Empty Horses (1975).

In 1940, Niven married Primula Susan Rollo
(1918-1946), the aristocratic daughter of a
British pilot; they had two sons, David Jr. and
Jamie. She died at age 28 of a fractured skull and
brain lacerations, after accidentally falling down
a flight of stone steps during a hide-and-seek
party at the home of Tyrone Power; she had
mistakenly opened a door and stepped inside,
apparently thinking it was a closet. She died one
day later.

Niven's second wife, whom he married in 1948, ten
days after they met, was Hjordis Paulina Tersmeden
(nÊe Genberg, 1921-1997), a divorced Swedish
fashion mode and frustrated actress. They had two
adopted daughters, Kristin and Fiona, one of whom
has long been rumored to be Niven's child by
another fashion model, Mona Gunnarson. The
marriage was as tumultuous as Niven's previous
marriage had been happy. Thwarted from an acting
career by her lack of talent, Hjordis Niven began
having public affairs with other men and soon
became an alcoholic. Bitter, estranged, and
plagued by depression, she showed up drunk at
Niven's funeral, after having been convinced to
attend by family friend Rainier III, Prince of
Monaco|Rainier III of Monaco.

Niven died in Switzerland in 1983 of Motor Neurone
Disease, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. He
was 73.

==Quotations==
* "It really is amazing. Can you imagine being
wonderfully overpaid for dressing up and playing
games? It's like being Peter Pan" -- David Niven
* "I don't think his acting ever quite achieved
the brilliance or the polish of his dinner-party
conversations." -- John Mortimer
* "The only laugh that man will ever get in his
life is by stripping... and showing his
shortcomings."  David Niven, commenting on the
streaking|streaker who crossed the stage while he
was hosting the Academy Awards in 1974.  His
remarks appeared to be off-the-cuff, but were, in
fact, prepared beforehand.

==Filmography==

*There Goes the Bride (1932)
*Cleopatra (movie)|Cleopatra (1934)
*Without Regret (1935)
*Barbary Coast (1935)
*A Feather in Her Hat (1935)
*Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
*Splendor (1935)
*Rose-Marie (1936)
*Palm Springs (1936)
*Dodsworth (1936)
*Thank You, Jeeves! (1936)
*The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)
*Beloved Enemy (1936)
*We Have Our Moments (1937)
*The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
*Dinner at the Ritz (1937)
*Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)
*Four Men and a Prayer (1938)
*Three Blind Mice (1938)
*The Dawn Patrol (1938)
*Wuthering Heights (1939)
*Bachelor Mother (1939)
*The Real Glory (1939)
*Eternally Yours (1939)
*Raffles (1940)
*Spitfire (1942)
*The Way Ahead (1944)
*A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - (also known
as Stairway to Heaven)
*Magnificent Doll (1946)
*The Other Love (1947)
*The Perfect Marriage (1947)
*The Bishop's Wife (1947)
*Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948)
*Enchantment (1948)
*A Kiss in the Dark (1949)
*A Kiss for Corliss (1949)
*The Elusive Pimpernel (1950)
*The Toast of New Orleans (1950)
*Soldiers Three (1951)
*Happy Go Lovely (1951)
*Appointment with Venus (1951)
*The Lady Says No (1952)
*The Moon Is Blue (1953)
*The Love Lottery (1954)
*Tonight's the Night (1954 movie)|Tonight's the
Night (1954)
*Court Martial (1955)
*The King's Thief (1955)
*The Birds and the Bees (1956)
*Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
*Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957)
*The Little Hut (1957)
*My Man Godfrey (1957)
*The Silken Affair (1957)
*Glamorous Hollywood (1958) (short subject)
*Bonjour tristesse (1958)
*Separate Tables (1958)
*Ask Any Girl (1959)
*Happy Anniversary (1959)
*Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)
*The Guns of Navarone (1961)
*The Shortest Day (1962) (unconfirmed role)
*The Conquered City (1962)
*The Best of Enemies (1962)
*The Road to Hong Kong (1962) (Cameo)
*Guns of Darkness (1962)
*55 Days at Peking (1963)
*The Pink Panther (1963)
*Bedtime Story (1964)
*Where the Spies Are (1965)
*Lady L (1965)
*All Eyes On Sharon Tate (1967) (short subject)
*Casino Royale (1967)
*Eye of the Devil (1967)
*Prudence and the Pill (1968)
*The Impossible Years (1968)
*The Extraordinary Seaman (1969)
*The Brain (1969 movie)|The Brain (1969)
*Before Winter Comes (1969)
*The Statue (1971)
*King, Queen, Knave (1972)
*Old Dracula (1974)
*Paper tiger (uation)|Paper Tiger (1975)
*No Deposit, No Return (1976)
*Murder by Death (1976)
*Candleshoe (1977)
*Death on the Nile (1978)
*A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
*Escape to Athena (1979)
*Rough Cut (1980)
*The Sea Wolves (1980)
*Better Late Than Never (1982)
*Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)
*Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)

==External links==
* http://www.cmgww.com/stars/niven/index.html
Official web site
* http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000057/ IMDb
filmography See: Internet Movie Database