Childhood & Early Life
Richard Todd was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 11, 1919. His father was a physician in the British Army and was posted in India for some time. His mother was famous for her beauty and horsemanship.
He and his family settled in Devon after returning from India where Richard attended the Shrewsbury School.
As the son of a British army officer he enrolled at Sandhurst to follow a military career.
Soon he left Sandhurst to enroll at the ‘Italia Conti Academy’ in London to learn scriptwriting but learnt acting instead.
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Career
His first professional appearance was in the play ‘Twelfth Night’ held at Regent’s Park open air theater in 1936.
In 1939 he founded the ‘Dundee Repertory Theatre’.
He joined the British army during the Second World War and was given a commission in 1941.
He played the role of Corporal Lachian ‘Lachie’ McLachlan in the stage version of ‘The Hasty Heart’ after returning from the war.
In 1948 he played the lead role in ‘For Them That Trespass’ for the ‘Associated British Picture Corporation’.
He again played the role of ‘Lachie’ in Warner Bros film ‘The Hasty Heart’ in 1949 and earned his first Oscar nomination.
His next film was Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Stage Fright’ in 1950 followed by the Hollywood film ‘Lightning Strikes Twice’ in 1951. None of these films were box-office hits.
His three Walt Disney films are ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merry Men’ in 1952, ‘The Sword and the Rose’ and ‘Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue’ in 1953.
He acted in the television adaptation of ‘Wuthering Heights’ in 1953.
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His portrayal of the character of Wing Commander Guy Gibson in ‘The Dam Busters’ in 1954 and that of Peter Marshall in ‘A Man called Peter’ in 1955 made him very famous among movie lovers all over the world.
He appeared in the film ‘The Virgin Queen’ in the same year.
He was cast for ‘D-Day, the Sixth of June’ in 1956.
He starred in the films ‘Saint Joan’ and the ‘The Yangtse Incident’ in 1957 and ‘Chase a Crooked Shadow’ in 1958.
In 1959 he acted in the war movies ‘The Danger Within’ and ‘The Long and the Short and the Tall’ in 1961.
‘The Diamond Smugglers’, ‘Queen’s Messengers’ and a film on William Shakespeare were some of his unsuccessful production attempts in 1960.
He was chosen by Ian Fleming to play the role of James Bond in the film ‘Dr. No’ in 1962 but could not do it due to clashing schedules.
In 1962 he acted the role of Major Howard in ‘The Longest Day’ while another actor played his character in the same film.
He acted in the film ‘Death Drums Along The River’ in 1963 and in ‘Coast of Skeletons’ in 1964.
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He was a jury member at the ‘14th Berlin International Film Festival’ in 1964.
In 1965 he appeared in the film ‘Operation Crossbow’.
He played the role of a hippie professor in ‘The Love-Ins’ in 1967.
His notable films during the late 1960s were ‘An Ideal Husband’ (1965) and ‘Dear Octopus’ in (1967).
He founded the ‘Triumph Theater Productions’ in 1970 and toured abroad with many plays.
During the 1970s he worked as a narrator for Radio Four’s ‘Morning Story’ and in the 1980s for the ‘Wings Over the World’ series. In 1974 he toured America with the RSC plays ‘The Hollow Crown’ and ‘Pleasure and Repentance’.
He played the lead role for eight continuous years in ‘Business of Murder’ held at Mayfair Theatre.
In 1982 he appeared in television movies ‘Virtual Murder’, ‘Silent Witness’ and in ‘Kinda’, a story on ‘Doctor Who’
He acted in the television miniseries ‘Jenny’s War’ in 1985.
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In 1992 he appeared in the miniseries ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Incident at Victoria Falls’.
Personal Life & Legacy
He married Catherine Stewart Crawford Grant-Bogle on August 13, 1949 and divorced her in 1970. He had a son Peter and a daughter Fiona from this marriage.
He married Virginia Mailer in 1970 and divorced her in 1992. He had two sons, Andrew and Seamus from this marriage.
Richard Todd died of cancer on December 3, 2009 at Little Humby, Lincolnshire, UK.
