David niven filmography biography book

English actor, memoirist and novelist (1910–1983)

For the air marshal, see David Niven (RAF officer).

James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983^[1][2]) was an English actor, soldier, raconteur, memoirist and novelist.

Niven was known as a handsome and debonair leading man in Classic Hollywood films. He received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Born in central London to an upper-middle-class family, Niven attended Heatherdown Preparatory School and Stowe School before gaining a place at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

David niven filmography biography

After Sandhurst, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. Upon developing an interest in acting, he found a role as an extra in the British film There Goes the Bride (1932). Bored with the peacetime army, he resigned his commission in 1933, relocated to New York, then travelled to Hollywood.

There, he hired an agent and had several small parts in films through 1935