"Heroic actors?" Topic

Benny Hill was a Searchlight Operator in the 3rd Light Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Battery serving in France and Germany from September 1944.

Ian Carmichael served with 22nd Dragoons, 79th Arm. Div.

"David Niven was a Commando"

No, not quite. He began as an officer in the Highland Light Infantry, but during the war he was part of the 'Phantom' recon unit. Which was a bunch of officers that the high command used to check up on their own units. Sort of "Niven, get down there and see what nonsense the Highland Divisions' up to." As a noted actor and being by nature a charming fellow he was seen as non-threatening, so he wouldn't have ed off the lower-level commanders when he showed up to see what nonsense they were up to.

He was also lent out to make movies, for instance "The Way Forward", aka "The Immortal Battalion."

This is from his autobiography, "The Moon's a Balloon," so if he was a pathological liar it's not my fault!

To quote from the above book – "you could always rely on Errol (Flyn) – he always let you down!"

Good book, nice man.

Peter Ustinov was in the Army too, in one of his books he tells a story about manouvers somewhere in England where his order were to work his way through an "enemy" held village. As hes doing so he comes upon the commanding General, so he sneaks up and goes "bang your dead!"
He was promptly put on a charge for assaulting an officer!!!

I believe Ustinov was Nivens batman during his 'Phantom' days

They may not be actors, but how about Brigadier Young, Charles Grant and Don Featherstone. 3 big names in miniature gaming and all vets of the war.

Neville Brand for those old enought to remember him from TV & Movies. Steve McQueen was a Marine & Burt Lancaster was U.S Army – neither saw much in the way of action. Jack Warden was with the 101st Airborne in WW2.

George Putnam, a well known t.v. news anchor in the Los Angeles area, was a Marine sniper, on Saipan, IIRC.

Mel Brooks was a private and later corporal with an engineer unit in the last year of WWII.
Grelber

George Kennedy was a Marine paratrooper in WWII, IIRC. He then got one of his first acting roles as a Marine Paratrooper in the movie – They Were Expendable.

No Kennedy was a Captain in the army with a career which included front line service and a post war stint in public affairs which took him right through the fifties. In fact his acting career began when as technical advisor to the TV show Bilko he played several walk on parts in the show! A final piece of trivia he served under Patton during the war and played the General in the movie "Brass Target".

Sterling Hayden: activities including running guns through German lines to the Yugoslav partisans and parachuting into fascist Croatia. He won the Silver Star and a commendation from Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito.

Lew Ayres: became a pacifist after reading and starring in "All Quiet on the Western Front", and became a member of the Medical Corps during World War II. He declared as a conscientious objector and served in the Pacific theater and in New Guinea.

Hildegard Knef: took part in the house-to-house fighting in Berlin in April 1945.

Tommy Cooper: served with an armoured car reconnaissance unit (Royal Horse Guards) until he was wounded in Egypt (where he started wearing his famous fez).

Peter Butterworth: lieutenant in the Royal Navy, captured in the Netherlands in 1940. He escaped through a tunnel from Dugaluft, near Frankfurt, in June 1940 and covered 27 miles (43 km) over three days before a member of the Hitler Youth captured him. Two other attempts never got beyond the camp grounds.

At Stalag Luft III he met Talbot Rothwell, who co-wrote many Carry On films. Rothwell and Butterworth sang in a camp show, where booing and catcalls covered the sounds of an escape tunnel being dug by other prisoners. Butterworth was one of the vaulters covering for the escapers during the escape portrayed by the book and film The Wooden Horse – Butterworth auditioned for the film but "didn't look convincingly heroic and athletic."

Dad's Army stars: Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier (Dad's Army) also served in WW2, the latter I think was a captain.
Arnold Ridley was very badly wounded in WW1: his left arm was useless due to wounds at the Somme, legs were riddled with shrapnel and a blow to the head by a German soldier's rifle butt left him prone to blackouts. John Laurie also served in WW1.

Forgot to add Sidney Poitier. He served in a medical unit during WWII.

A themed one here (guess that theme)

Arthur Lowe – Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry
John Le Mesurier was in the Royal Tank Regiment
Jimmy Perry's war career with the Royal Artillery is amusing…
Clive Dunn was a PoW for 4 years
Arnold Ridley was heavily wounded at the Somme, before fighting in France for the BEF in WWII
Edward SInclair was in the Ox and BUcks Light Infantry..

Major Arnold Ridley rejoined the army in 1939, at least according to Wiki. So 'Private Godfrey' outranked them all in real life….. A most distinguished man. link

Rod Serling, 511th Parachute Inf Regt

I heard on a TV celebrity documentary show that he was too short to be allowed as a para, but demonstrated how tough he was (I can't recall how, now, years after seeing the show) and they allowed him in against regulations. So he was also a tough little .

Donald Pleasance, RAF, shotdown and spent time in a POW camp. During early shooting of "The Great Escape" he tried to make a suggestion to the director and was promptly ignored until the director was informed of Donalds war experiences.

Since Werner Klemperer and John Banner were mentioned, Robert Clery (Cpl LeBeau), though not in the military, spent the war in a concentration camp – he is a Polish Jew. He spoke at my high school about his experience there and how it has affected him. Showed us the tatoo on his arm.

Dirk Bogard: Commisioned into the Queen's Royal Regiment. Served mainly as an intelligence officer in Europe and the far East. Fought from normandy to Germany.
Reached the rank of Major

Paul

Angular Irish-born character comedian Sam Kydd was a fixture in British film from his first role, The Captive Heart (1945), onward. Born in Belfast, Kydd emigrated to London with his parents and was educated at Dunstable Grammar. He fought in World War II, was captured in Calais and remained a POW in Poland until 1946. (He later wrote a book about his war experiences entitled For You the War is Over. By his own reckoning he went on to appear in some 150 films, and one is hard pressed to argue with that. Some of his roles were small to microscopic, but it was hard to miss Kydd's skinny frame and dagger-sharp facial features. Among Sam Kydd's film credits were Treasure Island (1950) (as Cady, the pirate), The Quatermass Experiment (1955) and I'm All Right Jack (1959). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wasn't Jimi Hendrix in the 101st Parachute division?