Richard Todd

British leading man who achieved some success in American films, as well. Born in Ireland as the son of a British officer, Todd grew up in Devon and (for a brief time) in India and attended Shrewsbury Public School. His interest in theatre led him to small roles in stock in England and Scotland and three tiny film roles, following which he helped found the Dundee Repertory Theatre in 1939. He served with distinction as a paratrooper in the Second World War and returned to considerably more prominent theatre roles, culminating in the role of "Lachie" in John Patrick's "The Hasty Heart", in which he played in London and then followed Richard Basehart in the Broadway production.

The Cadbury World museum has a small exhibit about their film unit which reveals a publicity film made in 1940, entitled "Romance in the Making", featured a young Richard Todd. It appears to be a "how we make chocolate" documentary with some sort of romantic plot shoehorned in.

He made his first major film appearance in 1948, and the next year was again cast as "Lachie", this time in the film version of The Hasty Heart (1949). His performance, a truly star-making and moving piece of work, earned him an Oscar nomination as Best Actor.

He followed it with a role in Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright (1950), but although he continued to play leading roles, often in quite good films, he never again achieved the prominence and acclaim he had had with The Hasty Heart (1949).

He wrote the English dialogue for the segment of the French film The Bed (1954) that he was in.

He was quite effective in such roles as "Robin Hood" and "Rob Roy", and very touching as "Peter Marshall" in A Man Called Peter (1955).

He was an officer in the 7th Battalion (LI) The Parachute Regiment. On D-Day this Battalion made contact with Major Howard at the Orne Bridge now called Pegasus Bridge. Todd was the officer who made contact. In the The Longest Day (1962) he played Major Howard and the meeting with Todd was one scene. In D-Day the Sixth of June (1956) he played the commander of his Battalion in the filming of the same scene.

Head of jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1963

In 1970 he founded Triumph Theatre Productions, with which he toured extensively abroad in many plays.

1982 he was due to appear in the film That Damned Apple - God but it was canceled.

Considered for the roles of Dr. Armstrong and Sir Percy Heseltine in Lifeforce (1985).

In his 1986 autobiography 'Caught in the Act', Richard Todd recalled that whilst at the Italia Conti School he appeared in the crowd scenes for two Will Hay movies and also in A Yank at Oxford (1938) as an extra in the university athletics meeting. He also made a government film called The Gap in 1937.

He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1993 Queen's New Year Honours List for his services to drama.

In 1997 Seamus Palethorpe-Todd, his son from his second marriage, shot himself in the head. Then on 21 September 2005, Todd's eldest son from his first marriage, Peter, killed himself with a shotgun.

He laid poppies on the water of Derwent Reservoir, Derbyshire, UK, in honor of the 65th anniversary of the "Dambusters" mission in WWII. [May 2008]

Something of an uproar was caused in February 2010, when Todd's name was omitted from the 'In Memoriam' segment at the The Orange British Academy Film Awards (2010). The Telegraph even published an article about it entitled 'Dismay that Bafta chooses not to commemorate Richard Todd's life'.