Ray Milland is remembered for his Academy Award- and Cannes Film Festival Award-winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend and for such roles as a sophisticated leading man opposite John Wayne's corrupt character in Reap the Wild Wind, the murder-plotting husband in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder and Oliver Barrett III in Love Story.
97 Facts About Ray Milland
2.
Ray Milland left the army to pursue a career in acting and appeared as an extra in several British productions before getting his first major role in The Flying Scotsman.
3.
Ray Milland was loaned to Universal for the Deanna Durbin musical Three Smart Girls, and its success had Milland given a lead role in The Jungle Princess alongside new starlet Dorothy Lamour.
4.
Ray Milland appeared in many other notable films, including Easy Living, Beau Geste, Billy Wilder's The Major and the Minor, The Uninvited, Fritz Lang's Ministry of Fear, The Big Clock and The Thief, for which he was nominated for his second Golden Globe.
5.
Once Paramount Pictures' highest-paid actor, Ray Milland co-starred alongside many of the most popular actresses of the time, including Gene Tierney, Jean Arthur, Grace Kelly, Lana Turner, Marlene Dietrich, Maureen O'Hara, Ginger Rogers, Jane Wyman, Loretta Young and Veronica Lake.
6.
Ray Milland was born Alfred Reginald Jones on 3 January 1907 in Neath, Wales, the son of Elizabeth Annie and steel mill superintendent Alfred Jones.
7.
Ray Milland was schooled independently before attending the private King's College School in Cardiff.
8.
Ray Milland worked at his uncle's horse-breeding farm before leaving home at age 21.
9.
Ray Milland never held long conversations with anyone, except perhaps with me, possibly because I was the only other male in our family.
10.
Ray Milland won the British Army Championship in both pistol and rifle marksmanship.
11.
Ray Milland made a favourable impression on director Castleton Knight, and was hired for his first acting role as Jim Edwards in The Flying Scotsman.
12.
Ray Milland was given the role of second lead in a production of Sam Shipman and Max Marcin's The Woman in Room 13.
13.
In between plays, Ray Milland was approached by MGM vice-president Robert Rubin, who had seen the film The Flying Scotsman.
14.
Ray Milland accepted, leaving the United Kingdom in August 1930.
15.
Shortly after making Payment Deferred, Ray Milland found himself out of work when MGM failed to renew his contract.
16.
Ray Milland spent five months in the US attempting to find further acting work, but after little success, and a strained relationship with his father-in-law, he decided to head back to Britain, hoping that two years spent in Hollywood would lead to roles in British films.
17.
Ray Milland cashed in his contracted first-class return ticket to Britain and found an alternative, cheaper way back home.
18.
Muriel remained in the States to finish her studies, and Ray Milland found temporary accommodation in Earl's Court in London.
19.
Ray Milland found life in Britain difficult, receiving little regular work, although he finally found parts in two British films, This is the Life and Orders Is Orders.
20.
Ray Milland returned to California, and found a small flat on Sunset Boulevard, promising Muriel that he would buy a home once he was financially stable.
21.
Ray Milland decided to find regular employment and through connections made in his time in the UK, he was offered the job of an assistant manager of a Shell gas station on Sunset and Clark.
22.
The film's director Norman Taurog was so impressed, he rang the chief production executive and suggested that Ray Milland be placed on a long-term contract.
23.
Ray Milland had a supporting role, for instance, in the original The Glass Key with George Raft.
24.
Ray Milland was lent to Universal for Next Time We Love, with Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart.
25.
Ray Milland was contacted by Joe Pasternak, who was looking for an 'English' actor for the lead in his new picture, Three Smart Girls.
26.
On returning to Paramount after Three Smart Girls was wrapped, Ray Milland was used as a test actor to find a new starlet for The Jungle Princess.
27.
Ray Milland was then in Wings over Honolulu with Wendy Barrie, and thereafter in Easy Living, a classic comedy with Jean Arthur directed by Mitchell Leisen.
28.
Ray Milland did Ebb Tide with Frances Farmer and was then loaned to RKO for Wise Girl with Miriam Hopkins.
29.
Back at Paramount, Ray Milland was reunited with Lamour in Her Jungle Love and Tropic Holiday.
30.
Ray Milland then did a military drama for William Wellman, Men with Wings, co-starring Fred MacMurray.
31.
Ray Milland did a comedy, Say It in French, and then Hotel Imperial with Marlene Dietrich, during the production of which Ray Milland suffered a near-fatal accident on the set.
32.
An accomplished horseman, Ray Milland insisted upon doing this scene himself.
33.
Ray Milland awoke in hospital, where he remained for a week with a badly damaged left hand, a three-inch gash to his head, and a concussion.
34.
The injury resulted in Ray Milland losing a part of his thumb and severely damaging his tendons.
35.
Ray Milland appeared in a selection of romantic comedies and dramas alongside some of the leading ladies of the time in films released in 1940.
36.
Ray Milland was a last minute replacement for Joel McCrea on Arise which meant he had to drop out of another film, Virginia.
37.
Ray Milland worked as a civilian flight instructor for the Army, and toured with a United Service Organisation South Pacific troupe in 1944.
38.
Ray Milland starred as a wannabe pilot in I Wanted Wings with Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake, and William Holden.
39.
Ray Milland made an appearance in the collaborative drama, Forever and a Day.
40.
In 1944, Ray Milland starred in the supernatural horror film, The Uninvited, which was notable for its serious treatment of ghosts and haunting main theme, and for making a star of Gail Russell.
41.
Ray Milland then starred in Fritz Lang's film noir production of Graham Greene's Ministry of Fear.
42.
Ray Milland had already worked with both men, having starred in the comedy The Major and the Minor, and he was excited by their involvement.
43.
Ray Milland found the experience extremely disturbing and left at three in the morning.
44.
Ray Milland found the set work far more challenging, knowing that the close-ups would give his acting no place to hide.
45.
Many of the crew members on The Well-Groomed Bride had worked on The Lost Weekend, and Ray Milland recalled an encounter with a sound mixer, who told him that he had seen a rough cut of Weekend and thought Ray Milland was not only sure to be nominated for an Academy Award, but he would probably win.
46.
Ray Milland had not considered himself worthy of an award, but over the next few months, he thought of little else, and was desperate to be nominated.
47.
Ray Milland found the initial feedback to his role congratulatory but hushed, leading him to feel that the film would bomb as a piece of cinema and would be seen as a social document.
48.
Ray Milland was the first Welsh actor to win an Oscar, and when he collected the award from Ingrid Bergman, he gave one of the shortest acceptance speeches of any Oscar winner.
49.
Ray Milland's performance was so convincing, Milland was beleaguered for years by rumours that he actually was an alcoholic.
50.
Ray Milland continued working as a leading man after his Oscar win, and stayed contracted to Paramount until the early 1950s.
51.
Ray Milland was teamed with Teresa Wright in The Imperfect Lady, directed by Lewis Allen.
52.
Ray Milland replaced Alan Ladd in a Western with Barbara Stanwyck, California, directed by John Farrow, which was a big hit.
53.
Ray Milland was reunited with Wright in The Trouble with Women and then starred opposite Marlene Dietrich in Golden Earrings.
54.
Ray Milland was one of many Paramount stars who made a cameo in Variety Girl then went to England to make So Evil My Love, produced by Hal Wallis for director Lewis Allen.
55.
Ray Milland made a second film for Farrow, The Big Clock, which has become one of his most highly regarded films.
56.
Ray Milland then did his third film with Allen, Sealed Verdict, and a third with Farrow, Alias Nick Beal, which Milland later said was his favourite film.
57.
Ray Milland then went to Fox for the comedy, It Happens Every Spring, and then made a fourth with Farrow, Copper Canyon.
58.
At Columbia, Ray Milland starred opposite Rosalind Russell in A Woman of Distinction.
59.
Ray Milland was directed by Jacques Tourneur in RKO's Circle of Danger, set in the United Kingdom; it was the only time he filmed in his home country of Wales.
60.
Ray Milland gave a strong performance in Close to My Heart at Warner Bros.
61.
Ray Milland's next film, Bugles in the Afternoon, was a Western at Warners.
62.
Ray Milland had a contract to make one film a year with Paramount.
63.
Ray Milland was wanted by producer Harold Popkin to make The Thief but Paramount insisted he make Jamaica Run under their contract instead.
64.
Ray Milland later remarked that he was proud of the film.
65.
Ray Milland then starred opposite Grace Kelly and Robert Cummings in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, originally shot in three dimensions.
66.
Ray Milland starred with Phyllis Avery and Lloyd Corrigan in the CBS sitcom, Meet Mr McNutley, from 1953 to 1955.
67.
Ray Milland appeared in the role of an English professor at the fictitious Lynnhaven College.
68.
The sitcom was renamed The Ray Milland Show in its second season.
69.
Ray Milland directed some episodes, and he soon had ambitions to direct features.
70.
At Fox, Ray Milland starred in The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing.
71.
Ray Milland did the film for a lesser fee in exchange for a chance to direct and a percentage of the profits.
72.
Ray Milland starred in a TV adaptation of Markheim directed by Fred Zinnemann then starred in and directed Lisbon, alongside Maureen O'Hara and Claude Rains.
73.
Ray Milland directed episodes of The Ford Television Theatre and Schlitz Playhouse and starred in the features Three Brave Men, The River's Edge, a Western directed by Allan Dwan for Benedict Bogeaus, and High Flight, an air force melodrama for Warwick Pictures in England.
74.
Ray Milland appeared in episodes of Suspicion and General Electric Theater, directing episodes of both.
75.
From 1958 to 1960, Ray Milland starred in the CBS detective series, Markham, originally called Crisis.
76.
Ray Milland retired again, this time to the French Riviera in 1960.
77.
Ray Milland then portrayed Dr Xavier in the well-received X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes.
78.
Ray Milland continued to guest star on shows like The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and he appeared in Quick, Let's Get Married.
79.
Ray Milland decided to return to the stage and appeared in a touring version of My Fair Lady.
80.
Ray Milland enjoyed the experience, and in 1966, he took the lead role as Simon Crawford QC in the Broadway play, Hostile Witness, directed by Reginald Denham.
81.
Ray Milland returned as a film character actor in the late 1960s and the 1970s, appearing in such films as Daughter of the Mind, a television film which reunited him with Gene Tierney.
82.
Ray Milland guest-starred on Bracken's World and The Name of the Game as well as in TV movies like Company of Killers, River of Gold and Black Noon.
83.
Ray Milland was in his biggest box office success in many years when he played Oliver Barrett III in Love Story.
84.
Ray Milland was then in Embassy, a British spy thriller.
85.
One was Frogs, co-starring Sam Elliott and Joan Van Ark, in which Ray Milland played a wealthy, cantankerous plantation owner who dumps waste materials in a swamp, causing an enormous disruption of nature.
86.
Ray Milland turned in an appearance as a hand surgeon in the Night Gallery episode, "The Hand of Borgus Weems".
87.
Ray Milland guest-starred in two episodes of Columbo, as a grieving widower in "Death Lends a Hand" and as a suspect in "The Greenhouse Jungle".
88.
Ray Milland then appeared in Escape to Witch Mountain for Disney and guest starred on shows like Cool Million and Ellery Queen.
89.
In 1975, Ray Milland was the subject of an episode of the British biographical TV series, This Is Your Life.
90.
Ray Milland had a significant success with the TV miniseries, Rich Man, Poor Man, receiving an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
91.
Ray Milland guest-starred as Sire Uri in Saga of a Star World, the pilot episode of the original Battlestar Galactica television series.
92.
Ray Milland reprised his role as Ryan O'Neal's father in Oliver's Story and appeared in some action films, including Spree and Game for Vultures.
93.
Ray Milland guest-starred on several Aaron Spelling-produced shows, such as Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Charlie's Angels and Hart to Hart.
94.
Ray Milland was married to Muriel Frances Weber from 30 September 1932 until his death on 10 March 1986.
95.
Ray Milland supported the Republican Party and publicly backed Thomas E Dewey in the 1944 United States presidential election as well as Richard Nixon in the 1968 presidential election.
96.
Ray Milland died of lung cancer at the Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrance, California, on 10 March 1986.
97.
Ray Milland's body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Redondo Beach, California.