Richard Todd was previously a Captain in the British Army during World War II, fighting in the D-Day landings as a member of the 7th Parachute Battalion.
47 Facts About Richard Todd
2.
Richard Todd's father, Andrew William Palethorpe-Todd, was an Irish physician and an international Irish rugby player who gained three caps for his country.
3.
Later his family moved to Devon, and Richard Todd attended Shrewsbury School.
4.
Richard Todd first appeared professionally as an actor at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park in 1936 in a production of Twelfth Night.
5.
Richard Todd played in regional theatres and then co-founded the Dundee Repertory Theatre in Scotland in 1939.
6.
Richard Todd appeared as an extra in British films including Good Morning, Boys, A Yank at Oxford and Old Bones of the River.
7.
Richard Todd enlisted soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, entering the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in late 1939.
8.
Richard Todd was accepted and after training was posted to the 7th Parachute Battalion as part of the 6th Airborne Division.
9.
Richard Todd was among the first British soldiers to land in Normandy and the first Irishman.
10.
Richard Todd's battalion parachuted after glider-borne forces had landed to capture the Pegasus Bridge near Caen.
11.
Richard Todd later played Howard in the 1962 film The Longest Day, recreating these events.
12.
Richard Todd returned to the UK to be demobilised in 1946.
13.
Richard Todd did so, performing in plays such as Claudia, where he appeared with Catherine Grant-Bogle, who became his first wife.
14.
Richard Todd was cast in the lead in For Them That Trespass, directed by Alberto Cavalcanti.
15.
The film was a minor hit and Richard Todd's career was launched.
16.
Richard Todd had appeared in the Dundee Repertory stage version of John Patrick's play The Hasty Heart, portraying the role of Yank and was chosen to appear in the 1948 London stage version of the play, this time in the leading role of Cpl.
17.
Richard Todd was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role in 1949.
18.
Richard Todd was voted favourite British male film star in Britain's National Film Awards.
19.
Richard Todd was lent to Constellation Films to appear in the thriller The Interrupted Journey.
20.
Nigel Kneale, responsible for the adaptation, said the production came about purely because Richard Todd had turned up at the BBC and told them that he would like to play Heathcliff for them.
21.
Richard Todd's career received a boost when 20th Century-Fox signed him to a non-exclusive contract and cast him as the United States Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall in the film version of Catherine Marshall's best selling biography A Man Called Peter, which was a popular success.
22.
Amethyst was an attempt to repeat the success of The Dam Busters, with the same director and Richard Todd playing another real-life hero.
23.
Richard Todd was Dunois, Bastard of Orleans in Saint Joan, directed by Otto Preminger.
24.
Richard Todd returned to war films with Danger Within, a POW story.
25.
Richard Todd tried comedy with Don't Bother to Knock, then made The Hellions.
26.
The Boys was a courtroom drama film in which Richard Todd played the lead prosecuting barrister.
27.
Richard Todd had a good part among the many stars in The Longest Day, playing Major John Howard during the airborne action just before and on D-Day in which he had taken part in 1944 ; this was his biggest hit for some time.
28.
Richard Todd appeared in The Very Edge, a thriller, then he played Harry Sanders in two films for Harry Alan Towers: Death Drums Along the River and Coast of Skeletons.
29.
Richard Todd had a small role in Anderson's Operation Crossbow.
30.
Richard Todd had a supporting part in The Battle of the Villa Fiorita and the lead in The Love-Ins.
31.
Richard Todd appeared before the camera in the episode about the Lancaster bomber.
32.
Richard Todd continued to act on television, including roles in Virtual Murder; Silent Witness and in the Doctor Who story "Kinda" in 1982.
33.
Richard Todd formed Triumph Theatre Productions with Duncan C Weldon and Paul Elliott in the late 1960s.
34.
Richard Todd's acting career extended into his 80s, and he made several appearances in British shows such as Heartbeat and The Royal.
35.
Richard Todd appeared in The Royal as Hugh Hurst, a retired solicitor, in the episode "Kiss and Tell" ; his last appearance in Heartbeat was as Major Harold Beecham in the 2007 episode "Seeds of Destruction".
36.
Richard Todd was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1993.
37.
Richard Todd was the subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions: in March 1960 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC's Lime Grove Studios; and in November 1988 when Michael Aspel surprised him on stage at the Theatre Royal Windsor.
38.
Richard Todd was the first choice of author Ian Fleming to play James Bond in Dr No, but a scheduling conflict gave the role to Sean Connery.
39.
Richard Todd was announced for a proposed film about William Shakespeare.
40.
Richard Todd was married to model Virginia Mailer from 1970 until 1992; they had two sons, Andrew and Seumas.
41.
In retirement, Richard Todd lived in the village of Little Ponton and later in Little Humby, eight miles from Grantham, Lincolnshire.
42.
In 1997, Seumas Palethorpe-Richard Todd shot himself in the head at the family home in Lincolnshire; an inquest determined that the suicide might have been a depressive reaction to the drug he was taking for severe acne.
43.
Richard Todd was a supporter of Second World War commemoration events, particularly those associated with the Normandy landings and 617 Squadron RAF.
44.
Richard Todd continued to be identified in the public consciousness with Guy Gibson from his portrayal of him in the 1950s film, and attended 617 Squadron anniversaries up to 2008.
45.
Richard Todd narrated a television documentary about the Squadron, and contributed forewords to several books on the subject, including The Dam Buster Story ; Filming the Dam Busters ; and Bouncing-Bomb Man: The Science of Sir Barnes Wallis.
46.
Richard Todd died from cancer at his home near Grantham in Lincolnshire on 3 December 2009.
47.
Richard Todd's body was buried between his two sons Seumas and Peter at St Guthlac's Church in Little Ponton in the county of Lincolnshire.