David Niven
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James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was an English actor, soldier, raconteur, memoirist and novelist. Niven was known as a handsome and debonair leading man in Classic Hollywood films. His accolades include an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards in addition to nominations for a BAFTA Award and two Emmy Awards.
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. 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, including a non-speaking role in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). This helped him gain a contract with Samuel Goldwyn.
Parts, initially small, in major motion pictures followed, including Dodsworth (1936), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1937). By 1938, he was starring as a leading man in films such as Wuthering Heights (1939). Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, Niven returned to Britain and rejoined the army, being recommissioned as a lieutenant. In 1942, he co-starred in the morale-building film about the development of the renowned Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane, The First of the Few (1942).
Niven went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Separate Tables (1958). His other notable films during this time period include A Matter of Life and Death (1946), The Bishop's Wife (1947), Enchantment (1948), The Elusive Pimpernel (1950), The Moon Is Blue (1953), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), My Man Godfrey (1957), The Guns of Navarone (1961), Murder by Death (1976), and Death on the Nile (1978). He also earned acclaim and notoriety playing Sir Charles Lytton in The Pink Panther (1963) and James Bond in Casino Royale (1967).
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- Mark Twain to Livvy - Great Audio Moments, Vol.9: Love Letters Read by David Niven - David Niven
- Napoleon to Josephine - Great Audio Moments, Vol.9: Love Letters Read by David Niven - David Niven
- Franz Liszt to the Countess - Great Audio Moments, Vol.9: Love Letters Read by David Niven - David Niven
- Abraham Lincoln To "The Other" Mary - Great Audio Moments, Vol.9: Love Letters Read by David Niven - David Niven
- Percy Shelley to Mary Godwin - Great Audio Moments, Vol.9: Love Letters Read by David Niven - David Niven
- Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn - Great Audio Moments, Vol.9: Love Letters Read by David Niven - David Niven
- Gustav Flaubert to Louise - Great Audio Moments, Vol.9: Love Letters Read by David Niven - David Niven
- Richard Wagner to Minna Planer - Great Audio Moments, Vol.9: Love Letters Read by David Niven - David Niven
- Ludwig Van Beethoven to The "Immortal Beloved" - Great Audio Moments, Vol.9: Love Letters Read by David Niven - David Niven
- Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett - Great Audio Moments, Vol.9: Love Letters Read by David Niven - David Niven
- Edgar Allan Poe to Mrs. Helen Whitman - Great Audio Moments, Vol.9: Love Letters Read by David Niven - David Niven
- Robert Schumann to Clara - Great Audio Moments, Vol.9: Love Letters Read by David Niven - David Niven
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