617 sqn WW2 Dambuster Raid Briefing signed photo

Well known as a distinguished actor. Played Guy Gibson in the movie Dambusters. Scene from the DAMBUSTERS movie. 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 followed Richard Basehart in the Broadway production. He made his first film in 1948, and the next year was again cast as Lachie, this time in the film version of The Hasty Heart. 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. 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). Ultimately, however, his starring roles dwindled, but he continued as a stalwart character actor, primarily in British films.