Richard Todd mini-bio: British leading man who achieved some success in American films as well. Born in Ireland the son of a British officer, Todd grew up in Devon and attended Shrewsbury Public School. His interest in theatre led him to small roles in stock in England and Scotland, 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 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.
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 "Longest Day" he played Major Howard and the meeting with Todd was one scene. In "D Day The 6th of June" he played the commander of his Battalion in the filming of the same scene.
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.
Son, Seamus Palethorpe-Todd, 1977-1997. He committed suicide.
Head of jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1963
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 as an extra in the university athletics meeting. He also made a government film called The Gap in 1937.
