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5
A FEW days before David Niven finished his
starring part in United Artists' "The Pink
Panther," he was interviewed on an Italian
television show.
Trying to be complimentary, the interviewer intro
duced David as "one of the world's 10 best-dressed men."
To the interviewer's surprise and the shock of the tele
vision audience David ripped off his coat, pulled his
shirt out of his trousers, and pointed at the cut-off part
of his shirt tail.
"I needed the material to redo the worn-out shirt collar
and cuffs," Niven said, then explained that his reputation
as one of the best-dressed men is based solely on the 38
suits he wore in "Around the World in 80 Days."
This kind of frugality could more easily be accredited
to a poverty-stricken actor, or one known for his tightness
with a dollar. David ib neither. One of movieland's richest
men and one-third owner of the highly successful Four
Star Television Company, he drives a Sentley, has servant
staffed mansions in Palm Springs, Calif., St Jean on the
French Riviera, and in Chateau d'Oex, Switzerland. He
Bpends money on parties and presents as if he printed it
Yet the Italian incident shows why David is considered
filmdom's most unpredictable actor.
It is typical of the man who has starred in more than
100 films that he worries himself sick the first day he is
out of work for fear that he may never get another job!
It is typical, too, that when filming "Around the World in
80 Days," he was terrified by the thought of ascending in
an ultrasafe balloon but on treacherous Alpine slopes he
schusses and slaloms with the most daring of skiers.
Long before he was an actor wealthy enough to indulge
his eccentricities, David Niven was known as a man who
could be expected to do the unexpected.
Born in Kirriemuir, Scotland, 53 years ago, Niven pro
gressed through regular British prep schools and took the
entrance examination for the Royal Navy when he was 17.
According to his own recollection, "When the Navy added
up my score, they suggested I try for the Army, so off I
At 53, Niven it still a bon
vivant. At left, he amutet '
L - . wis r.' ....-ji 5'
nta wi0 nyuruia wren
clowning. At right, he sins f t
With hit older ton David.
WITH
DAVID
NIVEN,
went to Sandhurst where I was commissioned at 19."
David's idea of discipline wasn't generally accepted in
His Majesty's armed forces. There was the time in Malta
when he rebelled against the heavy, regulation steel hel
met by asking a London toyshop for an imitation helmet
made of papier-mache. The third time he wore it at a
dress parade, a cloudburst struck and the paper hat
drooped over his eyes like an uncooked pizza pie. Niven
was confined to quarters for one week.
He was 25 when he quit the service, and the Army was
not upset With the first shot of World War II, however,
Niven left a promising Hollywood career to return to
Britain and fight for home and country. "As a British
subject, I felt it was the thing to do," he said simply.
It is also typical of the man who didn't like military
discipline to volunteer for the Phantom Commandos, who
were charged with some of the most dangerous raids on
continental Europe long before D-Day. He also rose from
second lieutenant to lieutenant colonel.
There are various romantic accounts on. how he came to
the United States in the first place. Here's Niven's simple,
unvarnished version: "The truth is that I met Barbara
Hutton at a party in London, and she asked me to visit
her in New York if I ever had time. I decided to take
the time."
David arrived in the United States in the 1930s and
moved into the Waldorf-Astoria, where the price of
the room quickly exhausted his funds. He didn't have
enough cash to take care of a laundry bill but worked it out
in typical Niven fas'.iion by borrowing a Rolls-Royce from
a friend and using it to deliver bundles of Chinese laundry
door-to-door until his debt was paid.
Subsequently, he accepted an invitation to visit some
friends in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he met some Eng
lish Navy officers on-a goodwill tour of Pacific coast ports.
They invited him to a party on board H.M.S. Norfolk. The
party got somewhat out of hand, and David found himself
at sea at 4 in the morning. As a gag, British sailors put
David aboard the Bounty the. one MGM had built for
rami! Weekly. JuM 30, 1 ft
7 X ::. ZLt1rtM .bmim