b. Reginald Alfred John Truscott-Jones, 3 January 1907 (1905 is sometimes cited), Neath, Glamorgan, Wales, d. 10 March 1986, Torrance, California, USA. Milland served as a member of the Royal Household Cavalry before making his first film in 1929. The following year he went to Hollywood, where he made some 35 films over the next 10 years. In 1939 he was in Beau Geste and in the early 40s made a wide variety of films, including Untamed (1940, with Patricia Morison), The Major And The Minor (1942, with Ginger Rogers), The Uninvited and Lady In The Dark (both 1944). The latter again co-starred Rogers and was based upon Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin’s Broadway musical. In 1945 Milland made The Lost Weekend, winning the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer. He played leads through the rest of the 40s and into the late 50s, appearing in The Thief (1952, a dialogue-free thriller), Dial M For Murder (1954, Alfred Hitchcock’s version of Frederick Knott’s single-set play), and The Girl On The Red Velvet Swing (1955). From the mid-50s Milland occasionally directed films, including 1958’s The Safecracker in which he also starred. Although he made fewer films in Hollywood in the 60s and 70s, he did work in the UK and Europe and also made some films for television in the USA, by which time he had shifted into character parts. Among his films of this period are Hostile Witness (1968, which he also directed), Company Of Killers, Love Story (both 1970), Gold (1974), The Last Tycoon (1976), and Oliver’s Story (1978). In the earlier Hollywood decades Milland appeared in a few musical films, among them The Big Broadcast Of 1937 (1936), a star-studded excuse for parading comics and musicians such as Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye, Shirley Ross, Larry Adler and Benny Goodman. He was also in Three Smart Girls (1936), the film that turned Deanna Durbin into a household name. Another star-fest was Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), which had turns from artists such as Betty Hutton, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and cameos from just about everyone on Paramount’s payroll. On television, Milland starred in the situation comedy Meet Mr. McNulty (1953-55) and was the central private-eye in Markham (1959-60), also directing. He was also in the mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man (1976).