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Richard Todd

Richard Todd
OBE
Richard Todd - 1959.jpg
Publicity photo, circa 1959.
Born Richard Andrew Palethorpe Todd
(1919-06-11)11 June 1919
Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland, formerly United Kingdom
Died 3 December 2009(2009-12-03) (aged 90)
Bourne,Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom
Cause of death Cancer
Occupation
  • Actor, film director
Spouse(s)
  • Catherine Grant-Bogle
     (m. 1949–70; div.; died 1998)
  • Virginia Mailer
     (m. 1970–92; div.)
Children 5
Military career
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch  British Army
Years of service 1941–1946
Unit King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
Parachute Regiment
Battles/wars

Second World War


Second World War

Richard Andrew Palethorpe Todd OBE (11 June 1919 – 3 December 2009) was an Irish-born British soldier and stage and film actor.

Richard Todd was born as Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Andrew William Palethorpe Todd, was an Irish physician and an international Irish rugby player who gained three caps for his country. Richard spent a few of his childhood years in India, where his father, an officer in the British Army, served as a physician.

Later his family moved to Devon and Todd attended Shrewsbury School. Upon leaving school, Todd trained for a potential military career at Sandhurst before beginning his acting training at the Italia Conti Academy.

This change in career led to estrangement from his mother. When he learned at age 19 that she had committed suicide, he did not grieve long for her, he admitted in later life.

He first appeared professionally as an actor at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park in 1936 in a production of Twelfth Night. He played in regional theatres and then co-founded the Dundee Repertory Theatre in 1939.

At the beginning of World War II Todd enlisted into the British Army, receiving a commission in 1941. Initially, he served in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) before joining the Parachute Regiment, being assigned to the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion as part of the British 6th Airborne Division.


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