On one particularly troubling occasion, Niven claims that Flynn (who was tried and acquitted of statutory rape by two women in the early 1940s) invited him to go view “the best-looking girls in L.A.” Allegedly, Flynn then drove them down Sunset Boulevard, parking directly across from Hollywood High just as school was letting out. “Jailbait,” he told Niven. “ San Quentin Quail. What a waste!” When a policeman approached the car to ask what exactly they were doing, Flynn retorted, “We are just admiring the scenery.”

I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life–tall, slim, auburn hair, up-tilted nose, lovely mouth and the most enormous grey eyes I had ever seen. It really happened the way it does when written by the worst lady novelists... I goggled. I had difficulty swallowing and had champagne in my knees. [16] Pace, Eric (30 July 1983). "David Niven Dead at 73; Witty Actor Won Oscar". The New York Times. p.1. I will, however, tell you just one thing about the war, my first story and my last. I was asked by some American friends to search out the grave of their son near Bastogne.Years later, after joining the British Army, a vengeful Niven decided to return to the boarding school to pay a call on Mr Croome but he found the place abandoned and empty. [13] After being placed under close-arrest for this act of insubordination, Niven finished a bottle of whisky with the officer who was guarding him: Rhoddy Rose (later Colonel R. L. C. Rose, DSO, MC). [19] With Rose's assistance, Niven was allowed to escape from a first-floor window. He then headed for the United States. While crossing the Atlantic, Niven resigned his commission by telegram on 6 September 1933. [20] In New York City, Niven began a brief and unsuccessful career in whisky sales, followed by a stint in horse rodeo promotion in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After detours to Bermuda and Cuba, he arrived in Hollywood in 1934. Morley, Sheridan (5 September 2016). The Other Side of the Moon: The Life of David Niven. Dean Street Press. ISBN 978-1-911413-63-9. Casualty details—Niven, William Edward Graham". Commonwealth War Graves Commission . Retrieved 4 September 2009.

Sunday Times (Perth, WA: 1902–1954) "David Niven's wife in death crash" 26 May 1946, P.3 Retrieved 12 January 2016 Niven is always a gentleman in his disclosures and never does he make anybody look bad, rather he shows the humor lurking just below the surface in just about any situation for anybody who was willing to look. "Bring on the Empty Horses" is an insider's view into the movie bidness during the time when it was at its most fascinating with stars like you don't see any more. I’ll get you some more pills,” he said, and showed me where he would leave them by the gate. “They’re strong sedatives; it’ll make your life much easier if she’ll take them..is she eating anything?” What gives, for christsakes?” he asked, and before I had time to phrase an answer, he added belligerently, “and how did you get into the act?”The terror that Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper inspired in movieland’s elite was palpable. Niven claims that Hopper, with her “brisk staccato way of demanding replies rather than asking questions,” was fond of summoning stars to her Beverly Hills home (which she called “the house that fear built”). There, terrified actors were plied with alcohol, spilling secrets—often their friends’—while Hopper “shrewdly sipped tonic water.”

He opened the door of his convertible. “She’s going to offer it to you,” he said. “That’s part of the pattern. If you accept , you’ll make matters worse, and if you refuse, she’ll still make matters worse because she’ll feel rejected by the only person she trusts..I don’t envy you the next three days.” BRING ON THE EMPTY HORSES is a delight from start to finish. With shrewdness and warmth ... Niven brings us to Hollywood in its golden prime, from the early '30s to the age of TV. Above all, he brings us them - the outstanding stars, producers, directors, writers, tycoons and oddballs, many of whom were his friends ... An inspired mix of descriptions, impressions, and anecdotes. * Publishers Weekly * Were David Niven not a famous actor, he would be thought a brilliant writer. And after this book he will surely be thought a brilliant writer * J.K. Galbraith * Within twenty minutes I drove up to the little white garden gate and jumped out of the car. Mae was waiting for me. She was shaking. She clutched my arm and repeated over and over, “She’s possessed! She’s possessed! She’s throwed me out!…I’m quittin’…I’m quittin’!” The doctor paid his second visit, and Missie refused to let him inside the house, saying he was one of “them.” I managed to have a few words with him in the garden.

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David Niven supposedly went through the same nightmare as Larry and Danny, and I plan on reading Stewart Grangers account. Everyone involved in this tragedy is dead and gone, so who knows what really happened. He returned to Britain to play the title role in The Elusive Pimpernel (1950) from Powell and Pressberger, which was to have been financed by Korda and Goldwyn. Goldwyn pulled out and the film did not appear in the US for three years. Niven had a long, complex relationship with Goldwyn, who gave him his first start, but the dispute over The Elusive Pimpernel and Niven's demands for more money led to a long estrangement between the two in the 1950s. [31] 1951–1964: Renewed acclaim [ edit ] In The Toast of New Orleans (1950) trailer When Niven presented himself at Central Casting, he learned that he needed a work permit to reside and work in the United States. As this required leaving the US, he went to Mexico, where he worked as a "gun-man", cleaning and polishing the rifles of visiting American hunters. He received his resident alien visa from the American consulate when his birth certificate arrived from Britain. He returned to the US and was accepted by Central Casting as "Anglo-Saxon Type No. 2,008." Among the initial films in which he can be seen are Barbary Coast (1935) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). He secured a small role in A Feather in Her Hat (1935) at Columbia before returning to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for a bit role, billed as David Nivens, in Rose Marie (1936).

Look darling,” I said, ” you can sit up there on the floor as long as you like, but I’m bored, and I want to watch television.” David Niven's Own Story". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 15 September 1971. p.15 . Retrieved 7 July 2012. The day after Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, Niven returned home and rejoined the British Army. He was alone among British stars in Hollywood in doing so; the British Embassy advised most actors to stay. [22] Of course not” I said, loathing every second of the dreadful charade that was unfolding. Slowly I ate my sandwich. When I judged that sufficient time had elapsed from my conspirators to be in position and ready, I took Missie’s trusting hand in mine and led her into the hall; a chink of light showed from beneath the bathroom door. Clumsily I swung the poor naked girl around, hooked one leg behind her knees, and flung her to the ground. I brought Missies’ producer up to date and told him that in my opinion she would be unable to report for work for some time.Parts, initially small, in major motion pictures followed, including Dodsworth (1936), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1937). By 1938, he was starring as a leading man in films such as Wuthering Heights (1939). Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, Niven returned to Britain and rejoined the army, being recommissioned as a lieutenant. In 1942, he co-starred in the morale-building film about the development of the renowned Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane, The First of the Few (1942). described Robert Newton as "gifted,""sensitive,""warm-hearted," and "rebellious.""He was a nonconformist," Fox Studios gave him the lead in a B picture, Dinner at the Ritz (1938) and he again had a supporting role in Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) directed by Ernst Lubitsch at Paramount. Niven was one of the four heroes in John Ford's Four Men and a Prayer (1938), also with Fox. He remained with Fox to play the part of a fake love interest in Three Blind Mice (1938). Niven joined what became known as the Hollywood Raj, a group of British actors in Hollywood which included Rex Harrison, Boris Karloff, Stan Laurel, Basil Rathbone, Ronald Colman, Leslie Howard, [21] and C. Aubrey Smith. According to his autobiography, Errol Flynn and he were firm friends and rented Rosalind Russell's house at 601 North Linden Drive as a bachelor pad. Were David Niven not a famous actor, he would be thought a brilliant writer. And after this book he will surely be thought a brilliant writer - J.K. Galbraith At six the next day, refreshed, but with a leaden conscience and a three day growth of beard, I drove on my way to the airport, through the peaceful emptiness of the early morning streets. A few kids were already abroad, experimenting with brightly colored bikes, and some early risers in curlers and bedroom slippers were retrieving carelessly delivered Sunday papers from beneath bushes in their front gardens.