British actor Richard Todd was noted for his roles in several Walt Disney adventure films in the early 1950s, starring in 1952′s The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, The Sword and the Rose (1953), and Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue (1953).
He was born Richard Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland, on June 11, 1919. He trained as an actor and began his career on stage in 1936. He appeared in small roles in several films later in the decade before the outbreak of World War II. Todd served in the British Army during the war. He rose to the rank of Captain by 1944 and participated in the D-Day landings with the British 6th Airborne Division. He returned to the stage and screen after the war.
He earned an Academy Award nomination for his role in the 1949 film The Hasty Heart, and starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright (1950) with Jane Wyman and Marlene Dietrich. He remained a leading actor throughout the 1950s, starring in such notable films as A Man Called Peter (1955), The Dam Busters (1955), and 1955′s The Virgin Queen as Sir Walter Raleigh opposite Bette Davis.
He was reportedly the first choice of James Bond creator Ian Fleming to play the secret agent in films in the early 1960s, but Sean Connery was given the part instead. Todd starred as British colonial policeman Inspector Harry Saunders in the films Death Drums Along the River (1963) and Coast of Skeletons (1963).
He starred as Basil Hallward in the 1970 European version of Oscar Wilde’s classic Dorian Gray, with Helmut Berger in the title role. He was also featured in the 1972 Amicus horror anthology film Asylum, and starred in the 1974 Thriller tele-film The Next Scream You Hear. Todd joined with horror icons Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, and Christopher Lee in the 1983 thriller House of the Long Shadows. He also guest-starred with Peter Davison’s Doctor in the 1982 Doctor Who episode Kinda. Todd was Lord Roberts in the 1992 television production of Sherlock Holmes and the Incident at Victoria Falls, and guest-starred in an episode of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased).
Todd died of cancer in Little Humby, Lincolnshire, England, on December 3, 2009, at the age of 90.
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