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Summary
The last in a popular series on movie stars
in the military, this handsome book provides readers with a guide to film actors
of many nations who served in various branches of their own military forces. Because
they appeared in Hollywood movies, many of these figures will be familiar to Americans.
A few even won Oscars. Others worked closer to home but are still recognized internationally.
The preponderance of stars included here are British and date their service to
World War II.
Among
the more than sixty stars featured are Richard Attenborough, Alec Guinness, Laurence
Olivier, Richard Burton, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Rex Harrison, Anthony Hopkins,
Ray Milland, Roger Moore, David Niven, Michael Rennie, and Peter Ustinov. Guinness
commanded a British Landing craft that brought ashore the first invasion force
at Sicily on 9 July 1943. Caine served in Korea as a private in the British Army,
while Connery joined the Royal Navy in 1947 at seventeen, boxed with the navy
team, and was discharged after three years with an ulcer. Olivier was commissioned
a sub-lieutenant in 1941 and trained as a pilot, but after a series of mishaps
he was allowed to resign.
Those from Canada include Lorne Greene, Raymond
Massey, and Walter Pidgeon. The Frenchmen include Maurice Chevalier, who was wounded
in combat during World War I and held prisoner by the Germans for more than two
years, and Charles Boyer who was already a well known actor when he enlisted-at
the age of forty-to fight Hitler. Also featured are Laurence Harvey of South Africa,
Peter Finch of Australia, Oskar Werner of Germany, Toshiro Mifune of Japan, and
finally Audrey Hepburn, who as a child was a courier for World War II resistance
fighters in Holland.
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