Ray Milland

 Ray Milland (January 3, 1907 – March 10 1986)

He is best remembered for his role of alcoholic writer in the film "The Lost Weekend" (1945), for which he won his only Oscar for Best Actor. Ray also played a sophisticated leading man opposite John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind (1942), Grace Kelly's murder-plotting husband in Dial M for Murder (1954), and Oliver Barrett III in Love Story (1970). Before becoming an actor, Milland served in the Household Cavalry of the British Army, becoming a proficient marksman, horse-rider, and aeroplane pilot. He left the army to follow a career in acting and appeared as an extra in several British productions before getting his first major role in The Flying Scotsman. This led to a nine-month contract with MGM and he moved to the United States where he appeared as a stock actor. After being released by MGM he was picked up by Paramount, who used Milland in a range of lesser speaking parts, normally as an English character. He was loaned out to Universal in 1936 for a film called Three Smart Girls, and its success saw Milland given a lead role in The Jungle Princess alongside new starlet Dorothy Lamour. The film was a big success and catapulted both to stardom. Milland remained with Paramount for almost 20 years, and as well as his Oscar winning role in The Lost Weekend, he is remembered for the films The Big Clock, The Major and the Minor, and The Thief, the last of which saw him nominated for a Golden Globe.

After leaving Paramount, he began directing and ended his career moving into television. Ray Milland died of lung cancer in Torrance, California, on March 10, 1986, aged 79.