Ray Milland (born Alfred Reginald Jones; 3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a British-born actor and leading man during The Golden Age of Hollywood, whose striking good looks and euphonious Welsh accent led him to a long and highly successful career playing charming urban sophisticates, as well as the occasional Evil Brit villain.
Born in Neath, Wales, Milland grew up in a well-to-do family before leaving at age 21 and briefly serving in the Household Cavalry of the British Army. Milland left the military for acting, getting small parts in films just as the talkies were coming to the British film industry. Bit parts and a couple of starring roles led to Milland emigrating to Hollywood, where he landed more bit parts until his career stalled and he went back to England. Milland soon returned to America but couldn't find acting work, and instead took various menial odd jobs before he was finally signed by Paramount in 1933. A prominent role in Three Smart Girls in 1936 launched him to headliner status.
He appeared in a series of hit films throughout World War II (he was rejected for military service due to an injured hand), which culminated in The Lost Weekend in 1945. This film, one of the first movies ever made to seriously take on the subject of alcoholism, won the Academy Award for Best Picture and won Milland the Best Actor award. Milland enjoyed more successes throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s, including such films as The Thief, a spy thriller told without spoken dialogue; The Big Clock, remade 40 years later as No Way Out with Kevin Costner; and Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, in which he played a Villain Protagonist. As he aged Milland worked a lot in television as an actor and director, as well as in many terrible, cheesy, low-budget sci-fi and horror films. When asked why he'd appeared in so many bad movies in his old age, Milland cheerfully replied, "For the money, old chap, for the money!"
Ray Milland on TV Tropes:
- Piccadilly (1929), uncredited extra
- Way for a Sailor (1930), uncredited bit part
- Blonde Crazy (1931) as Joe Reynolds
- Polly of the Circus (1932), uncredited bit part
- Three Smart Girls (1936) as Lord Michael Stuart
- Easy Living (1937) as John Ball Jr.
- Beau Geste (1939) as John Geste
- The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940) as Dr. Timothy Sterling
- Sullivan's Travels (1951), uncredited cameo
- I Wanted Wings (1941) as Jeff Young
- Reap the Wild Wind (1942) as Steve Tolliver
- The Major and the Minor (1942) as Maj. Philip Kirby
- Lady in the Dark (1944) as Charley Johnson
- The Uninvited (1944) as Roderick Fitzgerald
- Ministry of Fear (1944) as Stephen Neale
- The Lost Weekend (1945) as Don Birnam
- The Big Clock (1948) as George Stroud
- Dial M for Murder (1954) as Tony Wendice
- King of Kings (1961) as Satan, uncredited voice
- The Premature Burial (1962) as Guy Carrell
- Panic in Year Zero! (1962) as Harry Baldwin; also directed
- X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963) as Dr. James Xavier
- Love Story (1970) as Oliver Barrett III
- Frogs (1972) as Jason Crockett
- The Thing with Two Heads (1972) as Maxwell Kirshner
- Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) as Aristotle Bolt
- The Uncanny (1977) as Frank Richards
- The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963) as Dr. Howard Fenwick (1 episode)
- Night Gallery (1971) as Dr. Archibald Ravadon (1 episode)
- Columbo (1971–72)
- "Death Lends a Hand" as Arthur Kennicutt
- "The Greenhouse Jungle" as Jarvis Goodland
- Ellery Queen (1975) as Carson McKell (1 episode)
- The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1978) as Dr. Orin Thatcher (2 episodes)
- Battlestar Galactica (1978) as Sire Uri (1 episode)
- Fantasy Island (1978) as Col. James Weston (1 episode)
- The Love Boat (1979) as Peter Bradbury (2 episodes)
- Charlie's Angels (1980) as Oliver Barrows (1 episode)
- Hart to Hart (1982–83) as Steven Edwards (2 epsiodes)
