10 War Movie Actors Who Were Actually There
8. David Niven
David Niven was one of the most iconic British stars of all time, with the majority of his most widely-known efforts coming after World War II. Niven had originally started a career in the military before transitioning to acting in the late 1930s, but returned as an officer following Britain's declaration of war against Germany in September 1939. He would go on to serve as a Commando in the European Theatre while also conducting the occasional entertainment assignment, starring in The First of the Few in 1942, a film that depicted the creation of the Spitfire by RJ Mitchell.
Niven's film career continued post-war, where he starred in several movies in which he played British servicemen. Arguably the most acclaimed of these was Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death, in which Niven played an RAF pilot whose bomber is shot down over the English channel.
A deeply moving and gorgeously shot picture from The Archers - perhaps the greatest British film ever made - A Matter of Life and Death reckons with the staggering losses of the conflict, as Niven's character, Peter Carter, is forced to plead his case to the afterlife that he shouldn't have perished in that fateful plane crash.
Perhaps the film to most closely mirror Niven's wartime work, though, was The Guns of Navarone. While a sensational portrayal of the conflict, J. Lee Thompson's picture is a rip-roaring war adventure that paired Niven (here an explosives expert) perfectly with Gregory Peck, both Allied Commandos tasked with destroying a German naval battery preventing British forces on Malta from being cut off.