Deaths 2022

Deaths 2021

Deaths 2020

Deaths 2019

Deaths 2018

Deaths 2017

Deaths 2016

Deaths 2015

Deaths 2014

Deaths 2013

Deaths 2012

Deaths 2011

Deaths 2010

Deaths 2009


Full list by date of death

Richard Todd

Actor

Born - 11 June 1919, Dublin, Ireland
Died - 3 December 2009

Sleekly, boyishly handsome, not-too-tall Irish-born actor, at first in British films but also successful in Hollywood. He began in repertory as a teenager, and there was some extra work in films, which included a walk-on in MGM's British movie, A Yank in Oxford (1938). He had the lead in a 1940 short, Romance in the Making, before war service as a paratrooper, which included meeting the major he would later play in The Longest Day (1962). His breakthrough film role came repeating his stage success as a dying Scot in The Hasty Heart (1949). He then played a series of dashing period heroes for Disney British, including Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952), Rob Roy and The Sword and the Rose (both 1953), as well as his signature role as Guy Gibson in The Dam Busters (1954), all of which led to Hollywood roles in A Man Called Peter (1954) and The Virgin Queen (1955). Back in Britain, he made the excellent Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958) and The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961) but, after two splashy Africa-set adventures and a couple of supporting roles in the mid 1960s, he returned to the theatre. Twice married and divorced (two of his four children committed suicide), he died from cancer.