# David Niven **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984 "2019-02-21T21:22:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/21 "2019-02-22T02:57:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Really? What about being the Best. Bond. EVAR? This is incorrect. _Casino Royale_ (1967) is the Best. Bond. Film. EVAR. But it’s not because of Mr. Niven or his unfunny stuttering through the first third or so of the flick. It’s because it contains more prime sixties babeage than any other film. As Bond, Mr. Niven’s performance ranks no worse than third worst, thanks to Mr. Lazenby and (first and worst) Mr. Nelson. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/22 "2019-02-22T04:53:32Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Watched this crappy movie just a few days ago. > > He ‘nudged’ them with his elbow, trying to get their attention. > > Big-Freakin’-Deal. Yeah, sorry there were no car chases or buildings blown up. Just every-day plain old drama, with, y’know, characters. It could have been done on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/23 "2019-02-22T05:04:10Z")
Did a great job in _The Bishop’s Wife_. I can’t think of anyone else who could have done it better. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/24 "2019-02-22T06:26:43Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Watched this crappy movie just a few days ago. > > He ‘nudged’ them with his elbow, trying to get their attention. > > Big-Freakin’-Deal. In the climate of the time when Terence Rattigan was writing the original play, it would have been impossible to make it much more blatantly sexual. In those days, it _was_ a big deal to conventional manners and morality, which is why Rattigan poses the argument, in a way that is fairly obviously coded for what was really unmentionable in general discourse at the time, i.e., touching up a man. Anyway, that’s hardly relevant to Niven’s qualities as an actor. ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/25 "2019-02-22T06:37:10Z")
Very good in The Rogues a very enjoyable series that lasted only a year for reasons I can no longer remember. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/26 "2019-02-22T16:35:03Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Yeah, sorry there were no car chases or buildings blown up. Just every-day plain old drama, with, y’know, characters. It could have been done on TV. But they failed. The characters were one-dimension clichés. Very little development or resolution. The acting was histrionic. Started nowhere, went nowhere. Sad broken story about sad broken people. > [@PatrickLondon](#): > > In the climate of the time when Terence Rattigan was writing the original play, it would have been impossible to make it much more blatantly sexual. Oh, I know. It just doesn’t hold up well. Niven was about the best part of that film. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/27 "2019-02-22T20:48:13Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > …There’s a lot to like about Niven: he rejoined the British Army as soon as WWII broke out (and he didn’t need to, really), he never took himself terribly seriously, and he wrote a couple of hugely entertaining autobiographies. He was also pals with JFK. Here he is, seated just beyond the First Lady, for the President’s last birthday party, aboard the yacht _Sequoia_: [https://hjordisniven.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/1963-david-niven-sequoia.jpg](https://hjordisniven.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/1963-david-niven-sequoia.jpg) At a dinner party with the Kennedys (don’t think it’s at the White House): [Happy Thoughts, Darling: Image](https://happythoughtsdarling.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/withdavidniven.jpg) Skeet shooting at Camp David in the fall of 1963: [https://i.pinimg.com/736x/56/dd/b6/56ddb6803de1e4dd7b32e462b13e63f6.jpg](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/56/dd/b6/56ddb6803de1e4dd7b32e462b13e63f6.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/28 "2019-02-22T21:42:05Z")
No one else LOVES his role as the suave Dick Charlston (paired with the then totally smokin’ hott Maggie Smith) in the ultra- camp yet delightful Neil Simon written murder-mystery parody send-up “Murder By Death”? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/29 "2019-02-22T21:45:56Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > He was also pals with JFK. Here he is, seated just beyond the First Lady, for the President’s last birthday party, aboard the yacht _Sequoia_: [https://hjordisniven.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/1963-david-niven-sequoia.jpg](https://hjordisniven.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/1963-david-niven-sequoia.jpg) > > At a dinner party with the Kennedys (don’t think it’s at the White House): [Happy Thoughts, Darling: Image](https://happythoughtsdarling.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/withdavidniven.jpg) > > Skeet shooting at Camp David in the fall of 1963: [https://i.pinimg.com/736x/56/dd/b6/56ddb6803de1e4dd7b32e462b13e63f6.jpg](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/56/dd/b6/56ddb6803de1e4dd7b32e462b13e63f6.jpg) He was the sort of chap that was such good company that he got a _lot_ of invites, I suspect. Of course, he was as complex a man as anyone else, but I’ve always thought a good judge of character is how people in privileged positions treat those who are not so blessed. At Niven’s funeral, there was a huge wreath sent by the porters at Heathrow airport, with the inscription “To the finest gentleman who ever walked through these halls. He made a porter feel like a king.” > **[The flawed real life of the perfect movie gentleman](https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/the-flawed-real-life-of-the-perfect-movie-gentleman/26552274.html)** > > In the foreword to David Niven: The Man Behind the Balloon, Michael Munn confesses that he can't be an objective author with this biography because he is part of it. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/30 "2019-02-22T21:55:22Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Of course, he was as complex a man as anyone else… “To the finest gentleman who ever walked through these halls. He made a porter feel like a king.” From IMDB: “I thought it would make Hjordis [wife Hjördis Genberg] happy if we adopted a child. We talked to friends about the idea and they thought it would be marvelous. Hjordis said she’d love to adopt a Swedish girl, so we did. Her name was Kristina. [NOTE: The child was in fact Niven’s by an affair with an 18-year-old model. Hjordis had to put up with the pretense.]” Complex, perhaps; a gentleman, perhaps not… ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/31 "2019-02-22T23:24:15Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > From IMDB: > > “I thought it would make Hjordis [wife Hjördis Genberg] happy if we adopted a child. We talked to friends about the idea and they thought it would be marvelous. Hjordis said she’d love to adopt a Swedish girl, so we did. Her name was Kristina. [NOTE: The child was in fact Niven’s by an affair with an 18-year-old model. Hjordis had to put up with the pretense.]” > > Complex, perhaps; a gentleman, perhaps not… Oh aye, he was no saint, not at all. I thought his two adopted daughters were genuine adoptees though but eh, wouldn’t be surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/32 "2019-02-23T02:04:44Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > No one else LOVES his role as the suave Dick Charlston (paired with the then totally smokin’ hott Maggie Smith) in the ultra- camp yet delightful Neil Simon written murder-mystery parody send-up “Murder By Death”? Yes, oh yes!! I love that movie and everyone in it! When Dick tries to change seats because of some obscure dinner seating rule, and a sword falls from the ceiling, barely missing him, he says he was spared from death only because “I am so tremendously well bred.” “Murder by Death” is such an underrated comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/33 "2019-02-24T01:37:49Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > …“Murder by Death” is such an underrated comedy. “Listen! Cow on wall speaks!” ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/34 "2019-02-24T01:57:37Z")
He was also a member of the[original Rat Pack.](https://vitalvegas.com/things-you-didnt-know-about-rat-pack/) Lauren Bacall, in her autobiography, referred to Niven and his wife as “the Nivs.” Aside: Bacall was the link between RP 1.0 and 1.2, as she dated Sinatra after Bogie’s death. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/35 "2019-02-24T02:46:23Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “Listen! Cow on wall speaks!” “Moose! Moose you idiot!” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/36 "2019-02-24T02:53:20Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > This is incorrect. _Casino Royale_ (1967) is the Best. Bond. Film. EVAR. But it’s not because of Mr. Niven or his unfunny stuttering through the first third or so of the flick. It’s because it contains more prime sixties babeage than any other film. BRAVO! This is my fave Bond movie for exactly this reason. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/37 "2019-02-24T02:56:42Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > No one else LOVES his role as the suave Dick Charlston (paired with the then totally smokin’ hott Maggie Smith) in the ultra- camp yet delightful Neil Simon written murder-mystery parody send-up “Murder By Death”? Yes, this too. LOVE this movie. Saw it in a theater in 1975 at age 14…was familiar with all the parodies at that age…and peed myself laughing. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984/38 "2019-02-24T05:01:13Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > “Moose! Moose you idiot!” “And use your damn prepositions!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/829984.md?page=1)