Richard Todd

Richard Andrew Palethorpe Todd OBE was an Irish-born British soldier, stage and film actor, and film director, who appeared in three Disney movies as Robin Hood in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, Charles Brandon in The Sword and the Rose, and Rob Roy MacGregor in Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue.

Richard Todd was born in Dublin. Later his family moved to Devon, and Todd attended Shrewsbury School. Upon leaving school, Todd trained for a potential military career at Sandhurst before beginning his acting training at the Italia Conti Academy in London. His first professional production was a 1936 staging of Twelfth Night at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. He also appeared as an extra in British films, including Good Morning, Boys, A Yank at Oxford, and Old Bones of the River. However, Todd enlisted soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, entering the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in late 1940. After the war, Todd returned to acting.

In 1949, Todd was cast as Lachie MacLachlan in The Hasty Heart a role he previously played on Broadway. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Male. His other film credits included For Them That Trespass, Stage Fright, Lightning Strikes Twice, A Man Called Peter, The Dam Busters, The Virgin Queen, The Naked Earth, Never Let Go, Don't Bother to Knock, The Boys, The Longest Day, and The Very Edge.

Todd also acted on television with shows, like Virtual Murder, Silent Witness, Doctor Who, Murder, She Wrote, Heartbeat, and The Royal. In the late 1960s, he Triumph Theatre Productions with Duncan C. Weldon and Paul Elliott were it produced more than 100 plays, musicals and pantomimes; some of them starred Todd.

In 2002, Todd was honored as a Disney Legend and died at his home near Grantham in Lincolnshire on December 3, 2009.