Heres a bit more about David Niven Kassi !!
David Niven
Born - 1 March 1910, London, England, UK - Died - 29 July 1983, Château-d'Oex, Switzerland (Lou Gehrig's disease)
David Niven was named after the Saint's Day on which he was born, St. David, patron Saint of Wales. He attended Stowe School and Sandhurst Military Academy and served for two years in Malta with the Highland Light Infantry. After he left the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst he was asked to write down his three preferred regiments, he wrote "anything but the HLI" he was inevitably commissioned into the HLI. He often used to say he was born in Kirriemuir, Scotland. It was only after his birth certificate was checked after his death that this was found to be incorrect. David thought it sounded more romantic. He was born in London, England. His Scottish father was Lieutenant William Niven, who died at Gallipoli on 21st August 1915, aged 25, while serving with the Berkshire Yeomanry. He was reported missing until 1917.
A close friend of Michael Trubshawe. They served together in the HLI in Malta in the 1930s and Trubshawe figures prominently in Niven's biography, "The Moon's A Balloon". Niven states: "He swiftly made a name for himself in television and one of his earliest screen appearances was in The Guns of Navarone - a lovely bonus for me." Niven does not mention Trubshawe's earlier appearance in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956). Trubshawe was Niven's best man on the occasion of his two marriages, and also godfather to Niven's son David, Jr.
At the outbreak of World War II, although a top-line star, he re-joined the army (Rifle Brigade) and served through Dunkirk, joining the commandos and later the secret Phantom Reconnaissance Regiment. He spent most of the time behind German lines with the latter outfit, a rough, tough, hit-and-run group harassing the enemy. During his war service, his batman was Pvt. Peter Ustinov. From 1942-46 Ustinov served as a private soldier with the British Army's Royal Sussex Regiment, during the Second World War. He was batman for David Niven and the two became life-long friends. Ustinoiv spent most of his service with the Army Cinema Unit, where he worked on recruitment films, wrote plays, and appeared in three films. At that time he wrote and directed his film, The Way Ahead (1944) (aka.. The Immortal Battalion).
Niven, however, consented to play in two films during the war, both of strong propaganda value -The First of the Few (1942) and The Way Ahead (1944). In spite of six years' virtual absence from the screen, he came in second in the 1945 Popularity Poll of British film stars. On his return to Hollywood after the war he was made a Legionnaire of the Order of Merit (the highest American order that can be earned by an alien). This was presented to Lt. Col. David Niven by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
