Trivia

He became the brother-in-law of filmmaker Lewis Gilbert, when his sister Hylda Henrietta Tafler (1919-2005) wed the director in 1952. Gilbert would cast him in a number of against-type roles in such films as Reach for the Sky (1956), Sink the Bismarck! (1960) and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

Prolific British character actor of the 1940's and 50's who specialized in playing elusive, cigarette-dangling shysters and thieves.

Graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1936 with an acting diploma. Subsequently appeared in classical roles on stage in the West End and at the Old Vic, between 1944-46.

Played his first villain in 1947 in the film It Always Rains on Sundays.