Overview

When Richard Todd played the part of Major John Howard in the 1962 epic The Longest Day, he was reliving his own wartime experiences as one of the first British officers to parachute into Normandy on D-Day to capture Pegasus Bridge. Todd was a member of the British 6th Airborne Division, serving with the Parachute Regiment until 1946. He was not the only well-known British actor to have fought in the war and whose wartime experiences are detailed in the highly entertaining From the Battlefield to the Big Screen. Among the many familiar figures of TV and cinema who fought for their country are Sir Dirk Bogarde, who arrived at a secret location in Normandy just after D-Day to carry out vital aerial photographic interpretation exercises with the Royal Canadian Air Force, and Audie Murphy, who lied about his age to enlist after the attack on Pearl Harbor and went on to become America's most decorated soldier of the war. Talfryn Thomas, who played Private Cheeseman in Dads' Army, was a rear gunner in Lancasters and took part in many bombing raids over Germany, being the sole survivor when his aircraft crashed. We have all admired the stars for the pleasure they have brought to our lives, but the true stories of these people we know so well are far more evocative than any part they played on the silver screen. AUTHOR: Melody Foreman is a qualified journalist with experience in newspapers and television documentaries. She is the author of the best-selling Bomber Girls and co-author of A Spitfire Girl and has also written two books about the history of County Kent in England. 16 b/w images

Full Product Details

9781526737717

Table of Contents

Reviews

In Melody Foreman's well-crafted, thoroughly engrossing treatise depicting the wartime experiences of four movie superstars, she welcomes us to look closely behind the lives of the stars who appeared in a host of legendary war films and discover how memories of their real-life experiences in the armed forces were haunted with heartbreak and yet filled with extraordinary heroism. -- ARGunners.com

Author Information

MELODY FOREMAN is a journalist with experience in newspapers and television documentaries. She also works as a book sommelier and public speaker. Melody is the author of the best-selling Bomber Girls, A Spitfire Girl, the biography of Air Transport Auxiliary pilot Mary Wilkins Ellis, The Wreck Hunter: Battle of Britain and the Blitz, and two books about the history of Kent. Melody is a regular contributor to national publications including Britain at War magazine. She maintains an avid interest in the social history of both the First and Second World Wars, literature, art, film and theatre studies. www.melodyforeman.co.uk

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available