Richard Todd

Richard Todd

 

British actor Richard Todd (1919-2009) made three live-action movies for Walt Disney and became close friends with the legendary filmmaker. Below is Todd with Walt Disney and Joan Rice while filming The Story of Robin Hood in 1951. 

Walt Disney, Richard Todd and Joan Rice

Todd served as a member of the British parachute regiment during World War II. At one point he served as adjutant and was responsible for writing the letters home notifying families that their sons fathers and brothers had been killed.

Todd would star in two of the greatest World War II films.

He portrayed Wing Commander Guy Gibson in the 1955 movie The Dam Busters which told the story of Operation Chastise.

The final scene has Gibson notify Dr Barnes Wallis he has letters to write. Todd later commented he hated filming that scene because it brought back memories of all the letters he had written during the war.

For the 1962 film The Longest Day, Todd was cast to portray Major John Howard who led the glider attack on the Orne River bridges on June 6th 1944. Todd had been one of the relief unit paratroopers who had jumped and met with Howard's glider unit. In his portrayal of Howard Todd wore the pin and Beret he had worn on June 6th 1944 (photo above).

Aware of Todd's history the filmmakers feature a moment when the relief group arrives Howard gives a slight nod to an actor portraying paratrooper Richard Todd.

Robin Hood's Promotion

 

Above is a screenshot from the Daily News (London) on March 14th 1952 showing Joan Rice at the London Première of Walt Disney's "Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men":

'There's no mistaking Maid Marian (Joan Rice) as she arrives for last night's première. Robin Hood motifs trim her tulle skirt. Her velvet bodice is in Lincoln Green, of course.

The amount of advertising and promotion that went on before and during the release of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952) never ceases to amaze me. I have once again been delving in the newspaper archives and discovered another glimpse of the work that went on. This article appeared in Kinomatograph Weekly on March 5th 1952:

RKO’s Showmanship Link with CMA for ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘Saturday Island ' 

"The world premières of both ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘Saturday Island’ are to be presented by RKO-Radio, with the operation of CMA, in traditional showmanship fashion. They will be launched with publicity campaigns outstanding even in RKO showmanship.

A few days before the opening, on March 13, of Walt Disney’s ‘Robin Hood’ in Technicolor, at the Leicester Square Theatre, the Daily Graphic will start its picture serialisation and will be sponsoring a £200 competition on popular lines. It will be backed by widespread national campaigns by Kelsey Newspapers. The première, like that of the provincial opening later, in Manchester, will be in aid of the National Advertising Benevolent Society.

The BBC will serialise ‘Robin Hood’ on five successive evenings starting April 28 on the Light programme from 6.15-6.45 p.m., a time when the film will be at the height of its general release. The material will be from the sound track of the film with added matter recorded by stars Richard Todd and Joan Rice.

Joan Rice and Richard Todd

It will also be featured on the day of the première itself, in ‘Film Time’, while Joan Rice has a special ‘Robin Hood’ spot on television’s ‘Kaleidoscope.’ Many of Britain’s large circulation magazines are also devoting big spaces to the picture tying in with its première and general release.

In addition to this editorial coverage, national advertising started last Thursday with prominent spaces in leading journals and a widespread poster campaign both in the West End and in the provinces.

National tie-ins have also been arranged with a large number of commercial houses.

Elton Hayes, the BBC man with a small guitar, who makes a film debut in the picture, will tour key presentations in the provinces."

Kinomatograph Weekly March 5th 1952

I would love to hear those recordings that Richard Todd and Joan Rice made for the BBC! 

Does that episode of 'Kaleidoscope' with Joan Rice survive?

Walt Disney Visits the Robin Hood Set

Richard Todd, Walt Disney and Joan Rice

 

Here is a collection of publicity shots of Walt Disney with Richard Todd (Robin Hood) and Joan Rice (Maid Marian). In July 1951, just as his cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland was released in America, Disney visited Europe with his wife Lillian and their daughters to supervise his second live-action movie, The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952) which was financed again by the blocked monies of RKO and Disney. Apparently he was thoroughly pleased with the way things were going.

Walt Disney greets Joan Rice (Maid Marian)

Before leaving America, Walt had screened films at the studio, looking at prospective actors and directors and making what he himself called ‘merely suggestions’, while he left the final decisions to Perce Pearce, who was producing. For his part, Pearce had laid out every shot in the movie in thumbnail sketches, or storyboards, just as the studio had done with the animators, and sent them on along with photostats and the final script to Walt for his approval, which Walt freely gave, though not without a veiled threat that Pearce had better make the film as quickly as possible. “This is important not only to the organisation but to you as the producer,” he wrote.

Another publicity shot of Walt with Joan and Richard

In his biography Caught in the Act, Richard Todd described Perce Pearce as a jolly, rubicund Pickwickian figure. 

Perce Pearce with Richard Todd

Todd is vague in how he was chosen to play the part of Robin Hood for Disney. He didn't remember if it was through his agent or the legendary film maker himself.  But, after agreeing to play the part of the outlaw he met Perce Pearce and Maud Spector (the casting director) at the Dorchester Hotel in London and went through lists of candidates for parts in the film. Todd's only contribution was to suggest James Robertson Justice as Little John.

Walt Disney enjoys a picnic with Robin and Marian

What is certain is Disney personally chose Joan Rice to play the part of Maid Marian. Todd doesn't mention Joan in his biography but Ken Annakin, the director on The Story of Robin Hood, does. He depreciatingly describes Joan as Disney's, Achilles Heel and only fit to be somebody's house maid! 

Audiences around the world disagreed with Annakin.

Neil's fantastic website Films of the Fifties contains an extremely interesting article on how Joan was treated on the set of Disney's Story of Robin Hood: https://filmsofthefifties.com/the-bullying-of-joan-rice/

 

Richard Todd Meets Walt Disney

Richard Todd practices for his role as Robin Hood

 

70 years ago Walt Disney's live action movie The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men had its premiere in London. Sadly, this colourful version of the legend is rarely shown and almost forgotten since the Disney organisation released an animated version in 1973.

But, down the years I have tried to make people aware of this live action movie, with its array of talented actors and actresses and incredible production team.

In his book Caught In The Act, Richard Todd describes his first meeting with Walt Disney in October 1950 and how he wanted his Robin Hood to be portrayed:

"The following Monday I went to Burbank to meet the most legendary of all the movie-world figures, Walt Disney. I don't remember whether the idea had come from Disney himself, or whether Milton Pickman had suggested it, but Walt was planning a film about Robin Hood and wanted me to play the English folk hero.

The atmosphere in the Walt Disney Studios was quite different from any I had so far experienced in the film factories. Walt first took me on a brief tour of his empire, going round acres of sound stages and rows of drawing offices, where animators were busy sketching. And everywhere he went he was greeted with 'Hi, Walt,' and he replied, 'Hi! Jack-or Fred-or Art-or Lou.' He seemed to know every single one of the workforce.

Joan Rice (Maid Marian), Walt Disney and Richard Todd (Robin Hood)

Eventually, we arrived in his office, a large, panelled, comfy room with a bar at one end. Before we settled down to talk, Walt proudly showed me how, at the touch of a button, the bar became a soda fountain for youngsters. He adored children and delighted in surprising them.

We were joined by Perce Pearce, his senior live-action producer, a jolly, rubicund Pickwickian figure, who was going to take charge of the Robin Hood project, and Walt then outlined his ideas for the planned film. With images of Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn in my mind, I simply could not see it as a vehicle for me. I was not physically built to play a larger-than-life swashbuckler, and I could not see myself swinging from the same Sherwood family tree as the mighty Flynn.

Above all, I considered myself an actor; not for me the Lincoln-green equivalent of Tarzan.

Walt was very persuasive. He described the idea of Robin Hood as a quick-thinking welter-weight, not a ponderous heavyweight. But even so, much as I liked and admired him, I felt I could not abandon all my thespian principles for a child's play romp in the forest. I must have been taking myself very seriously at that time.

And it never occurred to me that it might be a darned sight more difficult to make a fantasy character believable than to play some of the straight conventional parts that I had already done."

Thanks to Neil Vessey owner of the fantastic web site Films of the Fifties for the use of the image of Richard Todd with the bow at the top of the page.

From Caught In The Act, The Story of My Life by Richard Todd : Hutchinson 1986

Richard and Joan

This steamy shot is from a Disney film! It shows Richard Todd as Robin Hood and Joan Rice as Maid Marian in Walt Disney’s live action movie ‘The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men released in 1952. A very underrated film.

By this time, Richard Todd (1919-2009) was already a popular actor. He had received an Oscar nomination for his role as 'Lachie' in The Hasty Heart (1949) and recently finished Hitchcock's Stage Fright (1950) and King Vidor's Lightning Strikes Twice (1951).

But for Joan Rice, the former 'Nippy' from a Lyons Tea House, this was her first big break. Joan had spent her childhood in a convent in Nottingham and had often played amongst the oaks of Sherwood Forest...

Just click on the labels to learn more about Joan and Richard.

Belgian Robin Hood Comic

 

Special thanks to Matt Crandall for sending this cover of a Belgian comic of 1952. It shows a colourised still of Richard Todd as Robin Hood from the live-action movie released this year. The movie was of course Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men.

Many black and white images, used to promote the film at this time, were colourised. By today's standards, they often look extremely gaudy. This was due to the limited printing technology at the time. 

To view this web sites vast collection of promotional material from the movie, just click on the relevant label.

Promotional Spanish Magazine Article

A Spanish Magazine article about The Story of Robin Hood

I am sorry my postings have been few and far between. There are a number of reasons - including trying to move house which has been a rollercoaster of experiences! So a big thank you to Matt Crandall for helping me by sending this Spanish magazine article promoting the release of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men in 1952. 

Joan Rice as Maid Marian

Those of you that have explored the hundreds of pages and images on this blog, will be familiar with the pictures used in that magazine. So I have shared a similar promotional photograph of the lovely Joan Rice above, which I have colourised. 

Richard Todd as Robin Hood

The photograph of Walt Disney with his wife and two daughters in that magazine, is interesting. From the photographs I have seen of him on the set at Denham during the making of The Story of Robin Hood, I am sure he looked older! What do you think?

Richard Todd ‘Dashing Young Blade’ (1919-2009)

The grave of Richard Todd

Richard Todd is buried at St. Guthlac's Churchyard, Little Ponton, in Lincolnshire, England. He died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday 3rd December 2009. His gravestone contains the epitaph, Exit Dashing Young Blade and I think those three words describe his acting career perfectly. For me - and I suspect many of my blog readers -Richard will always be the ‘dashing blade’ Robin Hood!

Fan’s Star Library magazine from 1958, described how Richard Todd was given the role of Robin Hood by Walt Disney:

"As soon as Flesh and Blood was completed, Walt Disney wanted Richard for the name role in his new picture Robin Hood. It is said that Disney chose Todd for the part after one of his own daughters returned from a cinema - a confirmed Richard Todd fan - she had just seen The Hasty Heart, and she kept telling her father that this young British star had everything!

An outdoor man himself, the idea of playing the great adventurer appealed to Richard, but he didn't want to be forced to portray the outlaw as a ‘costumed twelfth century Tarzan’. He wanted to play Robin Hood as 'he' saw the great outlaw. Fortunately, Walt Disney had enough confidence in Richard to allow him his own portrayal and as we all know the picture was a tremendous success.

Robin Hood had its premiere at the Leicester Square Theatre on March 13th, 1952. It was a glittering oppening and raised a large sum of money for a worthey cause. This film has become a classic, and will doubtless be shown for years and years.

Within four days of finishing Robin Hood, Richard flew to the South of France, to play the part of the incurable young gambler in Twenty Four Hours of a Woman's Life”.

Richard Todd as Robin Hood

Richard Todd represented, as Michael Winner said, “the best example of classic British film acting. He was a very fine actor but his style of acting went out of fashion, which was a pity because his contribution to British movies was enormous.” Winner went on:

“ Richard was also a very, very nice person. He was a good friend and wonderful to work with, utterly professional, very quiet, just got on with it. He was just a splendid person and a very, very good actor”.

Born Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Todd at first hoped to become a playwright but discovered a love for acting after helping found the Dundee Repertory Company in Scotland in 1939.

He volunteered for the British Army and graduated to the position of Captain in the 6th Airborne Division and took part in the famous D-Day landings of 1944 and was one of the first paratroopers to meet the glider force commanded by Major John Howard at Pegasus Bridge; he later played Howard in The Longest Day.

Walt Disney, Richard Todd and Joan Rice

After being discharged in 1946, he returned to Dundee. His role as male lead in Claudia led to romance and then marriage to his leading lady, Catherine Grant-Bogle. A Scottish accent mastered while preparing for his role in The Hasty Heart proved a useful skill in his later film career.

He won praise for his performance in the film of The Hasty Heart, which included Ronald Reagan and Patricia Neal in the cast. The New York World-Telegram hailed Todd as ‘a vivid and vigorous actor’  and the New York Herald Tribune said his performance  ' combined lofty stature with deep feeling, attracting enormous sympathy without an ounce of sentiment.' Todd and Reagan later became close friends.

Richard Todd reading through a script

Todd was nominated for an Academy Award for the 1949 film A Hasty Heart and starred as U.S. Senate chaplain Peter Marshall in A Man Called Peter (1954). Marshall's widow Catherine said Todd “ was just about the only film actor whose Scottish syllables would have met (her husband's) standards”.

He also teamed up with legendary director Alfred Hitchcock to star in the thriller Stage Fright and went on to play Robin Hood, Charles Brandon (in Sword and the Rose) and Rob Roy for Walt Disney’s live-action film productions in England. His portrayal as the outlaw Robin Hood will certainly never be forgotten on this web site.

Then came one of his best-known roles, playing Royal Air Force pilot Guy Gibson, in the classic war film The Dam Busters and later the epic The Longest Day in 1962, in which he relived the D-Day landings.

In Britain, James Bond author Ian Fleming picked Todd as his first choice to play 007 - but the actor turned down the role because of other commitments and it went to Sir Sean Connery instead.

The veteran star continued to act in the 1980s with roles in British TV shows including Casualty, crime series Silent Witness and sci-fi classic Doctor Who.

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1993. Although many of us on this site believe a Knighthood would have been more appropriate!

Richard Todd

Todd had a son and a daughter from his first marriage, and two sons from his marriage to Virginia Mailer. Both marriages ended in divorce.

His son Seamus from the second marriage, killed himself in 1997, and his eldest son also killed himself in 2005 following the breakdown of his marriage.

Todd said dealing with those tragedies was like his experience of war.

So how do I finish this short obituary to someone I have admired all my life? I suppose the only way is to use a line from Disney’s Story of Robin Hood which sums up for me the character of the great man.

His like you are not like to see,

In all the world again.

The commemorative plaque at Elstree

To read a lot more about Richard Todd please click here.

After Robin Hood ?

I recently discovered these two loose pages in what I believe was the Film Review. Unfortunately I do not have a date for the article, but it must have been around 1955, when Richard Todd (1919-2009) appeared as Guy Gibson in The Dam Busters. 

After Robin Hood by Richard Todd

“ In some ways I shall always regard my decision to appear for Walt Disney in Robin Hood as one of the most important in my life. At the time I was still living under the shadow of that dour and twisted Scot, Lackie of The Hasy Heart, and I wanted an escape.

Disney’s Robin Hood looked like being just what I was after as soon as it was first mooted while I was in Hollywood; but I was just a little anxious. I felt that I had to be doubly careful.

By this time you’ll have made up your minds about the picture and my performance. But I think you’ll agree that is different, that it has at last laid the ghost of Lackie. And now what?

Well, Ive taken a breather by playing opposite Merle Oberon in Twenty-four Hours of a Woman’s Life (1952), a rather unusual love story. And I’m most happy with my part of Guy Gibson in Dam Busters.

Can I go on finding such varied and interesting parts? I don’t know, but I can try”.
(Richard Todd)


This is a poignant piece. By the end of the 1950’s the the studio system was breaking up, his contract was not renewed, and ‘wheeler-dealing over individual films became the norm. While flirting with television, for which he did Carrington VC in 1960, he became a stage actor-manager by forming Triumph theatre productions and touring middlebrow plays’. 

The Guardian Obituary continues... “ He [Richard Todd] became a dairy farmer from 1957, leading to his appointment as president of the Henley and District Agricultural Association in Buckinghamshire. A very British perfectionist, he confessed to a dream that, despite the warnings of his friends and everyone else he talked to, there would always be a market for the best...His success as a businessman/farmer was a double-edged sword as his acting career receded. However, Todd retained his instinct for business. In the 1970s, actors – especially well-spoken and well-dressed middle-class actors who had slipped out of fashion – were having a lean time. An organisation was set up to use such players by touring them in the US and other parts of the world. Todd – the star of 50 films over 20 years – was one of the relatively few former high-powered stars who turned out to support the idea.

Physically small but sturdy, Todd was more of a realist than many actors. He said bluntly that when the film parts dried up and he had returned to the stage, he had been "absolutely dreadful" in a production of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband (1965) and had had to relearn the stage technique he had acquired at the beginning of his career. At that time, too, he sold his farm to support himself” .

****

This site contains over 70 pages featuring Richard Todd including various articles about his life and career. Please click on the links.

Richard Todd as Robin Hood

He will always be my favourite Robin Hood.

Robin and Marian

Richard Todd as Robin Hood and Joan Rice as Maid Marian

At this romantic time of year, I thought I would share one of my favourite stills from Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). It shows the young lovers Robin Hood (Richard Todd) and Maid Marian (Joan Rice) in one of the opening scenes of the film.

Several new versions of the legend are scheduled to reach the silver screen in the future, including another version by Disney called Nottingham & Hood. But I doubt it will match the sheer quality and magic of this Technicolor masterpiece.

Robin and Hugh Fitzooth

Yet another rare image from our favourite movie! I am always surprised how many of these stills survive. And it is always a thrill to see them. From left to right we can see Robin’s father Hugh Fitzooth played by Reginald Tate, Richard Todd as Robin Hood (Robin Fitzooth) and Alan-a-Dale portrayed wonderfuly by Elton Hayes.

This site has hundreds of images that can be accessed via the ‘Picture Gallery’ label and across the 800 posts on this site. But, if you have any rare images from the movie that you would like to share, please get in touch.

Richard Todd & Catherine Bogle

Neil has recently sent in this very rare theatre poster from about 1946. This was during the early stages of Richard Todd's (1919-2009) acting career and shows his future wife Catherine Bogle with top-billing. In his autobiography Caught In The Act (1986), Toddy describes Catherine and the play they were about to perform:

She was Catherine Bogle, a Scottish-born young actress, who had just arrived to start rehearsals next day for the forthcoming production, a light comedy called Claudia. Just nineteen years old, she had previously worked with the Dundee Repertory Company, but had been at home for nearly a year as the result of a nervous breakdown. Now recovered, but still not totally well, she had been invited by Mr Whatmore to play the leading part, Claudia, in Rose Franken's comedy.

Kitty, as I was always to call her, was ideally cast as the capricious child-wife in the story. She was tiny and quite beautifully formed, with long, natural blonde hair dressed in the page-boy style fashionable at that time and the most lovely, shy, green-blue eyes. She had delicate hands and tapered fingers, and her skin was a flawless and smooth as any china.

Catherine and Richard Todd

Here is an article on Richard Todd from 2011:

"Catherine Bogle was an excellent actress in her own right and she played opposite him in Claudia. Richard fell in love with her. But he did not want one of those theatrical marriages where the wife is touring all over the country in one company, while the husband is touring in yet another, and travelling in the opposite direction.

A life such as this was not for Richard-he wanted a home. He wanted to get himself established as an artist so that he had something substantial to offer the girl he loved, before he asked her to marry him.

In Dundee, Richard began to think the right part would never come along, when Robert Lennard telegraphed him to come to London for a screen test. Richard arrived in London, took the test, and was immediately accepted for the part.

The eagle eyes of the casting director for Associated British Pictures saw a prospective star in Richard, his undoubted acting ability, plus his good looks, convinced Lennard that young Todd would go a long way. After the successful test he offered him a contract-a good one-Richard gladly accepted.

Associated British Pictures felt that in their latest twenty-eight-year-old contract player, they had a suitable artist for the role of Herbert in their new film, For Them That Tresspass. The part was that of a young tough, bed in the drab surroundings of poverty who finds himself convicted of a murder he did not commit. Although he eventually leaves prison a free man, there is a bitter hate and revenge in his heart against the real criminal and those who sent him to prison.

Richard was tested for the part and got it-this was indeed his big chance. The first day on the set was a gruelling ordeal for the young actor. He knew that his whole career depended on how well he played the part and naturally, he was nervous.

However it was soon obvious to everyone on the set that Richard knew his job. He brought real acting ability and strength of personality to the screen and in his capable hands the character of Herbert came to life. He was a success.

At that time Richard was living at one of London’s Airborne Clubs. It was jolly there and at night he would sit talking to some of his ex-army pals, chatting about old times, or discussing his ambitions for the future.

Richard puffed away at his favourite pipe and told his colleagues that if he was ever lucky enough to make good at this acting business, it was his ambition to own a stud farm. Another dream was some day to build a small repertory theatre in London where new plays and promising young actors and actresses could delight the London theatre-goers.

Richard was full of high hopes and dreams, but at that time he had a long way to go. He had only mounted the first step of the ladder. Still, like all young men he found it exciting to plan ahead and to dream. Some day he might be a star-but those evenings, as he sat talking to his army friends, he little imagined how soon his dream of stardom would be realised.

Associated British executives were so impressed with Richard’s performance in For Them That Trespass that when an actor was sought for the key role of ‘Lachie’ in The Hasty Heart, they immediately and unanimously put forward their young protégée’s name for the test. He was under contract to Associated British Pictures for seven years; his salary was a good one, but not enormous. They expected big things of Richard and it was agreed that his salary would increase each year, but not even top men in the motion picture business expected their young contract artist to jump to stardom in his second film!

Vincent Sherman, the American director had come to England to direct the test for The Hasty Heart. He brought with him Patricia Neal and Ronald Reagan who were to star in the film. The part of ‘Lachie’ a dour and embittered young Scottish convalescent soldier, was not easy to cast, but when Richard’s test was screened, Vincent Sherman slapped his knee and cried “That’s my boy!” So young Todd got the part. The test was flown to Warner Brothers’ Burbank Studios and back came the reply: “Sign Todd. He’s terrific.”

The part of the shy, surly, soured and friendless young Scot, who is doomed to die in a Burma military hospital, was so beautifully played by Richard Todd that it sent him rocketing to stardom. He was a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. For the American public, The Hasty Heart had two Hollywood stars, but it was Richard who made the audiences sit up. The blazing sincerity of his acting claimed their sympathy even when he was in his bitterest mood.

Richard Todd c.1951

He acted with his eyes, even when the rest of him was stonily still. His performance shook the top executives at Warner Brothers when the first rough cut of the film reached America. They could see that a great new British star had blazed into the celluloid sky, and it was clear from that one film that he was ready and able to hold his own with high-salaried, top-ranking stars from Hollywood.

As for Richard, he knew before the film was finished that he was doing a good job. He thought, when the picture was released, that it would be successful, but it never occurred to him that HE would be a sensation. When The Hasty Heart was finished, he had one day’s rest, and then started to play opposite Valerie Hobson in The Cord, at Riverside Studios.

Before the film was finished, director Alfred Hitchcock, who had see rushes of his previous films, offered him the leading part in Stage Fright.

Richard was extremely thrilled to be working for that great director and Stage Fright gave him the opportunity of sharing honours with such international stars as Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich and Michael Wilding. The film was to be made at Elstree Studios and the part of ‘Jonathan’ greatly appealed to Richard.

Considering that he had been less than fifteen months in the motion picture business, to be cast opposite such stars was really remarkable. He felt that now his success was fairly assured he could ask the girl he loved to marry him."

Richard and Catherine's wedding in 1949

On August 13th 1949 Richard took time off from filming to marry his twenty-two-year-old Kitty, the girl he met and loved and who loved him, when he was just another repertory actor working for less than ten pounds a week with the Dundee Repertory Company."

Richard Todd describes his marriage in his autobiography:

"Kitty and I were married in the bombed-out ruins of St Columba's Church of Scotland in Pont Street, Belgravia. Although our new flat in Park Street, Mayfair, was ready for us, we had not yet of course, moved in, so my launching pad for my ceremony was still my shared flat in Belgravia."

Catherine (1927-1997) was the daughter of William Grant-Bogle a steel-brass founder. Richard and Catherine had two children, Peter Todd (1952-2005) and Fiona Margaret (b.1956). Fiona later married Hon. Rollo Hugh Clifford. 

Richard and Catherine Todd.

Peter Todd committed suicide in a car park in East Malling, Kent in 2005.

In 1960 Richard had a son, Jeremy, by the model Patricia Nelson. Catherine and Richard divorced ten years later in 1970. Richard then married Virgina Mailer (b.1941) in June of the same year. They had two children, Andrew and Seamus (1977-1997). 

Seamus Todd shot himself in the head in 1997.

I received an email from Pam a few years ago about the mysterious later years of Catherine Grant-Bogle. Up until now, very little was known about her life after she was divorced from movie legend Richard Todd. So I am sure my readers will be very interested in what Pam has to say:

“I was looking up info on Richard Todd when I saw this article on Catherine Grant-Bogle. She was my landlady in 1970/71 in London, in a flat near the Tate Gallery.

Catherine Todd  (formerly Bogle)

I am Canadian and was backpacking through Europe with my girlfriend. She took me, my girlfriend and a girl from Hawaii in for room and board. The rooms were as the children left them and she didn't want us to touch or move anything. She also didn't want us using the kitchen and when she found the three of us making dinner, she was very upset.

She was very bitter about the divorce and told us stories. Her son Peter also came by a few times to check on her. I also have a picture of her with her cat in my photo album.

I went back to London with my first husband in 1978 and went to show him the flat. And there she was walking down the street coming out of the liquor store, looking a little worse for wear.

I am surprised to see that she lived another 20 years after I last saw her. She didn't look well and the difference in her from 1971 to 1978 was astounding!”

Pam continued:

“She did seem so sad, not only when I was rooming at her flat, but especially when I saw her walking down the street a few years later. She was a sweet lady.

Anyway, just thought I would share this with you.”

I would like to thank Pam very much for this glimpse into the later years of Richard Todd’s first wife. Also a huge thank you to Neil for his regular in-put and continued support.

If anyone can add some more to this information, particularly on Catherine, or would like to comment on anything concerning the movie The Story of Robin Hood or its actors, please get in touch at disneysrobin@googlemail.com.

Richard Todd at Shiplake

It is always interesting to hear from readers of this blog. David Denton sent these recollections to me :

"Dear Clement, just a small piece of trivia after reading that your a fan of the movie, 'The Story of Robin Hood!'
Well, I used to go to see Richard Todd when he had his farm at Shiplake, near my home town of Henley-on-Thames, before I moved to the village
of Mapledurham. He was a lovely man, and even me at my age of 15, I had a crush on him. Also on summer evenings, bumped into Robert Beatey, as I and friends used to walk along the tow-path by the river. Oh! Happy bygone days! And over the years I met Bill Owen, Michael Hordon, Anthony Steele, Diana Dors, Sabrina and many others, - but Richard was always my favourite.

I had 'The Story of Robin Hood' on VHS for years, but was so delighted when it came out on DVD.
So as I said at the beginning just a small bit of info."

Richard Todd c.1950

David contacted me again recently, with some more memories:

"It was a long time ago. But I can remember the first time that I cycled to see him, not knowing just quite where he lived. On the road to Shiplake from Mapledurham there is a hill before you desend down towards the village. It was my school summer holidays... and I came across an old man cutting the grass verges, so I decided to ask him if he knew where Richard lived, and knowing that he lived in a large white farmhouse, their was such a house in the distance, to the left of the landscape...so I tentively said to him who lives in that big house on the hillside? And I can remember to this day all these years later.."Todd the Actor." And it was spoken in a country dialect, which now having acted myself, I can do it justice!!

Back in 2014, I published an article about Richard Todd's home at Pinkney's Green, Maidenhead. I had this comment from 'berrys5555':

"This was very interesting to read. I visited a house called Hailywood in Shiplake Oxfordshire many years ago that belonged to Richard Todd. It was attached to Haileywood farm which he also owned and farmed. The house was very large and I remember the drawing room, it had a small area which was raised like a small stages with a grand piano on it. It’s now owned by a well known musician and the estate has been broken up and some of the land has been built on."

Shiplake and Haileywood Farm

The large house had previously been owned by the famous concert pianist, Eileen Joyce (1908-1991). It seems Richard Todd purchased Haileywood from her in 1957. Below is an interesting Youtube clip of Richard Todd at Shiplake in about 1959.