page_title: Ray Milland
section_title: As leading man 1937–1944
hierarchical_section_title: Ray Milland / Career / As leading man 1937–1944
caption_attribution_description: Screenshot of Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard from the trailer for the film Reap the Wild Wind
context_page_description: Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and film director who held both British and American citizenship. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend, a sophisticated leading man opposite John Wayne's corrupt character in Reap the Wild Wind, the murder-plotting husband in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, and Oliver Barrett III in Love Story.
  Before becoming an actor, Milland served in the Household Cavalry of the British Army, becoming a proficient marksman, horseman, and aeroplane pilot. He left the army to follow a career in acting and appeared as an extra in several British productions before getting his first major role in The Flying Scotsman. This led to a nine-month contract with MGM, and he moved to the United States, where he appeared as a stock actor. After being released by MGM, he was picked up by Paramount, which used Milland in a range of lesser speaking parts, normally as an English character.
context_section_description: After returning from a break in Europe, Milland was cast as Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond in Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937). This was followed by another lead role in The Gilded Lily, directed by Wesley Ruggles, who had started Milland out in Bolero. A heavy workload followed with Milland completing Ebb Tide (1937) for Paramount and a couple of loan-outs to Universal and Columbia Pictures. These were followed by Hotel Imperial (1939) in which Milland suffered a near-fatal accident on the set. One scene called for him to lead a cavalry charge through a small village. An accomplished horseman, Milland insisted upon doing this scene himself. As he was making a scripted jump on the horse, his saddle came loose, sending him flying straight into a pile of broken masonry. Milland awoke in hospital, where he remained for a week with a badly damaged left hand, a three-inch gash to his head, and a concussion. In the same period, Milland appeared as John Geste in Beau Geste alongside Gary Cooper and Robert Preston and Everything Happens at Night (both 1939) with Sonja Henie for 20th Century Fox.
  According to Milland, a second injury to his left hand occurred in 1939. As well as horse-riding, Milland enjoyed piloting aircraft and in his early career would lend out single-seater planes. As a contracted starring actor, Paramount had insisted he give up this hobby. Instead, Milland took up woodworking and outfitted a machine shop at the back of his newly built house. While operating a circular blade, he slipped, catching one of his hands on the saw. The injury resulted in Milland losing a part of his thumb and severely damaging his tendons. Milland believed that the injury left him with only 50% usage of his hand, but within weeks of the incident, he flew to Britain to star in French Without Tears. By the time he returned to America, war was declared in Europe. The year finished with the news that Muriel was pregnant with their son Daniel.
  Milland appeared in a selection of romantic comedies and dramas alongside some of the leading ladies of the time in films released in 1940, including Irene opposite Anna Neagle, Arise, My Love with Claudette Colbert, and Untamed with Patricia Morison. When the United States entered the Second World War, Milland tried to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Forces, but was rejected because of his impaired left hand. He worked as a civilian flight instructor for the Army, and toured with a United Service Organisation South Pacific troupe in 1944.
  As the Second World War continued, Milland found himself now appearing in more action-orientated pictures. He starred as a wannabe pilot in I Wanted Wings (1941) with Brian Donlevy and William Holden. This was followed by Cecil B. DeMille's Reap the Wild Wind (1942) alongside John Wayne.
  Milland appeared in the all-star musical Star Spangled Rhythm (1943), in which he appeared as himself singing "If Men Played Cards as Women Do" alongside Fred MacMurray, Franchot Tone, and Lynne Overman. He also made an appearance in the collaborative drama Forever and a Day. He appeared in the supernatural film The Uninvited, and the Fritz Lang film noir production Ministry of Fear (both 1944).
caption: Milland with Paulette Goddard in Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "100", "Image YResolution": "100", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2013:02:03 15:51:31", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5352", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "733", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "515"}