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Actors Who Were There.....In Real Life Then In Movies.


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Lets see how many we can find here. These will be actors who in real military service was in a battle or in circumstances and years later would see them now as actors in the same same battle or n the same circumstances.

 

Here's one I found only recently, and was totally unaware of.

 

Percy Herbert right, he was in a lot of stuff., like The Cockleshell Heroes etc etc. I remember him best as Mister Riddick, Battalion Sergent Major in Tunes of Glory , a heavy, excellent soldier no doubt, but a heavy.

 

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I also know he was in Bridge on The River Kwai, but what I didn't know is that he was a member of the Army, the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, probably a pre war guy. In 1941, he posted at Singapore, and goes into the bag when the Japanese win.

 

Although he wasn't sent to Thailand, he stays in Singapore at the notorious Selarang Barracks/Changi.

 

In fact Herbert was a consultant in the very movie he acted in.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Herbert_(actor)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I would like to keep this topic reserved only for those actors who played in movies in roles that they were actually in during the war in real life please.

 

Like not mentioning Lee Marvin for example, who was in the war and after he became an actor played in war movies, you know what I'm talking about.

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Audie Murphy is probably the most obvious example,

 

He actually starred as himself in the story of his war in "To Hell and Back"

 

He was also IMHO a pretty good actor who could hold his own with many of the stars of the day

 

Tom Bowers

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Not sure if this counts but Jim Lovell a USN Captain, set a record of 14 days in space on gemini 7 went up and proved humans could effectively work outside the spacecraft on gemini 12 then again on the first flight around the moon on Apollo 8 and then on famous Apollo 13.

 

Jim Lovell had a Cameo in the 1995 Apollo 13 as a USN Captain on board the USS IWO JIMA

 

"Jim Lovell wore his old Navy Captain's uniform in the scene where he greets the astronauts aboard the U.S.S. Iwo Jima. When Ron Howard asked Lovell if he'd like to be in the film as the ship's Admiral, Lovell agreed, but pointed out, "I retired as a Captain; a Captain I will be.""

 

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Robert Montgomery portrayed a PT Boat skipper in "they were expendable" and was also a naval officer who commanded PT boats and was on destroyers during the war

 

Tom Bowers

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Jason Robards. Robards was in the U.S. Navy Pre war, and was at Pearl Harbor on the Cruiser Northampton on Dec 7th. In 1969 he's cast to play his Army boss at time in thee movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor, TORA TORA TORA.

 

Robards right before he goes into the Navy

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As Lieutenant General Walter C. Short.

 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Robards

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In the movie "Sands of Iwo Jima," several marines played themselves in the movie. Colonels David Shoup and HP Crowe, Captain Harold Shrier and three of the flag raisers (as they were represnted to be) Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, and John Bradley.

 

Allan

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Can't remember specifics, but i think i recall there being an actor in "A Bridge Too Far" that was involved in the actual armored column in real life...

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British actor Richard Todd played Maj Howard at the Pegasus Bridge in "The Longest Day." In real life, Todd was the British Parachute Regiment officer who made contact with Howard at Pegasus Bridge after the glider assault there.

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British actor Richard Todd played Maj Howard at the Pegasus Bridge in "The Longest Day." In real life, Todd was the British Parachute Regiment officer who made contact with Howard at Pegasus Bridge after the glider assault there.

That's right, that's another one.

 

Todd as Howard in The Longest Day.

 

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BILL THE PATCH

The movie , the story of GI Joe also had real veterans of the Italian campaign in it.

 

Sent from my XT1031 using Tapatalk

 

 

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Matthew B. Snyder was one of the stars of the 1916 silent film "The Crisis," which was set during the Civil War. The movie climaxed with the Siege of Vicksburg - Selig Polyscope, the company that made the film, hired the Mississippi National Guard to portray the Union and Confederate soldiers, and the battle scenes were filmed in the Vicksburg National Military Park. Snyder had been to Vicksburg before; he had served on the ironclad U.S.S. Essex during the Civil War.

 

 

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The Iron Brigade

Harold John Avery Russell was a Canadian-American World War II veteran who became one of only two non-professional actors to win an Academy Award for acting. He received the Oscar for his performance in the movie BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES and he is pictured on the left.

 

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Matthew B. Snyder was one of the stars of the 1916 silent film "The Crisis," which was set during the Civil War. The movie climaxed with the Siege of Vicksburg - Selig Polyscope, the company that made the film, hired the Mississippi National Guard to portray the Union and Confederate soldiers, and the battle scenes were filmed in the Vicksburg National Military Park. Snyder had been to Vicksburg before; he had served on the ironclad U.S.S. Essex during the Civil War.

Now that's an interesting one, incredible I would say.

 

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Now that's an interesting one, incredible I would say.

 

 

Thanks for posting the clip - I had not seen it - one of the sources they listed at the end was the article I wrote about "The Crisis" on my blog. They were wrong about one thing - Snyder was at Vicksburg during the filming, the city newspapers of the time make that very clear.

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Capt.Dale Dye(USMC ret) was an enlisted combat correspondent,wounded during TET. He has played numerous parts in numerous movies but not a correspondent!

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Henry Fonda was US Navy WW2. Served aboard ship on the USS Satterlee. Bronze Star as an Air Combat Intelligence officer. I'd guess that counts considering his role as Mr. Roberts.

 

Fonda WW2 portrait, and portrait from Mr. Roberts attached

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I'd Think Jimmy Stewart qualifies too. In WW2 he was a B-24 bomber pilot in the 8th AF. Glen Miller happened to perform at the Base in England where Stewart was a Squadron Commander. 10 years later he played Miller, who lost his life in a plane crash flying out of England in 44.

 

Throw in that Stewart was Air Force Reserve in the 50s and he played a bomber commander in "Strategic Air Command" and I think he's a lock.

 

Photos of Stewart in WW2, as Glen Miller and in SAC

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The Iron Brigade

Sterling Hayden:

 

After two film roles, he left Hollywood and joined the United States Marine Corps as a private, under the name John Hamilton, a nom de guerre he never used otherwise. While at Parris Island, he was recommended for Officer Candidate School.

 

After graduation, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and was transferred to service as an undercover agent with William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan's Office of the Coordinator of Information. He remained there after it became the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

 

As OSS agent John Hamilton, his World War II service included sailing with supplies from Italy to Yugoslav partisans and parachuting into fascist Croatia. Hayden, who also participated in the NaplesFoggia campaign and established air crew rescue teams in enemy-occupied territory, became a first lieutenant on September 13, 1944, and a captain on February 14, 1945. He received the Silver Star (for gallantry in action in the Balkans and Mediterranean; "Lt. Hamilton displayed great courage in making hazardous sea voyages in enemy-infested waters and reconnaissance through enemy-held areas"), a Bronze Arrowhead device for parachuting behind enemy lines, and a commendation from Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito. He left active duty on December 24, 1945.

 

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The Iron Brigade

Hardy Krüger was born as the son of confirmed Nazis in Wedding, Berlin in 1928. "I was raised to love Hitler", he stated in a 2016 interview. From 1941, he went to an elitist Adolf Hitler School at the Ordensburg Sonthofen. At age 15, Hardy made his film début in a German picture, The Young Eagles but his acting career was interrupted when he was conscripted into the German Wehrmacht in 1944 at age 16.

 

In March 1945, Krüger was conscripted into the 38th SS Division Nibelungen where he was drawn into heavy fighting before being captured by American forces. The 16-year-old Krüger was ordered to eliminate a group of American soldiers. When he refused, he was sentenced to death for cowardice but another SS officer stopped the order. Krüger described this experience as his break with Nazism. He later served as a messenger for the SS but he escaped and hid out in France until the end of the war.

 

Some may remember him from the movie A Bridge Too Far.

 

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