Modern Screen (Dec 1949 - Nov 1950)

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Afterwards, he called Richard aside. "I know you're not supposed to be doing this," he said. Then a perplexed expression crossed his face. "How in the world do you keep it quiet? And what do you do with your trophies?" Richard explained that he passed out the medals to his friends. The cup was another problem. "I don't think I'd better take it home, sir. Would you mind keeping it for me?" His father's best friend left with the cup under his arm and the secret under his hat. walking miracle . . . The thoroughly thickened plot blew up after a sports meet a short time later. The event was well covered by the press, and so was Andrews. He was photographed in action on the field and, unfortunately, the picture found its way into print. Suddenly Andrews was too famous for comfort. He returned home to find his father waiting, newspaper in hand. The senior Todd was frightened, but his lecture carried overtones of anger, too. His son promptly underwent a series of examinations. And the doctors checking his sound body and steady heartbeat proclaimed Richard Andrews PalethorpeTodd a medical miracle. He'd played a thousand-to-one chance, and he'd won. Once the physicians had assured him he was going to live, there came the problem of deciding about a very active future. Richard settled on the idea of becoming a writer. "Excellent," said his father, thinking fondly of Oxford or Cambridge. But when he was ready to enter a university, the thought of studying literature faded in favor of learning about the theater in a London school of drama. He had every intention of trying his hand at playwriting. And at this stage, it was a matter of drifting into the role of an actor. When he left the school, he did a season of Shakespeare with a repertory theater. Again, he ran into opposition. It was friendly, as parental opposition goes, but nevertheless opposition. And no financial aid was forthcoming. Money was something he could have used when he and another actor founded the Dundee Repertory Theater in Scotland. They had barely enough cash to rent a theater. The building was ancient, the equipment likewise. Pieces of scenery were hardly visible beneath the dust. But the group of thespians was an energetic one. And fortunately, at first, members of the company didn't require much food because while their initial production was an artistic triumph, it was a box-office flop. However, their luck changed with a second offering. The theater caught on and out went freshly painted "Standing Room Only" signs. In all, Richard had two-and-a-half years of stage experience before he left to play the theaters of war. He was in one of the first groups to volunteer. And facing the army physician, he thought, "Here I go again." This was because the first question asked was a curt, "Any serious illnesses?" "Rheumatic fever," came the reply. A short discussion followed. "Todd," the doctor concluded, "you shouldn't be ; soldier. You should be a corpse." Richard, standing up for his rights went through a rigid physical examination, and as he now puts it, "The doctor, nearly fell flat on their faces when passed." Soon after astounding the medicos, Todc was sent to Sandhurst Academy, where he trained as a battle school instructor His excellent health was somewhat impaired when the academy was bombed anc he spent two months in a hospital. Next on his schedule was Iceland anc he had to survive three days of physica examinations before they shipped him out "An A-l rating meant 100% fit," Richarc recalls. "For Iceland, an A-l plus rating was required." He grins, "I passed." In the years that followed, Todd travelec extensively for the British government After his Iceland stint, he returned tc England to become a signals instructor and then he was transferred to a parachute battalion, just in time for D-Day When questioned, he skims lightly over his war experiences. He remembers hk 25th birthday spent in a deserted Frencr farmhouse, a Christmas day in the from lines at the Battle of the Bulge, six weeks in the mud and water of Holland, the Rhine crossing, the Battle of Bismarck "If it's your lot to be a member of e nation which has quite a lot to contenc with, you should do what you can to help,' he says. In 1946, Richard thought about leaving the Army. He received a wire from his friend Robert Leonard, of Associated British Pictures, who had tracked him to the Middle East and was wondering if he'd like a screen test. Richard's first im-. pulse was to say no. He'd lost any desire to be an actor. But Leonard persisted. "When you come " .me, drop by and see me.; We'll talk about it," he wrote. Instead, Richard decided to return to" Dundee to find out if this acting bug was still with him. He found a thriving theater.; about to produce the American hit, Claudia.] gentlemen prefer blondes . . . At a party one afternoon he met the* leading lady, Katherine Bogel. She was' small and blonde and lovely. And she wasvery nervous about playing Claudia. She had been ill and temporarily retired from j the stage. This was to be her comeback | role. Katherine confided that a lot would j depend upon the man who played opposite her. She wanted to feel that it was some I one she liked. Richard did his best to reS assure her. He did even better. That same I evening he ran into the Dundee director, who invited him to take the part of David. "I'd be delighted," Richard said, thinking ] of Kitty Bogel. She had seemed to like him well enough. As it turned out, he wasright. However, when the play closed, he didn't "see a great deal of Kitty for sev J eral years. They met again in London in 1948. They became engaged some months later. She liked him fine. But Richard Tocfd, who had survived illness and war, ran into another obstacle — tradition, and a time element. The Todds F and the Bogels wouldn't hear of their offspring being married without the required pomp and ceremony. Richard had finished his first film, For Them That Trespass, and was scheduled for The Hasty Heart. There was simply no time for a large wedding in a Glasgow cathedral, as planned by Kitty's family. He made The Hasty Heart, and almost immediately was cast in Stage Fright. It was beginning to seem as if Richard and Kitty would have j to be wheeled down the aisle for the ceremony, then live happily ever after on s old-age pensions.