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David Niven; Marius Goring

1 of 3 portraits by Eric Gray

© reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London

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David Niven; Marius Goring

by Eric Gray
resin print, 1945
16in. x 12in. (406 mm x 304 mm)
Given by Pinewood Studios, 1985
Photographs Collection
NPG x34541

Sittersback to top

  • Marius Goring (1912-1998), Actor. Sitter in 32 portraits.
  • David Niven (1910-1983), Actor, producer and writer. Sitter in 14 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Eric Gray, Stills photographer. Artist or producer of 3 portraits.

Placesback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1945back to top

Current affairs

Despite Churchill's popularity during, and indeed after, the War, Clement Attlee wins a landslide Labour victory in the general election. Labour's success was due to its promise of a better society through the Welfare state, and was demonstrative of the public's desire for a new and better post-War society.

Art and science

Noel Coward's Brief Encounter is released. The film, based on Coward's play, Still Life, is about the love affair between two married people who meet at a railway station. Conscious of the risk of being caught the couple decide to break off their relationship to protect their marriages.
George Orwell publishes his satirical novel Animal Farm, as an allegorical critique of Soviet Totalitarianism.

International

A war on two fronts finally proves too much for Germany as allied forces push from the East and West. On the 30th April Hitler committed suicide and Germany soon surrendered to Soviet troops. Victory in Europe was announced on the 8th May. War in the Pacific continued until America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing 214,000 people, and ending the war with Japan.

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Caroline Ferguson

29 May 2018, 12:29

A Matter of Life and Death, or Stairway to Heaven; Niven plays Peter Carter who has bailed out of a war plane without a parachute and is unsure whether he is alive or dead. He meets the female radio operator he had spoken to before jumping from the plane - they are forced to undergo a trial to establish whether a British serviceman is suitable for an American girl... The film was made shortly after the death of Niven's 1st wife Primula Rollo (daughter of William Hereward Rollo and related by marriage to Bob Laycock of Layforce Commandos)