Thread by @whincupm

I WAS MONTY’S DOUBLE (1958) gave M E Clifton James the opportunity to re-live his wartime experiences on the big screen. But what if his co-stars had done the same, and who were their movie doubles? A thread...

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Great War veteran, Clifton James, was serving with the Royal Army Pay Corps when, in 1944, he received a call from David Niven, which led him to Operation Copperhead. The Hollywood star didn't appear in the film. Instead, John Mills was Niven's (almost) double...

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John Mills (Maj Harvey) had his name in lights for most of the war. Not only did he portray all three services on screen - in many ways, Mills was everyone's double - he also served with RE and RA (Monmouthshire Regt) searchlight units in Britain before being discharged.

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Barbara Hicks (Miss Hester) served in Britain, too, with the Women's Land Army.

An early depiction of the WLA came in A CANTERBURY TALE (1944) - perhaps Sheila Sim was Hicks' double - though a later one - an episode of FOYLE'S WAR - had a land girl called Barbara Hicks.

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Like Clifton James, Cecil Parker (Col Logan) was a #WW1 veteran. Enlisting in the Royal Sussex Regiment, he finished that war a Tank Corps officer.

An established actor by 1939, his #WW2 work included SHIPS WITH WINGS (1941), a rare depiction of an RN aircraft carrier.

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Lt Cdr Michael Hordern (Governor of Gibraltar) was no stranger to war aboard an aircraft carrier, thanks to his service on HMS Illustrious.

The war may have paused his acting career, but his clear diction did see him appointed Fighter Direction Officer.

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Diction was also important for Marius Goring (Karl Nielson).

In between joining the Queen's Royal Regiment in 1940 and serving as a Colonel at SHAEF in 1945, he supervised BBC broadcasts to Germany.

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Wartime service did delay Leslie Phillips' (Maj Tennant) career.

While he was declared unfit for service ahead of D-Day, a cut glass accent won him a commission in the RA, then the DLI. Maybe, in the training scenes of THE WAY AHEAD (1944), Niven was Phillips' double.

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Background was also important for John Le Mesurier (RAPC Adjutant), earning him a commission in the Royal Tank Regiment.

He'd serve in India, but knew the same armoured training shown in THEY WERE NOT DIVIDED (1950). In part, was Underdown Le Mesurier's double?

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In truth, though, the film is packed with ex servicemen.

One cinema scene gives us both Sam Kydd - who, as a POW in THE CAPTIVE HEART (1946), played on personal experience - and "archetypal British officer", Allan Cuthbertson, late of the Royal Australian Air Force.

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James Hayter (Sgt Adams) and Alfie Bass (a man on a train) had seen service in the Royal Armoured Corps and Middlesex Regiment, respectively.

Both feature here and would end their careers at Grace Brothers, selling gent's outfits in ARE YOU BEING SERVED?

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Sid James (YMCA Porter) is another comic who makes an impact on the film.

If not quite his own double, James, a former officer in a South African entertainments unit, could have drawn on his experiences for ENSA tribute comedy, DESERT MICE (1959).

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Not all war stories are cinematic, and not all of those who served wanted to share theirs.

M E Clifton James did, through a hit memoir and a film treatment which, despite its flaws, remains an intriguing record and a reminder of the universality of wartime service.

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