An Associate Member of RADA.
He served in the British Military during World War II where he was stationed at Burma (now Myanmar).
His hair fell out during a single week when he was 19. He tried wearing a wig to cover up his bald head but soon rejected it because it looked like "a dead moth on a boiled egg".
His parents were members of the Salvation Army, and worked in a mission in London's East End.
Played Dick Van Dyke's father in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) even though he is actually six months younger.