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When Sir John Mills is mentioned in the same breath as Olivier and Ralph Richardson, it's usually because the three are often referred to as 'the greatest actors of their generation'. Instead of Drama School and the theatre, Mills' training was as a dancer, and then in films in what were known as the 'quota quickies' - a short-lived scheme to boost domestic production in the face of Hollywood competition. Mills appeared in his first film in 1932 (The Midshipmaid); his first American film was Goodbye Mister Chips in 1939. After the war, David Lean's Great Expectations put his likeable screen countenance to good use as Pip, while Ice Cold In Alex saw him play an alcoholic officer under pressure from the desert and his own demons. Mills' familiar visage almost disappeared when he immersed himself (again for David Lean) in the role of the village idiot in Ryan's Daughter, for which he won an Oscar. He was knighted in 1976.
