David Niven along with a card that read: 'To the finest gentleman who ever walked through these halls. He made a porter feel like a king.'" In 1985, Niven was included in a series of British postage stamps, along with Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Sir Charles Chaplin, Peter Sellers and Vivien Leigh, to commemorate "British Film Year". David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was an English actor, memoirist and novelist. His many roles included Squadron Leader Peter Carter in "A Matter of Life and Death", Phileas Fogg in "Around the World in 80 Days", and
A Matter of Life and Death (film) presented challenges, such as the stopped-action table-tennis game for which Hunter and Livesey were trained by champions Alan Brooke and Viktor Barna; the scene where Carter washes up on the beach, the first scene filmed, where cinematographer Jack Cardiff fogged up the camera lens with his breath to create the look he wanted; and the long, 25-minute trial sequence, which required a set with a long by high backcloth. "A Matter of Life and Death" was chosen for the first ever Royal Film Performance on 1 November 1946 at the Empire Theatre, in London. The performance was in aid of