David Niven Jr. is a British
film producer,
film actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
and
script writer
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
who was an executive at
Paramount Pictures and
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
.
He is the son of actor
David Niven
James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in '' Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...
and Primula Rollo.
Career
Niven was the head of the
William Morris Agency
The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent ag ...
in Europe,
which he left for Columbia Pictures in 1970. His many clients included
Robert Woods. He was managing director of Paramount Pictures England until 1975, when he turned his focus to film production.
In 1976, he produced ''
The Eagle Has Landed'', and in 1979, he produced ''
Escape to Athena'', which starred his father. He was nominated for a
Primetime Emmy Award in 1985 as Executive Producer of ''
The Night They Saved Christmas'' which he co-wrote with James C. Maloney.
Niven was a regular on the 1990 edition of ''
To Tell the Truth'', which was hosted by
Gordon Elliott making 14 appearances.
During the 1990s he was the chair emeritus of the Recording Artists, Actors and Athletes against Drunk Driving (R.A.D.D) group in Hollywood, and founder of the bicycle safety group See a Child, Save a Child. In 2002 he successfully campaigned for a Child Safety Day and Week which was accepted by the City of Los Angeles.
At a book launch by
Jackie Collins
Jacqueline Jill Collins (4 October 1937 – 19 September 2015) was an English romance novelist and actress. She moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and spent most of her career there. She wrote 32 novels, all of which appeared on The New York Times B ...
in 1987, Niven was asked if he would ever write a book about his life, to which he replied "But how can I when everything, everything, I have ever done, said or thought appears in Jackie's novels."'There's nothing left,' he laments. 'I don't know why the headings on some of the chapters shouldn't be, 'I'd like to dedicate this to...' "
Niven's acting credits include ''
Rush Hour 3
''Rush Hour 3'' is a 2007 American buddy action comedy film directed by Brett Ratner, written by Jeff Nathanson, and starring Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Max von Sydow, Hiroyuki Sanada, Noémie Lenoir, Yvan Attal and Youki Kudoh. It is the thi ...
'' and ''
The Cool Surface''.
Away from film, Niven invested in the restaurant
Drones, in Pont Street, London in 1972, which he recommended be named after
Bertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intelligenc ...
's fictional club. At his request a picture of his father was positioned on the wall. The restaurant was later run by
Marco Pierre White
Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the ''enfant terrible'' of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White became ...
's restaurant group White Star Group. The location changed under new owners and closed in 2007.
Personal life
Noël Coward was Niven's godfather, and gave him a silver cocktail shaker with the inscription "Because, my Godson dear, I rather / Think you'll turn out like your father." Niven knew
Jane and
Peter Fonda,
Mia Farrow
Maria de Lourdes Villiers "Mia" Farrow ( ; born February 9, 1945) is an American actress. She first gained notice for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the television soap opera '' Peyton Place'' and gained further recognition for her subsequent ...
,
Nancy and
Frank Sinatra Jr.
Francis Wayne Sinatra Group note. (; January 10, 1944 – March 16, 2016), professionally known as Frank Sinatra Jr., was an American singer, songwriter, and conductor.
He was the son of singer and actor Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy ...
, and
Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for her portrayal of the title character on the CBS sitcom ''Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also kno ...
growing up.
Niven was married to actress and producer
Barbara Niven
Barbara Lee Niven (née Bucholz; born February 26, 1953) is an American actress, writer and producer, best known for her performances in Hallmark and Lifetime movies, and for television roles in ''Pensacola: Wings of Gold'', ''One Life to Live'' ...
from 1993 to their divorce in 1998. He had previously had a relationship with
Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood ( Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles.
Wood started acting at age four and was given a co-starring r ...
during the 1960s. He married his second wife Beatrice Anne Reeve, daughter of
Annette de la Renta in 2000, but divorced in 2005. In 2009 he sold his house on
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in ...
for $5 million.
In 1994 Niven and his brother Jamie gave the Online Archive of California their father's archive. In 2009 Michael Munn released a biography of his father,
David Niven
James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in '' Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...
, by which Niven Jr. was horrified. Niven and his brother had been close to their father and they challenged many of the claims in the book.
Filmography
Producer/Executive Producer
*
''The Eagle Has Landed'' (1976)
*''
Escape to Athena'' (1979)
*
''Monsignor'' (1982)
*
''Better Late Than Never'' (1983)
*''
Kidco
''Kidco'' is a 1984 American comedy film directed by Ronald F. Maxwell and starring Scott Schwartz, Clifton James, Charles Hallahan, Maggie Blye, and Vincent Schiavelli.
Although the premise sounds far-fetched, the film was based on the 197 ...
'' (1984)
*''
The Night They Saved Christmas'' (1984)
*''
That's Dancing!'' (1985)
*''Minnelli on Minnelli: Liza Remembers Vincente'' (1985)
*''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic'' (1990)
*''
The Cool Surface'' (1993)
*
''Blue Flame'' (1993)
*''R.A.D.D: Drive My Car'' (1994)
*
''The Girl With Hungry Eyes'' (1995)
*''To Oz: Making of a Classic'' (2009)
Acting
*
''Lisa'' (1989)
*''
The Cool Surface'' (1993)
*''
Rush Hour 3
''Rush Hour 3'' is a 2007 American buddy action comedy film directed by Brett Ratner, written by Jeff Nathanson, and starring Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Max von Sydow, Hiroyuki Sanada, Noémie Lenoir, Yvan Attal and Youki Kudoh. It is the thi ...
'' (2007)
Appearances
*''
To Tell the Truth'' (1990–91)
*
''Biography'' (1995)
*''The 100 Most Memorable TV Moments'' (2004)
*''
The Hollywood Greats'' (2005)
*''Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind'' (2020)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niven, David Jr.
English film producers
English male film actors
Living people
Male actors from London
Year of birth missing (living people)