Meyrick Edward Clifton James (April 1898 – 8 May 1963) was an actor and soldier, with a resemblance to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. That was used by

British intelligence The Government of the United Kingdom maintains intelligence agencies within three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. These agencies are responsible for collecting and analysing foreign and d ...

as part of a deception campaign during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Early life

Clifton James was born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Western Australia, the youngest son of notable Australian public servant John Charles Horsey James and his wife Rebecca Catherine Clifton.

Career

After serving in the Royal Fusiliers during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and seeing action at the Battle of the Somme, James took up acting, "starting at 15 shillings weekly with Fred Karno, who put Chaplin on the road to fame". At the outbreak of the

, he volunteered his services to the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

as an entertainer. Instead of being assigned to

ENSA The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, ...

, as he had hoped, James was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the

Royal Army Pay Corps The Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) was the corps of the British Army responsible for administering all financial matters. It was amalgamated into the Adjutant General's Corps in 1992. History The first "paymasters" have existed in the army before t ...

on 11 July 1940, and eventually posted to Leicester. There, his acting seemed to be limited to his membership of the Pay Corps Drama and Variety Group. In 1944, his resemblance to Montgomery was spotted, and he was employed to pretend to be the general as part of a campaign designed to deceive the Germans in the lead-up to D-Day.

Operation Copperhead

In 1944, about seven weeks before D-Day,

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

J. V. B. Jervis-Reid noticed James' resemblance to Montgomery while he was reviewing photographs in a newspaper. James, it seemed, had "rescued" a failing patriotic show by appearing in it, quite briefly, as "Monty".

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

decided to exploit that resemblance to confuse German intelligence. James was contacted by Lieutenant-Colonel

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 ...

, who worked for the Army's film unit, and was asked to go to London on the pretext of making a film. When Niven explained that it was about something different, James supposedly burst into tears because he thought he had been exposed as a

bigamist In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...

who was receiving a double marriage allowance. Like many of Niven's anecdotes, that one is viewed with scepticism. The planned ruse was part of a wider deception which aimed to divert German troops from Northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, by convincing the Nazis that an Allied invasion of Southern France ( Operation Dragoon) would precede a northern invasion. The plan was code-named

Operation Copperhead Operation Copperhead was a small military deception operation run by the British during the World War II, Second World War. It formed part of Operation Bodyguard, the cover plan for the invasion of Normandy in 1944, and was intended to mislea ...

, and James was assigned to Montgomery's staff to learn his speech and mannerisms. Despite the problems that he had with alcohol (Montgomery was teetotal), and the differences in personality, the project continued. James also had to give up smoking. James had lost his right-hand middle finger in the

and so a prosthetic finger was made. On 25 May 1944, James flew from

RAF Northolt ("Ready to carry or to fight") , pushpin_map = Greater London , pushpin_label = RAF Northolt , pushpin_map_caption = Shown within Greater London , coordinates = , type = Royal Air Force station , code = , site_area = , height = , owner ...

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

on-board Churchill's private aircraft. During a reception at the Governor-General's house, hints were made about "Plan 303", a plan to invade Southern France. German intelligence picked that up and ordered agents to find out what they could about "Plan 303". James then flew to Algiers where, over the next few days, he made a round of public appearances with General Maitland Wilson, the Allied commander in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

theatre. James was then secretly flown to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

, where he stayed until the invasion in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

was well under way. He then returned to his previous job after an absence of five weeks. Various reasons were put forward for the speedy conclusion of the operation, including the suggestion that James was seen in Gibraltar smoking and drunk (the real Montgomery was a non-smoking teetotaler), though the most likely explanation is the one put forward by Dennis Wheatley, who was part of the British deception efforts during the war. In ''The Deception Planners'' published in the 1980s, he stated that the operation was wound up successfully, its purpose having been accomplished. The effectiveness of the deception is hard to assess. According to captured enemy generals, German intelligence believed that it was Montgomery, though they still guessed that it was a feint.

Post-war life

After being demobilised in June 1946, James was unable to find theatrical employment, and was obliged to apply for

unemployment benefits Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...

to support his wife and two children in London.

''I Was Monty's Double''

In 1947, James had made a brief (non-speaking and uncredited) appearance as an extra in the film ''

Holiday Camp A holiday camp is a type of holiday accommodation that encourages holidaymakers to stay within the site boundary, and provides entertainment and facilities for them throughout the day. Since the 1970s, the term has fallen out of favour with term ...

'', playing a holidaymaker in a dance floor scene, along with Jack Warner and

Kathleen Harrison Kathleen Harrison (23 February 1892 – 7 December 1995) was a prolific English character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs. Huggett (opposite Jack Warner and Petula Clark) in a trio of British post-war comedies about a worki ...

. In 1954, James published a book about his exploits, entitled '' I Was Monty's Double'' (released in the US as ''The Counterfeit General Montgomery''). The book became the basis for the script of the 1958 film starring

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portra ...

and Cecil Parker, with James playing himself and Montgomery. The script was "tweaked" for effect. "Operation Copperhead" became "Operation Hambone", and additional elements of comedy, danger and intrigue were added, including a fictional kidnapping attempt by enemy forces. He also appeared in a short cameo role (again non-speaking and uncredited) as Field Marshal Montgomery (using a mix of original postwar footage of Monty inspecting an RAF passing-out parade and close-up shots of James) in the 1957 film '' High Flight'', starring Ray Milland. On 20 January 1959, James appeared on an episode of the American TV quiz show series '' To Tell the Truth'' where a panel of celebrities had to ascertain which of the three uniformed actors present, all claiming to have been Monty's wartime double, was telling the truth.

Death

James died on 8 May 1963, at his home on Thorn Road in

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

, Sussex, aged 65.Obituary ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', 15 May 1963.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clifton James, M. E. 1898 births 1963 deaths Male actors from Perth, Western Australia English male actors Royal Fusiliers soldiers Royal Army Pay Corps officers British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II Impostors People from Worthing Cultural depictions of Bernard Montgomery Military personnel from Western Australia