REMEMBERING MICHAEL GOODLIFFE on the anniversary of his Birthday today, October 1st! Goodliffe, was an
English actor known for playing suave roles such as doctors, lawyers and
army officers, a quite a few Brit films and tv dramas. He was also
sometimes cast in working class parts. Born in 1914, educated in
Canterbury, he joined the British Army at the beginning of the Second
World War, and received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal
Warwickshire Regiment in February 1940. He was wounded in the leg and
captured at the Battle of Dunkirk. Goodliffe was incorrectly listed as
killed in action, and even had his obituary published in a newspaper! He
was to spend the rest of the war a prisoner in Germany. Whilst in
captivity he produced and acted in (and in some cases wrote) many plays
and sketches to entertain fellow prisoners. These included two
productions of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, one in Tittmoning and the
other in Eichstätt, in which he played the title role.
AFTER THE WAR GOODLIFFE, resumed his professional acting career. As well as appearing in the
theatre, he worked in expanding his film work and appeared in a huge amount of television drama. Goodliffe also appeared in the film, 'The Wooden
Horse' in 1950 and in other POW films. His best-known film was maybe, 'A Night to
Remember' (1958) directed by Roy Ward Baker, in which he played Thomas Andrews, designer of the RMS
Titanic. Goodliffe, put some of his 'being captive experience' into his
first film for Hammer films, 'The Camp on Blood Island' (1958) as
Father Paul Anjou. In this film he worked with actress Barbara Shelley,
who he would work with again in 1964 in Hammer's 'The Gorgon'..with Peter
Cushing. He played his role so well, it was a shame when his character,
Professor Jules Heitz left the story.
GOODLIFFE HAD WORKED in another
Cushing film back in 1955, 'The End of the Affair' with Deborah Kerr and
Van Johnson. Goodliffe is an actor, who sadly gets forgotten today, but
his filmography is quite prolific with some box office winners... 'The
Battle of the River Plate' (1956), 'A Night to Remember' (1958), 'The 39
Steps' (1959), 'Peeping Tom' (1960), '633 Squadron' (1964), 'Von Ryan's
Express' (1965), 'Cromwell' (1970), . . and his two final films, with
Christopher Lee : The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) and for Hammer
films, 'To the Devil a Daughter' (1976).
SADLY, GOODLIFFE suffered with
depression, and had a major breakdown in March 1976, during the period
that he was rehearsing for a revival of the theatre production of 'Equus'. . . and he left us on
20th March 1976 aged just 61. Goodliffe was an actor with great authority, who
commanded your attention in whatever role he played, despite the distractions of his health, which were never evident to the people he worked with or his audience. Today we mark and
celebrate the anniversary of his birthday and the high standard of the
roles he played during his career!
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