Biography

Lean, jaunty British character actor with military-style moustache and easy manner who specialised in playing dapper scoundrels, philanderers, dissipated bon vivants and con artists in a career lasting three and a half decades. Born in Hove, East Sussex, he spent two years working on the London stock exchange before making his move to acting. On stage from 1928, he was initially cast as outright villains. He landed his first worthy part in the George Formby musical comedy Keep Fit (1937), establishing his typical screen personae playing the role of Brian Curtis in Terence Rattigan's French Without Tears (1940) (having previously appeared in the original London stage production in November 1936). Ironically, Middleton seems to have relished his lady-killer image in real life since he was at the time involved with the wife of co-star Rex Harrison - himself no stranger to extra-marital affairs.

Well in the groove as raffish playboy, silly-ass, jolly RAF-type or shady double-dealer, Middleton was consistently excellent in support during the 40's and 50's: as Fogroy in Notorious Gentleman (1945); as debonair games master Victor Hyde-Brown in The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950); as womanizing cad Simon Russell, behind the wheel of a sporty jalopy, in Laughter in Paradise (1951); or as Victor Manifold, plying his buddies with bootleg whiskey, in Young Wives' Tale (1951). He was also the initial choice for the part of Amrose Claverhouse for the film Genevieve (1953) but lost out to Kenneth More. On television, he partnered Hylda Baker (in drag) as 'Cynthia', in the stand-up comedy show Be Soon (1957). His final role of note was as a senior general in Richard Attenborough's Oh! What a Lovely War (1969). Middleton retired in 1970 and died three years later at the age of 66.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis