Harold Siddons

William Harold Henry Siddons (17 September 1922 – 4 November 1963)^[1][2] was a British film and television actor, appearing in Genevieve, The Dam Busters, Appointment in London, They Who Dare, The Purple Plain, Quatermass and the Pit, A Night To Remember and The Wrong Arm of the Law.^[3] He served in Bomber Command during the Second World War as a flight engineer, latterly with 582 Squadron as the Flight Engineer Leader on its formation in April 1944 and was a descendant of Sarah Siddons.^[3] His decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded in January 1944.^[4][5]

Publicity still of Siddons in Gift Horse (1952), by photographer Eric Gray

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 17 September 1922, he was found dead in his car on 4 November 1963 aged 41, apparently by suicide.^[6] He was buried in the parish churchyard of Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, with the motto Per ardua ad astra on his gravestone.^[7]

Selected filmography

• Angels One Five (1952) - Pimpernel Pilot
• Gift Horse (1952) - Ship's Doctor
• Appointment in London (1953) - Saunders
• Genevieve (1953) - Policeman (uncredited)
• Malta Story (1953) - Matthews, Bomber Pilot (uncredited)
• The Clue of the Missing Ape (1953) - Naval Intelligence Officer (uncredited)
• They Who Dare (1954) - Lieut. Stevens R.N.
• The Good Die Young (1954) - Hospital Doctor (uncredited)
• Conflict of Wings (1954) - Flight Lt. Edwards
• The Purple Plain (1954) - Navigator Williams (uncredited)
• The Dam Busters (1955) - Group Signals Officer
• I Am a Camera (1955) - Editor at Party
• The Blue Peter (1955) - Hughes
• The Baby and the Battleship (1956) - Whiskers
• The Last Man to Hang? (1956) - Cheed's Doctor
• Man in the Shadow (1957) - Colin Wells
• The Mark of the Hawk (1957) - 1st Officer
• The Silent Enemy (1958) - Army Interrogation Officer
• Dunkirk (1958) - Doctor (uncredited)
• A Night to Remember (1958) - Second Officer Herbert Stone - Californian
• Battle of the V-1 (1958) - Master Bomber
• Harry Black (1958) - British Officer
• Danger Within (1959) - Capt. 'Tag' Burchnall
• The White Trap (1959) - Harry (uncredited)
• The Guns of Navarone (1961) - British Officer (uncredited)
• The Man in the Back Seat (1961) - Angry Resident (uncredited)
• Out of the Shadow (1961) - Newspaper Editor
• The Piper's Tune (1962) - Sergeant
• The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963) - PC in Basement Garage (uncredited)