Trivia

He served in the RAF during WWII. He gained stage experience at the Old Vic and in repertory theatre. He went on to make more than 80 movies, mostly in character parts, many of them unsympathetic. He was also an authority on the Boer War.

Did not enjoy the long rehearsal process and virtually abandoned the theatre to work solely in cinema and television.

President of a society for the emancipation of the Untouchables caste in India.

Was a friend of Patrick McGoohan during the 1960s.

Besides Patrick McGoohan, he was the only other actor to appear in the finales of both Secret Agent (1964) and The Prisoner (1967).

Was a close friend of Peter O'Toole.

All three marriages ended in divorce. He had three sons and two daughters.

Father of Eva Griffith.

Theatrical debut in 1937 at the Festival Theatre in Cambridge as Cinna the Poet in 'Julius Caesar'.

Was cast as "Berkley" in Where Eagles Dare (1968), but was replaced by Peter Barkworth.

Avidly supported Sinn Fein.

The Welshman was encouraged to drop the "s" from his surname for professional reasons, because it sounded too British.

Griffith was very much a political animal with firmly held views on British imperialism. These were reflected in some no-holds-barred documentaries about Winston Churchill, Cecil Rhodes and Napoléon Bonaparte.

In 1982, Griffith wrote and directed The Most Valuable Englishman Ever, exploring the life of Thomas Paine.

His interest in the Boer War began when he visited South Africa to play Oberon in Tyrone Guthrie's Old Vic production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. His collection of the war memorabilia was so vast that it took over 2 floors of his house. He wrote books and television programmes on the subject. A projected film on Robert Baden-Powell was blocked by a union ban on filming in South Africa.

He claimed to have taught Peter Sellers to speak in a Swansea accent for his role as a Welsh librarian in "Only Two Can Play" - a claim he did not make until some time after Sellers's death. Although many Welsh people were impressed by the accuracy of the accent Sellers used. they also wondered why the accent Griffith himself used was so much less accurate.

In later years he supported the Conservative Party.