Howard Layton, Actor

As a child, I'd always shown an interest in mechanical toys and Erector sets, so those were the gifts I got when my birthdays and Christmas came around. But it was our occasional visits to school plays and to the theater that really enthralled me. I didn’t reveal it to anyone because my brother and I already had our problems and got into fights at school because of our nice neat clothes and short pants. Raising us by herself, mother did the very best for us she could, but she didn’t realize that children need to be dressed like their peers and boys need to be dressed like other boys. I didn’t want to make matters worse, so I didn’t do any play-acting or get involved in school productions because in those days it was considered a sissy thing for boys to do. Play-acting was for girls, so I buried my love of the stage and concentrated on all the things that boys were supposed to be interested in.

The yearning stayed with me and when I resigned from the RAF at the end of World War II, I got myself some training at the J Arthur Rank School of acting and spent the next five years earning my living by ‘treading the boards’ and playing small parts in films.

Eventually, I found myself playing before Queen Mary, the present queen’s grandmother, and being invited to her box to shake her hand and receive her generous praise. But my crowning achievement came when Robert Taylor was obliged to return to the USA without completing his role in “The Conspirator.” He managed to do all the close-ups and the scenes with Elizabeth Taylor, but for the remainder of his role, the studio makeup artists transformed my appearance so that I was able to take his place.

I thereby enjoyed a rollicking, exhilarating, and hazardous eight weeks of heaven!