Lord Bernard Miles (1907-1991) b. Uxbridge, Hillingdon, Middlesex, England.

British character actor with distinctive scowling smile. On stage since 1930, he played supporting roles in films from 1933. A regular in the films of Powell and Pressburger, his first starring assignment was in David Lean and Noel Coward‘s In Which We Serve (1942). In films, he was mainly cast as simple folk, portraying many a knowing rustic before graduating to larger roles; he was always well in character in Dickensian parts such as David Lean‘s Great Expectations (1946). Miles contributed to the scripts of several films including Will Hay‘s wartime comedy The Goose Steps Out (1942), and was director of the gentle satire Tawny Pipit (1944), which he co-wrote and co-produced with Charles Saunders. He gained his real fame as a comic monologist. He later became passionately involved with founding his own London theatre, the Mermaid Theatre, which was launched in 1951. Knighted in 1969. Created Lord Miles in 1978.