Miles Mander

Miles Mander was the second son of Theodore Mander, builder of Wightwick Manor, of the prominent Mander family, industrialists and public servants of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, in the Midlands of England. He was the younger brother of Sir Geoffrey Mander, the Member of Parliament. He was educated at Harrow School, Middlesex (The Grove House 1901- Easter 1903); Loretto School, Musselburgh (east of Edinburgh) and McGill University, Montreal. But he soon broke away from the predictable mould of business and philanthropy. He was an early aviator, a captain in the Royal Army Service Corps in World War I. He spent his twenties in New Zealand farming sheep, with his uncle, Martin Mander.

He achieved success as Sir Hugh Boycott in The First Born (1928) which he directed and acted in, and which was based on his own novel and play. He is better remembered for his character portrayals of oily villains, many of them English gentlemen or upper-crust cads - such as Cardinal Richelieu in the musical film The Three Musketeers (1939), a spoof in which the Ritz Brothers played lackeys who substituted for the real Musketeers. Read Less