Wissenswertes

When working on I Wanted Wings (1941), with Brian Donlevy and William Holden, he went up with a pilot to test a plane for filming. While up in the air, Ray decided to do a parachute jump (being an avid amateur parachutist) but, just before he could disembark, the plane began to sputter and the pilot said not to jump as they were running low on gas and he needed to land. Once on the ground and in the hangar, Ray began to tell his story of how he had wanted to do a jump. As he was talking, the color ran out of the costume man's face. When asked why, he told Ray that the parachute he had worn up in the plane was "just a prop". There had been no parachute.

A licensed pilot, he tried to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, but was rejected due to an "impaired left hand". Instead, he worked as a civilian flight instructor for the Army and also toured with the USO in the South Pacific.

Had a terrible accident during the filming of Hotel Imperial (1939), when, taking his horse over a jump, the saddle-girth broke and he landed head-first on a pile of bricks. His most serious injuries were a concussion that left him unconscious for 24 hours, a three-inch gash in his skull that took nine stitches to close, and numerous fractures and lacerations on his left hand.

Spoke Spanish fluently; spoke only Welsh until the age of five.

As of 2020, he is one of four actors who have won Best Actor at the Oscars and at the Cannes Film Festival for the same performance. The others are Jon Voight in Coming home - Sie kehren heim (1978), William Hurt in Kuß der Spinnenfrau (1985)and Jean Dujardin in The Artist (2011).

When accepting the Best Actor Oscar for The Lost Weekend (1945) from Ingrid Bergman, gave one of the shorter speeches in Oscar history: "Thank you. Thank you very much indeed. I'm greatly honored." (Presentation can be found on YouTube).

Is the first Welsh actor to receive an Academy Award. After he died, rumors spread that his Oscar had been lost. A Welsh newspaper interviewed his daughter Vicki, and when asked about this missing Oscar, she told them, "It's downstairs in our guest room." One of Milland's two grandsons, Travis, now had his Oscar.

He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6121 Vine Street; and for Television at 6134 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.

Only got the lead role in Das verlorene Wochenende (1945)) because Paramount vetoed writer-director Billy Wilder's first choice for the role, Broadway actor José Ferrer. Hedging its bets, Paramount demanded the casting of a star to headline the risky production, but Cary Grant and most of the other leading male stars of the day turned Wilder down. Milland got the role by default and won an Oscar.

Once, while on a visit to Tijuana, the FBI accused him (falsely) of meeting with a suspected Nazi agent.

An expert marksman, he won several prestigious English shooting competitions, among them the Risley Match. He almost certainly won the Army Operational Shooting Competition, held at Bisley Camp. There is a shooting club in Risley, but the AOSC is the main shooting competition in the United Kingdom.

Had a near-fatal accident on the set of Hotel Imperial (1939). One scene called for him to lead a cavalry charge through a small village. An accomplished horseman, Milland insisted upon doing this scene himself. As he was making a scripted jump on the horse, his saddle came loose, sending him flying straight into a pile of broken masonary. Laid up in the hospital for weeks with multiple fractures and lacerations, he was lucky to be alive.

Milland also wrote short stories.

Was the first choice for the Don Ameche role in Die Glücksritter (1983).

He was paired romantically with actress Paulette Goddard in four films, including the blockbusters Piraten im Karibischen Meer (1942) and Eine Lady mit Vergangenheit (1945). In his autobiography, he wrote that Goddard was "wise, humorous, and with absolutely no illusions". He further claimed that she was the hardest working actress that he had ever worked with.

At age 15, while working on a tramp steamer, he got a snake tattoo on his arm (much to the horror of his mother). He later said getting the tattoo was one of his biggest regrets.

During the filming of Piraten im Karibischen Meer (1942), Milland's character was to have "curly" hair. Milland's hair was naturally straight, so the studio used hot curling irons on his hair to achieve the effect. Milland felt that it was this procedure that caused him to go prematurely bald forcing him to go from leading man to supporting player earlier than he would have wished.

First performer to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival and an Oscar for the same role (for Das verlorene Wochenende (1945)).

At age 18, Milland enlisted in the Household Guards for four years active duty and 8 years' reserve. As part of his training, he became skilled in fencing, boxing, horsemanship and marksmanship.

Was in three Oscar Best Picture nominees: Drei süße Mädels (1936), Das verlorene Wochenende (1945) and Love Story (1970), with The Lost Weekend winning.

Has a tattoo on his upper right arm of a skull with a snake curled up on top of it with the tail of the snake sticking out through one of the eyes. The tattoo can be seen for a brief moment in the movie Her Jungle Love (1938).

Ray Milland got his stage name from a riverside street called Milland Road in Neath, where he resided prior to becoming an actor.

He has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Sullivans Reisen (1941) and Das verlorene Wochenende (1945).

Ray Milland had two children, Daniel (1941) and Victoria (1944).

Made his directorial debut with Ein Mann allein (1955) as R. Milland.

His father was a metal worker.

He is mentioned by name in the Blue Öyster Cult song "X-Ray Eyes", off the album Heaven Forbid (1998).

Father of Dan Milland and adoptive father of Victoria Francesca Graham.

Made his British films under the name of Raymond Milland.

Tony Curtis accused Milland of being anti-Semitic in his 2008 autobiography "American Prince".

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 628-629. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.

He joined the Household Cavalry in 1926 signing on for 8 years but bought himself out to turn to acting.

He appeared in Hart aber herzlich (1979), portraying the same character in two episodes, in consecutive seasons, but unusually, in the first episode, his character was named Stephen, while in the second episode his character was named Steven.