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Donald Houston

Flaxen-haired Welsh actor Donald Houston was set for stardom in 1949, with the one-two punch of high-profile roles in both the desert island romance "The Blue Lagoon" and the Ealing Studios comedy "A Run for Your Money," co-starring Alec Guinness. Unlike Guinness, however, Houston didn't quite connect with audiences as a leading man, despite subsequently starring in a string of '50s British comedies and crime dramas--from "Dance Hall" to "Doublecross." The stage-trained thespian instead distinguished himself with solid supporting performances in Oscar-winning prestige pictures like the star-studded World War II epic "The Longest Day" and the sexually charged drama "Room at the Top," in which he played the dutiful best friend of Laurence Harvey's hard-hearted hero. Houston also logged dozens of television appearances, most prominently as a star of the 1971 BBC sitcom "Now, Take My Wife." Often cast as righteous, strong-willed men of action--see the combat adventure flicks "633 Squadron" and "Where Eagles Dare"--Houston found perhaps his juiciest onscreen role playing a deranged murderer in the critically acclaimed Hammer Films psychological thriller "Maniac."