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.
