English actor Dennistoun (Dennis) Price was BOTD in 1915. Born in Ruscombe, Berkshire to a military family with aristocratic ancestry, he was educated at private schools and attended Oxford University. After graduating, he studied acting at the Embassy Theatre School, working in repertory theatre and making his West End debut in 1937. During World War Two, he served in the Royal Artillery until being discharged due to illness in 1942. He returned to the stage, acting alongside Noël Coward in the comedies This Happy Breed, Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit. He made his screen debut in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1944 film A Canterbury Tale, leading to other roles in British films. He became a star in the Ealing Comedy Kind Hearts and Coronet, playing a displaced aristocrat who murders eight of his relatives (all played by Alec Guinness) to gain control of the family title and fortune. Acclaimed for his suave deadpan persona and cut-glass diction, it remains his best-known role. He had further success with lead roles in The Dancing Years, Lady Godiva Rides Again and Song of Paris. His star faded in the 1950s, though a suicide attempt in 1954 generated public sympathy and a partial revival of his career, including a supporting role in The Millionairess with Peter Sellars and Sophia Loren. He had major success in the 1960s TV series The World of Wooster, adapted from P. G. Wodehouse’s novels, perfectly cast as the impeccable servant Jeeves to Ian Carmichael’s hapless Bertie Wooster. He also made a brief but notable appearance as a closeted gay blackmail victim in the 1961 film Victim, starring fellow closet case Dirk Bogarde. Declared bankrupt in 1967, which he attributed to “extravagant living and most inadequate gambling”, he moved to the Channel Islands (a British tax haven). In later years, he appeared in a series of Hammer Horror films and an extremely camp 1972 musical adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Price married to actress Joan Schofield in 1939, having two daughters together, and separating in 1950. A biography by Elliot J. Huntley revealed Price as a closeted gay man and rampant alcoholic, whose fears of public exposure may have contributed to his suicide attempt.