Screen Actors in the Role of Her Majesty's Soldiers
The 1920's
The 1940's
Gary Cooper
as
Lt. Alan McGregor
The Lives of a
Bengal Lancer
1935
The 1960's
Victor McLaglen
as
Capt. Donald
Gordon King
The Black Watch
1929
David Niven
as
General Sir
Roland Dane
Enchantment
1948
The 1930's
The term "Hollywood Raj" has
traditionally been applied to that
group of British actors who
quietly invaded Hollywood
during its golden age in the late
1920's and 1930's. It was
personified by such stalwart
greats as Basil Rathbone, David
Niven, Donald Crisp, Claude
Rains, Ronald Coleman, C.
Aubrey Smith and Victor
McLaglen.

Here the term will be used
regardless of the actual
nationality of the actors involved
or whether the film in question
was shot in Hollywood, Great
Britain or on location
somewhere in the wide expanses
of the former British Empire.

In most cases these photographs
will depict actors playing parts
for which the actual events
occurred long before they were
born though in some instances -
such as Victor McLagen or
Donald Crisp - actors who did
indeed serve in Queen Victoria's
forces before being seconded to
the very different world of the
silver screen.
The 1990's
Heath Ledger
as
Harry Feversham
The Four Feathers
2002
Wes Bentley
as
Capt. Jack Durrance
The Four Feathers
2002
Trevor Howard
as
Lord Cardigan
The Charge of the
Light Brigade
1968
The British square
at Abu Klea
The Four Feathers
2002
Stanley Baker
as
Lt. John Chard R.E.
Zulu
1964
The 1970's
Malcolm McDowell
as
Captain Harry Flashman
Royal Flash
1975
The 1950's
Rock Hudson
as
Capt. Jeffrey Claybourne
Bengal Brigade
1954
The British Square
The Four Feathers
1929
James Booth
as
Private Hook
"Hookie"
Zulu
1964
Spencer Tracy
as
Henry Morton Stanley
Stanley and Livingstone
1939
Patrick Bergin
as
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton
and
Iain Glen as Lt. John Speke
Mountains of the Moon
1990
The 2000's
Simon Ward as Winston Churchill
and
Sir John Mills as Horatio Herbert
Kitchener
Young Winston
1972
Preston Foster
as
Sergeant Jim Brett
North West Mounted Police
1940
Peter Sellers
as
Gen. Leo FitzJohn
Waltz of the Toreadors
1962
Cary Grant as Sgt. Archibald Cutter
and
Victor McLaglen as Sgt. 'Mac' MacChesney
Gunga Din
1939
Dennis Morgan
as
John Keith/Sgt. Derry Connison
Rivers Edge
1940
The 1980's
Bo Derek
as
Jane Parker
Tarzan, the Ape Man
1981
Edward Underdown
as
Col. William Hicks
Khartoum
1966
Norman Pierce
as
Sergeant Brown
The Four Feathers
1939
Omdurman
The Four Feathers
1939
Charlton Heston
as
Gen Charles Gordon
and
Richard Johnson
as
Col. J.D.H. Stewart
Khartoum
1966
Lord Cardigan: "I shall have you arrested. You *are* arrested. Go to your quarters, sir, and be arrested!"
                                                                                                        From Tony Richardson's 1968 production of "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
Sgt. Thomas 'Tommy' Ballantine: You displease me greatly, and I ignore the both of you.
                                                                                                                                                                                 From the 1939 production of Gunga Din.
Errol Flynn as Major Geoffrey Vickers
and
Donald Crisp as Colonel Campbell
The Charge of the Light Brigade
1936
Charlton Heston
as
Gen. Charles Gordon
Khartoum
1966
Cyril MacLaglen
as
John Kennedy
Balaclava (Jaws of Hell)
1928
Richard Arlen as Lt. Harry Faversham
and
Fay Wray as Ethne Eustace
The Four Feathers
1929
Michael Caine as Peachy Carnehan
and
Sean  Connery as Daniel Dravot
The Man Who Would be King
1975
Edward Woodward as Lt. Harry "Breaker" Morant
Bryan Brown as Lt. Peter Handcock
Lewis Fitz-Gerald as Lt. George Witton
Breaker Morant
1980
Shirley Temple as Priscilla 'Winkie'
Williams
and
Victor McLaglen as Sgt. Donald MacDuff
Wee Willie Winkie
1937
Winter in the Crimea
Victoria the Great
(60 Glorious Years)
1937
David Niven
as
Sir Arthur Robertson
55Days at Peking
1963
Robert Newton
as
Private Bill Sykes
Soldiers Three
1951
Drummer William Quinnell
1 & 2 /East Surrey Regiment
Shanghai, China
c. 1939
This section showcases a
remarkable archive of 45
photographs taken from a photo
album once owned by William
Quinnell of the East Surrey
Regiment and record the 1938
filming of Zoltan Korda’s classic
production of The Four Feathers.
None of these images have been
published before to the best of my
knowledge.

I have been unable to uncover
much about Quinnell himself
mainly due to the time period
during which he served.