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The First Welsh Oscar

100 Years of Elstree Studios - Part Fourteen

Ribbon of Dreams

If I was to ask you who was the first Welsh actor to win an Oscar you'd probably say Anthony Hopkins (won two) or Richard Burton (nominated seven times - never won). But you'd be wrong because the first was won by Alfred Reginald Jones in 1946. 'Who he?' I hear you ask. Much better known as Ray Milland, he was born in Neath and started his career as an extra in two films at Elstree Studios in 1928.  He soon progressed to a leading role in The Flying Scotsman in 1929. Snapped up by MGM he moved to Hollywood in 1930 and never looked back. He won his Oscar for The Lost Weekend in 1945.

Here he remembers those early days in Elstree :

"Yes, I remember Elstree. Good Lord, I should. It was the first studio I ever saw! It was the first place I saw Joe Grossman - and the first place I ever saw an actor in broad daylight! It was the first place I ever did any acting - if you could call it that in those days.  It was there I got my first contract... And that's where I received my first fan letter. I still have it.

I remember the first picture star I worked with. Her name was Pauline Johnson.  It was the first place I met Hitchcock and Harry Lachman. I never got over it. I don't think I ever will. They're here in Hollywood with me as I write. Only Hitch is a hundred pounds lighter, and Lachman's mood is much lighter!

Last summer (1947) I bumped into Joe Grossman again - but he is still the same.  Nineteen years have made no difference to him, but I hope Elstree has changed since that first day when three pictures were shooting on the same stage : The Manxman with Carl Brisson; Blackmail with Anny Ondra; and the picture that I was in, The Flying Scotsman. We couldn't hear one another think. We went back a couple of months later and remade them with sound and dialogue. Yes, I remember Elstree.  I don't think I'll ever forget it."
Some film historians say that The Flying Scotsman was the first British talkie, and not Blackmail.

Ray Milland (1907 to 1986) made over 170 films and tv shows.