10 War Movie Actors Who Actually Served In The Military

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10 War Movie Actors Who Actually Served In The Military
By: Ben Protheroe - Screenrant +2C
11-24-23

10 War Movie Actors Who Actually Served In The Military
Many actors from great war movies once served in the military, and some of them even had the same experiences on screen as they did in real life.
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* Actors who served in the military can bring authenticity to their war movie performances, drawing on their own experiences and understanding of military life.
* Sidney Poitier lied about his age and served as a military hospital assistant, gaining insight into the challenges faced by soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress.
* Clint Eastwood's near-death experience in the military informs his role as a troubled drill sergeant in Heartbreak Ridge, adding depth to his performance.

War movies are often judged based on their accuracy, and some actors can benefit from real-life experience serving in the military. Millions of young men were conscripted to fight in World War II and the Korean War, so it's no surprise that some of these men would later go on to become successful actors. Other actors chose to join the military for other reason, either because they were seeking a better life or because they had a passion to serve their countries. Actors from both the United States and Britain who have appeared in famous war movies can back up their performances with military credentials.

Most actors who served in the military are able to draw on some facet of their experience to help their performances in war movies. This could mean they have a deep understanding of military discipline, or they can adopt the mannerisms of people they served with. Other actors can go one step further, if their roles in war movies reflect their real-life memories. Donald Pleasence, R. Lee Ermey and David Niven all starred in movies which were very close to their own experiences of military life. But even if an actor doesn't have direct experience of the combat situations in their war movies, a history of military service always brings out an incredible performance.

Sidney Poitier lied about his age when he was just 16 to join the army. (via Veterans Advantage) He enlisted in search of a better life, but his assignment at a military hospital on Long Island was extremely difficult. Poitier was assisting doctors treating "shell-shocked" patients. Today, the medical community would refer to these patients as suffering from post-traumatic stress, but in Poitier's time there was very little understanding of the condition. Poitier found his way out of the situation and soon left the military. The Bedford Incident doesn't often enter the discussion of Sidney Poitier's best movies, but that's simply because he has so many other incredible performances.

In Heartbreak Ridge, Clint Eastwood stars as Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway, a troubled drill sergeant tasked with whipping a reconnaissance platoon into shape. Like Highway, Eastwood was drafted into the military during the Korean War. (via U.S. Department of Defense) He worked as a swimming instructor and a projectionist for training videos at Fort Ord in California. Although he didn't fight in Korea, he did endure a near-death experience during his time in the military. He was in the radar compartment of a dive bomber which crashed into the Pacific Ocean, and he and the pilot had to swim through freezing waters to reach the shore.

David Niven joined the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst when he was 18, and he served in the British Army for five years. (via Imperial War Museum) He then moved to Hollywood and started a successful career as an actor. He became a star in the 1930s, but he dropped everything and returned to the British Army when World War II broke out. Niven was involved in the D-Day landings, and he also undertook covert operations, once helping a fellow actor impersonate a Field Marshall to confuse German Intelligence. The Guns of Navarone follows of a group of soldiers on a mission to penetrate a German fortress in the Aegean Sea.

Alec Guinness was one of Britain's finest actors, and even acted during his military career. Guinness was called up in 1941, and traveled to New York to receive a new landing craft and sail it back to Britain. (via Imperial War Museum) Whilst in New York, he was given leave to appear in a Broadway play which ran for two weeks. He piloted the landing craft during the Allied invasions in Sicily and Anzio in Italy, and even used the vessel to rescue Yugoslav refugees from German forces. He later starred in The Bridge on the River Kwai, considered one of the best British war movies of all time.

Christopher Lee is associated with some of the greatest villains in cinema history, such as Count Dracula, Saruman in The Lord of the Rings, and Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond franchise. The Battle of the River Plate gave Lee one of his earlier roles. He hadn't reached his true villainous potential yet. Instead, he plays a Uruguayan bar owner in the Second World War, so he's in neutral territory. Lee enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1940 and decoded German ciphers. (via Forces.net) He saw plenty of front line action too, serving across North Africa and the Middle East, and also fighting at the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy.

Gene Hackman didn't gain recognition as an actor until his late 30's, so he had plenty of other jobs before making it in Hollywood. When he was just 16, Hackman lied about his age to join the Marines. (via Military.com) He was stationed in China, where he worked as a radio operator, but injuries from a motorcycle crash meant that he was discharged by the age of 20, just before the Korean War began. Behind Enemy Lines features Hackman as a rear admiral in the United States Navy. The movie focuses on the Bosnian War, so the events take place 40 years after Hackman's time in the military.

Stanley Kubrick initially brought R. Lee Ermey into Full Metal Jacket as a technical consultant, but he was so taken by his transfixing demeanor that he decided to cast him as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. Ermey's military career didn't take a traditional route. He was arrested for criminal mischief as a teenager and the court gave him the option of prison or the military. (via The Sydney Morning Herald) He chose the latter, and later ascended to the rank of drill sergeant. This is where he drew his inspiration for the character of Hartman from. Much of Ermey's dialogue in Full Metal Jacket was improvised, showing how much Kubrick trusted him.

Michael Caine joined the British Army in 1952, and one year later he was told to choose between National Service for two years, or fighting in the Korean War for a single year. (via Fusilier Museum) Caine chose to fight, and he soon set sail for Asia. He trained in Japan for a while before being sent to the front lines in Korea, at the 38th Parallel. Luckily, Caine returned home healthy and began a career in acting. He drew on his experiences in A Hill in Korea, but his most famous war movie is Zulu, which is set roughly 75 years before Caine's own military career.

James Bond is the Royal Navy's most famous fictional commander, and Sean Connery had Naval experience years before becoming 007. When he passed away in 2020, the Ministry of Defense tweeted about his time as a sailor onboard HMS Formidable. Connery joined the Navy in 1946 when he was just 16, and he served for three years before a duodenal ulcer brought an end to his time in the Navy. In The Hill, Connery plays an ex-Sergeant Major in a British military prison. His character constantly clashes with authority, which reflects Connery's own recollections of his time in the Royal Navy.

Donald Pleasence was a conscientious objector at the outbreak of World War II, but he changed his stance when German bombs began to fall on London, and soon joined the Royal Air Force. (via War History Online) Pleasence once said "As an aviator, I was rather successful, right up to the point I was shot down." After his plane was gunned down over France, he was captured and sent to a German P.O.W. camp, just like his character in The Great Escape. Arguably Steve McQueen's best movie, The Great Escape is a nuanced approach to the war genre, more about character relationships than eye-popping action.

[Note: Several other actors from The Great Escape were able to draw on their military experience. Richard Attenborough was also in the RAF, Hannes Messemer escaped a Russian P.O.W. camp, and Steve McQueen served in the U.S. Marine Corps.]

[Sources: Veterans Advantage, U.S. Department of Defence, Imperial War Museum, Forces.net, Military.com, The Sydney Morning Herald, Fusilier Museum, Ministry of Defense (via Twitter), War History Online.]
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About this writer: Ben is a freelance writer from the UK with a Master's degree in Screenwriting. He has written in a variety of genres and his short films have been featured in film festivals in both the UK and the USA.