Editing Richard Todd (section)

==Early life and career==
Richard Todd was born in [[Dublin]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8394812.stm |title=Dam Busters star Richard Todd dies aged 90 |publisher=[[BBC News]] |access-date=4 December 2009 |date=4 December 2009}}</ref> His father, [[Andrew Todd (rugby union)|Andrew William Palethorpe-Todd]], was an Irish physician and an international [[Ireland national rugby union team|Irish rugby]] player who gained three [[Cap (sport)|caps]] for his country.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scrum.com/scrum/rugby/story/106920.html |title=Varsity match venues, uncapped Barbarians... |publisher=scrum.com |access-date=17 February 2010}}</ref> Richard spent a few of his childhood years in [[British Raj|India]], where his father, an officer in the British Army, served as a physician.<ref name="Obit"/> Later his family moved to Devon, and Todd attended [[Shrewsbury School]].

Upon leaving school, Todd trained for a potential military career at [[Royal Military Academy Sandhurst|Sandhurst]] before beginning his acting training at the [[Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts|Italia Conti Academy]] in London. This change in career led to estrangement from his mother. When he learned at the age of 19 that she had committed suicide, he did not grieve long (or so he admitted in later life).<ref name="Obit">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/6743553/Richard-Todd.html |title=Richard Todd |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=6 December 2009 |access-date=13 December 2009}}</ref>

He first appeared professionally as an actor at the [[Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park]] in 1936 in a production of ''[[Twelfth Night]]''. He played in regional theatres and then co-founded the [[Dundee Repertory Theatre]] in Scotland in 1939. He also appeared as an extra in British films including ''[[Good Morning, Boys]]'' (1937), ''[[A Yank at Oxford]]'' (1938) and ''[[Old Bones of the River]]'' (1939).