Rodney Diak

Rodney Diak, who was once described by Queen Elizabeth II's sister, Princess Margaret, as "the most handsome actor in Britain", began his London stage career with Sir Michael Redgrave and the Old Vic Company in Love's Labours Lost, at the New Theatre, London, in 1949. He appeared with Redgrave and the Old Vic Company again, also in 1949, in She Stoops to Conquer, and in 1952 appeared before the Queen and Princess Margaret as Sebastian in Twelth Night. He made his UK television debut in 1952 with Donald Pleasence in Arrow to the Heart. In 1955, he appeared with Rachel Kempson, Ian Bannen and the young and then unknown John Osborne in Tony Richardson's UK television series, The Makepeace Family Business, in which he played Oswald Makepeace. During the 1960s, he played the male leads in a number of long-running London stage hits, including Goodnight Mrs. Puffin (1961-1963) and Busybody (1964-1965), both with Irene Handl. He wrote and staged three of his own plays: Fanfaronade (1955), A Hat Hung on Cupid (1960) and Mother and Daughter (1992). Diak's dark Latin good looks sometimes counted against him. Dirk Bogarde vetoed his casting in the pivotal role of Charles Darnay in Bogarde's 1958 film, A Tale of Two Cities, allegedly because he considered Diak too good-looking and liable to deflect attention from the star of the film - himself.