From Neath to Hollywood and back for Ray Milland and much more made the news 75 years ago this week Hollywood star back in Tongwynlais

AT AN early hour, long before most people in Cardiff were awake, Ray Milland, Neath-born Hollywood film star, got into a small car and drove to the village of Tongwynlais, there to see the public house where he had his first drink and where formerly lived Olwen, his youthful sweetheart.

“I was only a boy at the time,” he told a South Wales Echo reporter, “but, I have been looking forward for years to stealing off on my own and seeing the old spots.

“I don’t remember much about Olwen and couldn’t tell you her surname, but she was pretty, all right, and I’ll never forget her.

“From Tongwynlais I drove to Taffs Well and saw another pub I used to drink in before I ever thought of getting to Hollywood.”

He also said he looked for the shop of Davies the Tailor, not because Davies made his first pair of trousers “but he used to have a very pretty daughter”.

Mrs Ray Milland was not upset by this frankness of her husband.

“Everybody has to have a first sweetheart,” she said. “And Ray is no exception.”

Ray confessed that his greatest “kick” this morning was the breakfast he had at the Angel Hotel.

“It was a pound and a half of laverbread brought up from Neath,” he said. “I love it and ate the lot. We can’t get it in the States.”

He went on: “Cardiff is the neatest city I have seen since coming over here. And the people are quite the nicest of any place you like to mention – very understanding and really friendly.

“I would like to spend a little more time here this time, but I hope to return next month from the Continent, and intend to visit Neath, my home town.

“Yes I’m nervous about all this – even in Cardiff,” he confessed, “but it’s not because of the crowds.

“I suppose it’s due to the people here being different towards one from what I experienced in London at the Command performance. That was terrible.”

He was to leave Cardiff for London the next day, then fly on to Cannes where he was to receive the premier film award from the French President for his performance in The Lost Weekend.