Here is a guide to Where Eagles Dare's cast and characters. The success of the Dollars trilogy saw Clint Eastwood's star rising in Hollywood, with Where Eagles Dare being one of his first major hits outside of Westerns. Eastwood has since admitted he wasn't initially taken with the screenplay by Alistair MacLean - who penned the Bond-like Anthony Hopkins thriller When Eight Bells Toll - but his agent thought it would be good to make a movie pairing him with a more seasoned actor. In this instance, he got to work with the legendary Richard Burton.
Where Eagles Dare is now considered a classic war movie and one that's seemingly mandatory to air on TV during the Christmas period. The movie has some celebrity fans too, with Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino both professing their love for it. In the case of the latter, Where Eagles Dare was an inspiration for Inglourious Basterds, which feels very evident in the 2009 movie's fiery climax.
Where Eagles Dare is over half a century old, but it's still an entertaining World War 2 adventure movie. Here's a guide to Where Eagles Dare's cast and characters.
Richard Burton as Major John Smith
Where Eagles Dare's cast is fronted by Richard Burton, who was one of the most acclaimed performers of his generation. He's perhaps best known for his collaborations with then-wife Elizabeth Taylor, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? It was on the advice of Taylor's children that Burton made Where Eagles Dare, as they wanted to see him in an adventure movie.
His character Smith leads the mission to raid a castle in the German Alps and rescue a kidnapped American General. Where Eagles Dare's famously convoluted narrative reveals Smith is on another mission to expose MI6 traitors, with the mission itself being something of a ruse. In addition to thinking five moves ahead, Smith is also quite useful in combat.
Clint Eastwood as Lieutenant Morris Schaffer
Where Eagles Dare cast Eastwood (the Dirty Harry franchise) as Army Ranger Lieutenant Schaffer, who is loaned to Britain for the mission. He's essentially the brawn to Smith's brain, and the movie features Eastwood's biggest body count. The actor also insisted on trimming down his character's dialogue, with much of his scripted lines given to Smith instead.
Mary Ure as Mary Ellison
Mary Ure is a Scottish stage actress, best known for her work on 1960's Sons and Lovers, where she received an Academy Award nod. She also appeared with Burton in Look Back In Anger, and in Where Eagles Dare she plays Mary, the lover of Smith who is secretly aiding the mission. Mary plays a big part in the finale, aiding Smith and Schaffer in destroying the fort.
Ingrid Pitt as Heidi
Where Eagles Dare cast Ingrid Pitt as Heidi, one of Smith's contacts. Pitt is famous for her work in horror movies like Countess Dracula or The Wicker Man (one of Tim Burton's favorite horror movies), and in Where Eagles Dare she's a barmaid secretly aiding the rescue mission. Pitt spent three years in a concentration camp as a child and thus found working on a film where the majority of the cast are dressed in Nazi uniforms very difficult.
Patrick Wymark as Colonel Turner
Patrick Wymark appeared in films like Repulsion and Witchfinder General, and in Where Eagles Dare's cast plays MI6 officer Turner, who sends the team on the rescue mission. It turns out Turner himself is a German agent, with the whole mission being a ploy to uncover his true agenda. Wymark tragically passed away from a heart attack two years after the movie's release.