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A graduate of the Pembrooke College of Oxford University, Bernard Miles taught school before entering films as a bit player in 1933. A regular in the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Miles played many a bucolic rustic before graduating to larger roles; his first starring assignment was in Noel Coward's In Which We Serve (1942). He contributed to the scripts of several films, and was director of the 1944 comedy Tawny Pipit, which he also co-wrote and co-produced. Miles' many memorable screen characterizations included Joe Gargery in Great Expectations (1946) and Newton Noggs in Nicholas Nickelby (1947). In 1959, Miles and his wife, Josephine Wilson, founded England's Mermaid Theatre. Knighted in 1969, Bernard Miles was given a life peerage in 1979, ending his days answering to both Lord Bernard Miles and Baron Bernard.