Hollywood's war heroes

Spanish author José Rey-Xímena claims that Leslie Howard, seen here in The First of the Few, was killed returning from a special mission entrusted to him by Churchill to get a message to General Franco to keep him from joining the Axis alliance. Not just a pretty face, then Photograph: Kobal

James Stewart joined the US Air Force a year before Pearl Harbour was bombed, becoming the first Hollywood star to enter service in the second world war. He had to talk a recruiting officer into ignoring the fact that he was underweight and went on to earn such decorations as the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Croix de guerre Photograph: Kobal

David Niven, seen here with Peter Ustinov in Death on the Nile, was educated at Sandhurst, which gave him the "officer and a gentleman" bearing that made him a success in Hollywood. When the UK declared war in 1939, Niven was one of the first British actors to return to serve, rejoining the British Army (his batman, or servant, was Ustinov) and taking part in the Normandy landings. He was awarded the Legion of Merit, the highest American order for a foreigner Photograph: Kobal

Audie Murphy, pictured here in The Red Badge of Courage, was one of the most decorated American soldiers in the second world war, receiving the Medal of Honour, the US military's highest award, among a chestful of other medals. He parlayed this fame into a Hollywood career, starring in 33 westerns and To Hell and Back, based on his memoir of the same name Photograph: Kobal

Star Trek's Scotty joined the Royal Canadian Artillery at the outbreak of the second world war and was at the front lines on D-Day, where he was was shot six times, including a wound to the middle finger of his right hand that resulted in its amputation. He rose to the rank of captain Photograph: Kobal

One of Hollywood's hardest working character actors, Charles Durning, seen here in O Brother Where Art Thou?, participated in the Normandy landings and was one of about only 20 survivors of the infamous 1944 massacre of American POWs at Malmedy, Belgium. He has three Purple Hearts and was also awarded France's Légion d'honneur Photograph: CineText/Allstar

Writer-director Oliver Stone enlisted in the US Army at the height of the Vietnam war, returning with a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for "extraordinary acts of courage under fire". He famously parlayed his experience of combat duty into his hugely influential trilogy of Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July and Heaven and Earth Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

John Wayne, seen here in The Fighting Seabees, was possibly the Hollywood star most associated with second world war movies, appearing in such classics as They Were Expendable, The Longest Day and The Sands of Iwo Jima. Ironically, he wasn't there - he managed to defer war duty and instead became Hollywood's go-to action man Photograph: Kobal