He claimed he was born on the Isle of Skye or in Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, in 1905. His birth certificate shows he was born in the London borough of Lewisham in 1907.
He was extremely proud of his Scottish family background, and appeared in many films about Scottish subjects.
His son James died at the age of four in 1949 when he drowned in a mill stream near the family home in Whitchurch, Hampshire.