Meyrick Edward Clifton James (April 1898 – 5 May 1963) was an actor and soldier, with a resemblance to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery which was used by British intelligence as part of a deception campaign during the Second World War.

[2][3] After serving in the Royal Fusiliers during the First World War, and seeing action at the Battle of the Somme, James took up acting, "starting at 15 shillings weekly with Fred Karno, who put Chaplin on the road to fame".

Instead of being assigned to ENSA, as he had hoped, James was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Army Pay Corps on 11 July 1940,[5] and eventually posted to Leicester.

When Niven explained that it was about something different, James supposedly burst into tears because he thought he had been exposed as a bigamist who was receiving a double marriage allowance.

James then flew to Algiers where, over the next few days, he made a round of public appearances with General Maitland Wilson, the Allied commander in the Mediterranean theatre.

[7] After being demobilised in June 1946, James was unable to find theatrical employment, and was obliged to apply for unemployment benefits to support his wife and two children in London.

[10] In 1947, James had made a brief (non-speaking and uncredited) appearance as an extra in the film Holiday Camp, playing a holidaymaker in a dance floor scene, along with Jack Warner and Kathleen Harrison.

[13] He also appeared in a short cameo role (again non-speaking and uncredited) as Field Marshal Montgomery (using a mix of original postwar footage of Monty inspecting an RAF passing-out parade and close-up shots of James) in the 1957 film High Flight, starring Ray Milland.