Article
First Welsh Oscar Winner to be Celebrated With Blue Plaque Exhibition 80 Years On
27 February 2026
A man from Neath who established a huge Hollywood legacy is to be honoured with a commemorative Blue Plaque.
Ray Milland starred alongside the likes of John Wayne and Grace Kelly and was once Paramount’s highest-paid actor during a career which spanned more than 50 years.
Neath Port Talbot Council will be unveiling the plaque at a special event to coincide with the 80th Anniversary of Ray Milland winning an Oscar – the first Welsh actor to do so.
1946 was a very special year for Ray Milland as he won three prestigious awards in total. In addition to the Academy Award (Oscar), he also won Best Actor Award in the Cannes Film Festival and the Best Actor Award at the Golden Globes.
In honour of his achievements, a free public event - supported by Neath Port Talbot (NPT) Council and Neath Town Council – offers a first look at the blue plaque before it’s installed at his childhood home on Dalton Road at a later date.
Celebration Exhibition
To mark the 80th anniversary of Ray Milland’s career-defining year, the free event will take place at the following location:
Location: Melincryddan Community Hall, Crydan Road, Neath, SA11 1TB
Date: Friday 6th March
Time: 15:00-16:30
Cabinet Member for Nature, Tourism and Wellbeing, Councillor Cen Phillips says:
“It’s great to honour the first Welsh Oscar winner, Ray Milland. He had an amazing career and became a household name in Hollywood.
“This blue plaque celebrates yet another figure from the incredible cultural legacy that we have across the whole of Neath Port Talbot.”
The successful nomination for Ray Milland to be posthumously awarded a Blue Plaque came from Neath Antiquarian Society(NAS), following an application via Neath Port Talbot Council’s Blue Plaque Scheme. You can find out more about them here: https://www.facebook.com/NeathAntiquarianSocietyArchives
Chair of Neath Antiquarian Society, Jonathan Davies says:
“Ray Milland is a true Hollywood Star who acted with many of the great Hollywood actors and actresses of the 1930, 40s and 50s. He has not been well represented in Neath and I'm very grateful to Neath Port Talbot Council and Neath Town Council in helping to bring about this celebration of his career.
“I have little doubt that there are few people in our history that have reached more corners of the world and told them he was proud of the fact that he was from Neath. He’s known to have said, ‘When people say to me. You are English. I tell them I’m not English. I’m Welsh. Call me British if you like but never, never call me English’. His death was reported on every continent.”
The Blue Plaque scheme aims celebrate notable people, places and events across Neath Port Talbot. A further two Blue Plaques will be funded by Neath Port Talbot Council this year.
There are also options for businesses, groups or individual to self-fund a blue plaque, which will still require approval from the Council. This can be done by submitting a nomination online to the Heritage NPT Team’s selection panel, with the panel’s recommendations then being reported to cabinet members for a final decision.
The 2026 Commemorative Blue Plaque funding window at NPT Council will open from 1st April to 30th September.
The Commemorative Blue Plaque Scheme is part of the NPT Council’s adopted Heritage Strategy 2024- 2039: Restore, Regenerate, Repurpose, driven forward by the Council’s Regeneration Team through the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage NPT Project.
