Sarah Churchwell celebrates various leading men of the silver screen, from the 1930s and 1940s.

Charles Boyer played killers and gigolos, conmen and psychopaths. He was good at romantic comedy and his Frenchness made him debonair and suave. But it was the voice that was the giveaway - 'deep and purring, with a heavy French accent'. It encouraged this writer's early penchant for escapism.

Producer: Duncan Minshull