David Niven

The next year, in the box-office hit ''Around the World in 80 Days,'' Mr. Niven's acting attracted less attention than it otherwise might have, because the cast included many other stars in cameo appearances. Reviewing ''Separate Tables,'' the 1958 screen adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play, Bosley Crowther said that, as the fraudulent major ''who turns out to be a particularly sad sort of person, David Niven starts weakly and gains strength, so that his final scene of gathering valor is one of the best in the film.'' In later years, Mr. Niven appeared in such comedies as the entertaining ''Please Don't Eat the Daisies'' (1960) and ''The Pink Panther'' (1964), which was the first of the Panther series. More Recent Films And he won warm praise from critics for his starring role in the 1966 espionage movie ''Where the Spies Are.'' Howard Thompson of The Times said that Mr. Niven gave his ''most appealing performance in several seasons'' and was ''entirely persuasive and convincing as a confused, aging but spunky novice in the cutthroat business of espionage.'' His more recent movies included ''A Man Called Intrepid'' and ''Rough Cut'' in 1979 and ''The Sea Wolves'' in 1980. Mr. Niven also worked in television, serving as host of ''The David Niven Show'' from 1959 to 1964 and starring in ''The Rogues'' in 1964 and 1965, among other activities.