Biography

Dashing actor known best for his deep voice and the flourish with which he approached roles as a swashbuckler. He made his London stage debut in 1938 and appeared in two productions before military service intervened. He resumed his stage career, then branched into film where he had enjoyed only bit parts in the '30s and early '40s. In 1943, he starred opposite James Mason in the costume drama The Man in Grey, paving the way for a prolific career in the '40s and '50s, including Caesar and Cleopatra (1946), Adam and Evelyne (1949), King Solomon's Mines (1950), Prisoner of Zenda and Scaramouche (both 1952), Young Bess (1953), Beau Brummell (1954), and Bhowani Junction (1956). He made several foreign films in the '60s, then turned to television in the '70s with roles in The Men From Shiloh (1970–71) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1972). He was married to actress Jean Simmons (1950–60), and in 1981, he published his autobiography Sparks Fly Upward.