'The Admirable Crichton' (1957) followed the next year and saw More play a typically English Butler with plenty of savvy, and the full reversal of fortune with his Master, Lord Loam, played rather nicely by Cecil Parker. More's character shows wit and some creativity in adverse circumstances, and is charmingly played. More looked distinguished in a dinner jacket; however on the island scenes, he actually was photographed from the waist up, to disguise the fact that he was wearing shorts to help him deal with the heat on location.

Films such as 'Northwest Frontier' (1959) and 'Sink the Bismarck' (1960) kept More at the top, although his favourite role was as the down at heel actor in 'The Greengage Summer' (1961). His private life was colourful and he was rarely out of the newspaper headlines. He was married three times, lastly to the actress Angela Douglas, whom he met whilst filming 'Some People' (1962) with her. His drinking companions were the fellow hellraisers Trevor Howard and Jack Hawkins. Noel Coward allegedly once tried to seduce him in a bedroom but More gasped,

 

‘Oh, Mr Coward, sir - I could never have an affair with you, because you remind me of my father!’

Asked to sum up his enduring appeal More said

"A film like Genevieve to my contemporaries is not a film made years ago, but last week or last year. They see me as I was then, not as I am now. I am the reassurance that they have not changed. In an upside down world, with all the rules being rewritten as the game goes on and spectators invading the pitch, it is good to feel that some things and some people seem to stay just as they were."

 

Later in his career, when the film industry declined, he turned his talents to television where his interpretations of Jolyon in BBC's "Forsyte Saga, The" (1967) and the title role in "Father Brown" (1974) made him a household name all over again.

Quotes:
I am the reassurance that they have not changed. In an upside down world, with all the rules being rewritten as the game goes on and spectators invading the pitch, it is good to feel that some things and some people seem to stay just as they were.

Most parts that can be played by one actor can equally well be played by another, but not this. Bader's philosophy was my philosophy. His whole attitude to life was mine.

Autobiographies:

'More or Less' 1978

Suggested films to see:

Reach of the Sky (1956)
Deep Blue Sea (1955)
The Greengage Summer (1961)