Nick Pourgourides caught reading bug with The Enchanted Wood, by Enid Blyton and says he d take Alvin Rakoff s I Need Another Take, Darling with him to a desert island.
Though his stock was dwindling slightly, Kenneth still ranked as the third and fourth most popular international star (in 1961 and 1962 respectively).
The latter of these years saw the actor return to television. Heart to Heart - written by the aforementioned Sir Terrence Rattigan - marked that comeback, with his performance as journalist David Mann the subject of sizeable acclaim.
Though riveted by his return to television, Kenneth was delighted to have a small cameo in The Longest Day - a film about the D-Day landings - the next year.
His final leading film role came in 1964, where Kenneth gave a masterful performance in the adaptation of Douglas Hayes novel The Comedy Man.
Though his stock was dwindling slightly, Kenneth still ranked as the third and fourth most popular international star (in 1961 and 1962 respectively).
The latter of these years saw the actor return to television. Heart to Heart - written by the aforementioned Sir Terrence Rattigan - marked that comeback, with his performance as journalist David Mann the subject of sizeable acclaim.
Though riveted by his return to television, Kenneth was delighted to have a small cameo in The Longest Day - a film about the D-Day landings - the next year.
His final leading film role came in 1964, where Kenneth gave a masterful performance in the adaptation of Douglas Hayes novel The Comedy Man.
by Nick Pourgourides (Amazon £7.99, 133pp)
One OF the joys of lockdown for me has been watching all the old classic Kenneth More films on Talking Pictures TV.
These include the Doctor farces, with More ebullient alongside Dirk Bogarde and James Robertson Justice, and North West Frontier, where More shares a railway carriage with Lauren Bacall, clanking across remote outposts of the Empire.
More was the type of Englishman who was always jovial and competent and courageous. He’s the chap you’d want at your side if the ship is sinking, the plane is in flames, or the steam train is under attack from angry locals. He was never snooty or coldly ironic, never irascible or eccentric.
Broad appeal: Kenneth More
Credit: Alamy
In the Fifties, Kenneth More was the most famed and acclaimed film actor in Britain, with a string of major hits to his credit. That decade was a golden era for cinema lovers, and More had broad appeal. He could act tough, gentle or romantic: whatever the script demanded. Yet in the years since his death in 1982, he has become somewhat forgotten. Now, a new book called More, Please! by Nick Pourgourides aims to repatriate one of Britain’s biggest film stars.
More first became a household name in 1952, when he appeared at London’s Duchess Theatre in Terence Rattigan’s drama The Deep Blue Sea. He played Freddie Page, a boozy ex-RAF pilot who jilts his older mistress, the wife of a respected judge – with devastating results. His performance was met with wild acclaim; many critics referred to him as “a discovery”.