He's British Cinema's Mr Reliable: the sort of likable chap other chaps wanted to be in the 50s. He was far too normal to make an impact in films before the 50s and when the 60s started to swing his image was too old-fashioned, but at his peak, he was one of the biggest box office draws we produced.
More was born into a comfortable middle-class family but drifted through a variety of jobs until a family friend got him a job as stage-hand at the saucy Windmill Theatre. He soon took to the stage in the sketches that punctuated the nude tableaux. This gave him the confidence to try his hand at the legitimate stage.
He was in the Navy during the war and, after he returned, he started to climb up the billing in West End productions. This lead in turn to small parts in films. By the time the 50s started he had carved out a niche for himself playing the hero's dependable best friend in several productions.
The Group 3 picture Brandy for the Parson brought him his first notices, but it took the two smash hits Genevieve and Doctor in the House to make him a star. He was usually a genial light-comedian but he could also turn his hand to stiff-upper-lipped drama when necessary.
His career declined rapidly in the 60s. He put this down to divorcing in order to marry Angela Douglas, twenty-six years his junior. In truth, his sort of film image was dated and he was pushing fifty.
Television was exceptionally kind to him and he became a major star again with The Forsyte Saga. This lead to a lot of theatre work and some small cameos in mostly undistinguished films. He also portrayed Father Brown in a couple of TV series.
| 1935 | Look Up and Laugh |
| 1938 | Windmill Revels |
| 1938 | Carry On London |
| 1948 | Scott of the Antarctic |
| 1949 | Man on the Run |
| 1949 | Now Barabbas |
| 1949 | Stop Press Girl |
| 1950 | Morning Departure |
| 1950 | Clouded Yellow |
| 1950 | The Franchise Affair |
| 1951 | No Highway |
| 1951 | Appointment With Venus |
| 1952 | Brandy for the Parson |
| 1952 | The Yellow Balloon |
| 1953 | Never Let Me Go |
| 1953 | Genevieve |
| 1953 | Our Girl Friday |
| 1954 | Doctor in the House |
| 1954 | Raising a Riot |
| 1955 | The Deep Blue Sea |
| 1956 | Reach for the Sky |
| 1957 | The Admirable Crichton |
| 1958 | A Night to Remember |
| 1958 | Next to No Time |
| 1958 | The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw |
| 1959 | The Thirty-Nine Steps |
| 1959 | Northwest Frontier |
| 1960 | Sink the Bismarck |
| 1960 | Man in the Moon |
| 1961 | The Greengage Summer |
| 1962 | The Longest Day |
| 1962 | Some People |
| 1962 | We Joined the Navy |
| 1963 | The Comedy Man |
| 1967 | The Mercenaries |
| 1969 | Oh What a Lovely War |
| 1969 | Fraulein Doktor |
| 1969 | Battle of Britain |
| 1970 | Scrooge |
| 1976 | Where Time Began |
| 1976 | The Slipper and the Rose |
| 1978 | Leopard in the Snow |
| 1979 | The Spaceman and King Arthur |
| 1981 | A Tale of Two Cities |
