Under Philip Leacock’s direction (Appointment in London and The Spanish Gardener) he learned again, as he had with Basil Dearden, that ‘screen acting was more to do with the head... that it was the thought which counted more than the looks’ (Snakes and Ladders, 135), and that he had to focus on thinking the role and then revealing that thought to the camera lens.

His love affair with the camera was, he explained, ‘a complete, magical thing.’ It was an instinctive response that an actor either has or not. ‘You can’t explain how to relax before the camera and you can’t teach someone that that box is... your life - to hell with the director. I mean, do what he tells you, but remember that box is what you channel it through.’ It takes great ‘concentration’ and energy for ‘something very simple, like a look... I know what a great look means, Visconti does, Joe Losey does, Resnais does... Alan Ladd bloody well knew about a look.’ (Guerin, 57)