There was more: a stage fright, which in Dirk’s case was not so much the fear of forgetting the lines but rather a terror of failing to convince; of incurring derision. Add to that his hatred of the hysteria, the rapacity and the scrums which accompany celebrity. And finally, the fact that Dirk, already a shy man, was leading a private life that directly contradicted the persona presented to the world by the publicity machine at the studios; each departure from the stage door became a tension-filled ordeal, when a rogue shouted comment could break the spell and sully the mystique... No wonder he decided to pack it in, and not to stray from the security and the concentrated but brisk demands of the film studio.

He did so in 1955, after a tour and brief West End run of Ugo Betti’s frothy confection, Summertime, directed by the young Peter Hall. Dirk contracted hepatitis, possibly from a B12 vitamin injection. Three years later, and by now the biggest box-office star in Britain, he agreed, as a favour to the struggling Oxford Playhouse and its director Frank Hauser, to star opposite Hermione Baddeley in another Anouilh, Jezebel. The initial fortnight in Oxford went well enough, but after an extra week, in Brighton, Dirk was diagnosed with pleurisy and double pneumonia. He nearly died.