According to one obituary, "He was particularly adept at conveying the weaknesses and human qualities in figures of authority and intelligence ... and he could be considered an early exponent of 'anti-hero' roles.

[2] Director Michael Powell once spoke of his handsome appearance and distinctive "violet eyes", and his exceptional timing in films.

[citation needed] He was seen in a play by an employee of the American RKO studio who was interested in Farrar's potential as a film actor.

He was a heroic commander of an air-sea rescue unit in For Those in Peril (1944), an accountant in The Hundred Pound Window (1944), and a pilot in The World Owes Me a Living (1945).

[5][6] Farrar was transformed into a star when he was cast as the British agent Mr. Dean in Black Narcissus (1947) who arouses the passions of the nuns played by Deborah Kerr and Kathleen Byron.

Made by the team of Powell and Pressburger, the movie was popular and has since come to be regarded as one of the finest films in British cinema.

Farrar followed it up by playing the officer who brings home a German wife (Mai Zetterling) in Frieda (1947), directed by Basil Dearden; it was the ninth biggest film in Britain of the year.

According to his obituary, "Farrar was given a true star's entrance in the film, the camera tracking along a bar of customers until coming to rest upon the actor's back.

"[1] Gainsborough Pictures next gave him the lead of a "British Western" shot in South Africa, Diamond City (1949), playing Stafford Parker, but the film was a flop.