[2] In 1933, film company Paramount Pictures wanted to re-juvenate and diversify its contract players, and launched a competition known as the "Search for Beauty"; heats took place in nations across the English-speaking world.
Eldred Tidbury entered in his native South Africa and was selected with Lucille du Toit, a dental nurse from Pretoria, as one of the winners.
Colin Tapley, who would later appear opposite Gray in the TV series Mark Saber, was the New Zealand male winner.
Initially turned down for military service owing to a duodenal ulcer, Gray later managed to enlist in the Gordon Highlanders, who had their barracks in Aberdeen, and succeeded in becoming what he called an "ordinary Jock" (having claimed some Scottish ancestry).
In his later years, his voice, based on that of fellow South African actor Basil Rathbone, brought him work in voice-overs, advertisements and the TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons.