Granger was first noticed in a small stage production in Hollywood by a Goldwyn casting director, and given a significant role in The North Star (1943), a controversial film praising the Soviet Union at the height of World War II, but later condemned for its political position.

Following the stock market crash in 1929, the Grangers were forced to sell both their homes and most of their personal belongings and move into an apartment above the family business, where they remained for the next two years.

Eventually the remainder of their possessions were sold at auction to settle their debts, and the elder Granger used the last car on his lot to spirit away the family to Los Angeles in the middle of the night.

Hoping he might become a tap dancer, Granger's mother enrolled him at Ethel Meglin's, the dance and drama instruction studio where Judy Garland and Shirley Temple had started.

[6] Granger's father found work as a clerk in the North Hollywood branch of the California Department of Unemployment, and his salary allowed him to put a small down payment on a house in Studio City, where their neighbor was actor/dancer Donald O'Connor.

[7] At his office, Granger's father became acquainted with comedian Harry Langdon in the early 1940s, who advised him to take his son to a small local theatre where open auditions for The Wookey, a British play about Londoners struggling to survive during World War II, were being held.

He enjoyed working with director Milestone and fellow cast members Dana Andrews, Anne Baxter, Walter Brennan and Jane Withers, and during filming he met composer Aaron Copland, who remained a friend in later years.

[11] For Granger's next film, he was loaned out to 20th Century Fox, where Darryl F. Zanuck cast him in The Purple Heart (1944), in which he was directed by Milestone and again co-starred with Dana Andrews.

As a result, the remainder of his military career was spent onshore, where he first was assigned to the cleanup crew at an enlisted men's club situated at the end of Waikiki Beach and then to a unit in Honolulu that worked with Army Special Services that was commanded by classical actor Maurice Evans, who put together and arranged entertainment for all the troops in the Pacific.

It was here that he had the opportunity to meet and mingle with visiting entertainers such as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Hedy Lamarr, Gertrude Lawrence, and many others.

The night before their initial meeting, Granger coincidentally met Arthur Laurents, who had written the film's screenplay, which was based on the 1929 play Rope's End by Patrick Hamilton, a fictionalized account of the Leopold and Loeb murder case of 1924.

Because The Hays Office was keeping close tabs on the project, however, the final script was so discreet that Laurents remained uncertain of whether Stewart ever realized that his own character was homosexual.

[20] Upon the completion of Rope, Goldwyn cast Granger, Teresa Wright, David Niven, and Evelyn Keyes in Enchantment (1948), which was panned for a weak script and indifferent direction by Irving Reis.

[21] While filming Side Street (1950) on location in 1949 Manhattan for Anthony Mann, Granger briefly became involved with Leonard Bernstein, who invited him to join him on his South American tour.

[23] Granger's next two films for Goldwyn in 1950, Edge of Doom and Our Very Own, were unpleasant working experiences, and the actor refused to allow the producer to loan him to Universal Pictures for an inferior magic carpet saga.

At the last moment, they were joined by Arthur Laurents, who remained behind when the group departed for London to see the opening of the New York City Ballet, which had been choreographed by Jerome Robbins.

He and Granger engaged in a casual affair until the actor was summoned to return to New York to help publicize Edge of Doom and Our Very Own, both of which received dreadful reviews.

Once again placed on suspension, he departed for Europe, where he spent time in Italy, Austria, and Germany with Laurents before being contacted about an upcoming film by Alfred Hitchcock.

Winters subscribed to the concept of method acting, but Granger felt an actor "had to be faithful to the text, not adapt it to some personal sense memory", and their disagreement triggered more arguments.

Granger thought the screenplay by Irwin Shaw was "not only dull, but felt dated", but welcomed the opportunity to work with Dana Andrews and Dorothy McGuire.

Goldwyn expected the film to be as successful as The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946), but it proved to be as "tepid and old-fashioned" as Granger feared and, opening after cease-fire negotiations with Korea had begun, no longer topical, and it died at the box office.

[citation needed] Eager to work with Vincente Minnelli, Granger accepted a role opposite Leslie Caron and Ethel Barrymore in Mademoiselle, one of three segments in the 1953 MGM film The Story of Three Loves.

[31] Unhappy with the direction his career was taking, Granger sought solace with Shelley Winters, who was separated from Vittorio Gassman, and the two friends resumed their love affair, which at one point nearly had culminated in marriage.

Granger was determined to move to Manhattan to study acting and perform on stage, but his agent convinced him to accept a role in Senso (1954), directed by Luchino Visconti and co-starring Alida Valli.

[33] Upon his return to the States, Darryl F. Zanuck offered Granger a two-picture deal, and in quick succession he made The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing co-starring Ray Milland and Joan Collins, in which he portrayed tycoon Harry Kendall Thaw, and The Naked Street, a melodrama the actor thought was "preachy, trite and pedestrian", although he welcomed the opportunity to work with Anthony Quinn and Anne Bancroft.

[citation needed] The same year, Granger moved to New York and began studying with Bob Fosse, Gloria Vanderbilt, James Kirkwood, and Tom Tryon in a class taught by Sandy Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

The cast included Janice Rule as Granger's love interest, and Alvin Ailey, Frances Sternhagen, Jerry Stiller, and Sada Thompson in supporting roles.

In 1959, Granger returned to Broadway as Fitzwilliam Darcy opposite Polly Bergen as Elizabeth Bennet in First Impressions, a musical adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with a book and direction by Abe Burrows.

Things improved slightly during the Philadelphia run, but by the time the production reached New York, Bergen – who was fighting bitterly with co-star Hermione Gingold – was experiencing serious vocal problems, and some of her songs would be cut during each performance, creating confusion for the rest of the cast.

[40] He starred opposite Barbara Cook in a revival of The King and I at the off-Broadway New York City Center,[41] and in 1979 he was cast in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of A Month in the Country.