He is well known for playing British Defence Minister Sir Frederick Gray in the James Bond films.

In a last-minute change of mind, he entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal after only one year.

He also continued to perform on stage, for instance as Iachimo in Peter Hall's 1957 production of Cymbeline, and a sadistic Turkish General in Terence Rattigan's controversial play Ross (1960).

[3][4] On the big screen, he played the role of Minister of Defence Sir Frederick Gray in six James Bond films between 1977 and 1987: He also appeared in The Spanish Gardener, Doctor Zhivago, Born Free and Cromwell, as well as in numerous TV programmes.

He even appeared in a leading role in the Hammer horror film Taste the Blood of Dracula that starred Christopher Lee.