[2][4] He subsequently painted portraits from life of writers, musicians and artists such as Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Brendan Behan, Garech Browne, Derry O'Sullivan, Alfred Schnittke, Ted Hughes, Rupert Everett and Yves Saint Laurent.

In 1993 Gray had a retrospective exhibition at UNESCO Paris and in 2006, his portrait "The White Blouse" won the Sandro Botticelli Prize in Florence, Italy.

[6] During this period Gray was inspired by the early works of the French painter Bernard Buffet who had won the Prix de la critique, in Paris in 1948 at the age of 20.

[7] Gray's first paid work was a commission by University College Dublin to design the setting and costumes for their production of The King's Threshold by W. B. Yeats.

Salkeld was visited by writers, painters and musicians, such as Brian O'Nolan, Arland Ussher, Francis Stuart, Marten Cumberland and John Beckett, cousin of Samuel.

After the success in Dublin, the play was transferred to The Grand Opera House, Belfast and Gray travelled there to redesign and create the much larger settings need for the bigger stage.

Look Back in Anger by John Osborne was at the same time running at the Opera House and Gray befriended and sketched the leading actress Jocelyn Britton.

Gray later went on a tour of Ireland with The Dublin Repertory Theatre Company designing their productions, including The Wood of the Whispering by M. J. Molloy.

Gray moved to London in 1957 and lived near the Portobello market, sharing a flat with three Irish actors Donal Donnelly, Brian Phelan and Charles Roberts.

A year later conditions improved when he got long periods of work as an extra in the Théâtre des Arts de Rouen, mostly in Opera.

The sculptor with the aid of six of his students built Gray a small room in the studio from wood, plaster and resin with running water and electricity.

[citation needed] Gray worked as a copy editor at the Paris edition of The New York Times and later drew portraits of people being interviewed by the paper's writers.

Gray directed his first full-length feature Jeu (game, also known as Le Passant)[16] starring Laurent Terzieff, Dirk Kinnane, Pascale de Boysson and Bibi Hure.

Gray then lived in the Chateau de Ravenel, 50 miles north of Paris and raised his second daughter Deirdre and son Terence there during a stay that lasted ten years.