Affable, bright and breezy Kenneth More epitomised the traditional English virtues of fortitude and fun. At the height of his fame in the 1950s he was Britain's most popular film star and had appeared in a string of box office hits including _Genevieve with her. His drinking companions were the hellraisers Trevor Howard and Jack Hawkins. Noel Coward once tried to seduce him in a bedroom but More gasped "Oh, Mr Coward, sir - I could never have an affair with you, because you remind me of my father!" Asked to sum up his enduring appeal More said "A film like Genevieve to my contemporaries is not a film made years ago, but last week or last year. They see me as I was then, not as I am now. I am the reassurance that they have not changed. In an upside down world, with all the rules being rewritten as the game goes on and spectators invading the pitch, it is good to feel that some things and some people seem to stay just as they were."
He fathered two daughters, Susan Jane More (b. 1941) from his first marriage to Beryl Johnstone and Sarah Elizabeth More (b. 1954) from his second marriage to "Bill Barkby. Following his divorce from Johnstone and her subsequent re-marriage it was decided that it would be in his daughters best interests if she grew up with only one father figure. As a result, he and Susan did not meet again until 1957, when she had turned 17, although they had kept in touch throughout this period, writing regularly. His third wife, Angela Douglas , was known to him simply as "Shrimp".
For much of his role as Bill Crichton in The Admirable Crichton , he was filmed from the waist up to hide the fact that he was wearing shorts with his dinner jacket because of the heat during filming. Although universally disliked by the critics, this film went on to be the second biggest "grosser" at UK cinemas in 1957.
Announced his retirement from acting in 1980 due to the onset of Parkinsons disease.
Served during World War II in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR). He was "demobbed" in 1946 as a lieutenant, having served on the light cruiser HMS Aurora as a Watch Keeping Officer and the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious as a Fighter Directions Officer.
Tried unsuccessfully to join the Royal Air Force on a short service commission. Having been sent to what was then the RAF headquarters at Adastral House in Kingsway, London, for a medical, he failed the test for equilibrium. After being strapped into a chair and spun round he was then required to get out of the chair and walk in a straight line. He got to his feet, but as soon as he tried to walk he fell flat on his face. In 1939 as war was declared, he tried to enlist again, this time with the Royal Navy. Again he was unsuccessful, as the services had too many men applying and nowhere to put them. He returned to Rep in Birmingham only to find the "Closed" sign going up on the theatre door. Determined to do his bit, he then volunteered to drive ambulances; this time he was successful. This was short-lived, however, as he received a letter in the spring of 1940 to join Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships. He joined the "MV Lobus" and his naval career, which would progress to the Royal Navy, was finally underway.
After leaving school at 17 he followed a family tradition and became an engineering apprentice with Sentinel-Cammell in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, earning one pound a week. However, at the end of his two-year "privileged apprenticeship" he chose instead to apply to the RAF along with a close friend, John Hulton-Harrop. More was unsuccessful, while Hulton-Harrop, who qualified as a first-rate fighter pilot, was shot down and killed by his own coastal defenses in one of the RAFs earliest sweeps over France.
Spent part of his childhood in the Channel Islands, where his father was general manager of Jersey Eastern Railways. He was educated at Victoria College, Jersey. It was there that he took part in his first school play, "The Sport of Kings", playing the part of a red-haired girl. His first male part at the school was in J.M. Barrie s "The Admirable Crichton". Years later he would play the lead in both the screen adaptation ( The Admirable Crichton ) and a stage musical.
Published two volumes of autobiography, Happy Go Lucky and More or Less and a book of reminiscences, Kindly Leave the Stage .
Was best man to Roger Moore at his wedding to Luisa Mattioli on 11th April 1969.
One of the few English performers to have a theatre named after him during his lifetime--Ilfords civic theatre, The Kenneth More Theatre, opened on the very last day of 1974--More made his first appearance at the theatre in April 1977. It was an evening of poetry, prose and music entitled "Kenneth More Requests the Pleasure of Your Company". Appearing with him were Vivyan Ellacott, Roderick Elms , Edna Graham. Barbara Hills and Eleanor Thomas. An appearance scheduled for February 1979 in a program called "Kenneth More and Friends" had to be canceled at the last moment as he was too ill to appear. The Kenneth More Theatre is also home to the annual "Kenny Awards" centered on the 90 or so productions staged each year at the theatre. Voting for the awards is through a panel of independent reviewers and theatre audiences.
He was awarded the CBE in the 1970 Queens New Year Honours List for his services to drama.
Made his first appearance on the stage at the Windmill Theatre in August 1935, in a revue sketch. He returned to the stage, following his "demob" from the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, in November 1946 at the Aldwych.
Son of Charles Gilbert More and his wife Edith Winifred (nee Watkins). His mother, the daughter of a Cardiff solicitor, was known affectionately as "Topsy". His sister Kate was 18 months his senior.
Read the address at the memorial service for Jack Hawkins on 14 September 1973 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London.
Wrote a letter of support for Alexander Walker when he applied for the post of London Evening Standard Film Critic in 1960. More had apparently been delighted by one of Walkers reviews while he was writing for the Birmingham Post. Walker remained with the Standard for the next 43 years and was Critic of the Year in the British Press Awards (1970, 1974 and 1998) as well as writing 20 books on cinema.
Despite the fact that his film career had stalled by 1962, he played the lead in Some People for nothing, apart from expenses. The proceeds of the film were in aid of the Duke of Edinburghs Award Scheme and the National Playing Fields Association.
Was a well known member of "The Garrick Club" in London and once claimed that if he only had enough money left in the world to pay the club subscription and nothing else, he would pay it.
Was sued unsuccessfully by singer Dorothy Squires (aka Mrs Roger Moore ) for defamation of character in 1969 when he mistakenly referred to another woman as Roger Moores wife. More had been introducing guests prior to the British Film Academy Awards at the Hilton Hotel, London for a TV film documenting the event. The other woman was in fact Luisa Mattioli , who had lived with Moore for several years after he had separated from Squires. Representing More was Michael Havers , one of the UKs most eminent barristers. The jury took just 30 minutes to decide that no defamation had taken place.
In 1957 he presented his old school, Victoria College, with an oil painting of King Charles I, which hangs prominently in College Hall. Equally lasting a legacy was his institution in 1962 of the annual Kenneth More Prize for Drama.
He was granted one of show business highest accolades on 7 October 1975 when he was guest of honor at a special Variety Club of Great Britain luncheon. The event, held at the Savoy Hotel in the company of most of Britains top showbiz personalities, was organized to celebrate his 40 years in the profession. Joining More and his wife Angela Douglas was Douglas Bader , the Royal Air Force fighter ace whom More portrayed in Reach for the Sky .
Despite being reluctant to become involved in making TV commercials, he eventually endorsed "Birds Coffee" in the UK. Having been paid what he considered to be "an awful lot of money for half a days work" he asked why the offer was made to him. The answer came back that 14 names went into a computer in America--measured against all the qualities of a typical Englishman, the qualities that would make the average housewife believe that this was someone whose word could be relied on, and his name came out of the computer.
Like many stars of the 1950s, More had a regular stand-in--Jack Manderville , who was also a personal friend.
Was considered as a replacement for Bernard Lee as "M" in the James Bond films when Lee fell ill during production of Live and Let Die . More died a year after Lee.
In 1972 he took part in a protest at the House of Commons against the proposed introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) into the United Kingdom. Among the other actors and actresses taking part were Charles Vance and Evelyn Laye. Despite the protest VAT was introduced into the UK on 1 April 1973, as a direct consequence of entry into the European Common Market.
Appeared in two movies based on real tragedies involving the sinking of famous ships: A Night to Remember and Sink the Bismarck! . Another connection to the films is the fact that famous sea explorer and diver Robert Ballard was the first person to ever find the wreckage of both ships.
Decended from Sir Thomas More.
Had a role in The Collector but it was deleted at the editing stage.
[about the long relationship he had with his agent Harry Dubens] We,never had a contract or written agreement. We did not even have an,exchange of letters between us, only what lawyers like to call "mutual,trust", and the feeling that we could work together and achieve,something worthwhile together.
[6/16/73, in The Times] Actors are as old as they appear to the public.
