Except for This Sporting Life, in which he was absolutely terrific, he was a dreadful ham actor, I guess no one ever had enough nerve to sit on him and tell him to underplay, and stop the mannered behaviour. He really needed a tough director, and never seems to have got one. He was one of those actors who was wasted by his own behaviour, and the luck of the film draw. I was amused to read about him dissing Michael Caine -- he should have been so lucky.

yours, Peter T.