Star Archive


Stewart Granger (1913 - 1993)

If there had been a competition in the mid-forties to choose the smuggest man in British cinema, then Stewart Granger would have won hands down; but then he was good-looking, charming, successful and refreshingly free of the false modesty assumed by most of his contemporaries.

James Stewart was born in London and drifted into acting after having given up a medical degree, changing his name along the way. He's one of the few star actors who actually started out as an extra, though he trained at Webber-Douglas. He was climbing up the cast lists of various theatre productions when the war started. His big break came – if you can call it that – when he was invalided out of the army. There was a shortage of good-looking men with a valid excuse for not fighting Hitler so he was in demand.

The Man in Grey was the film that really brought him into the public eye. Its huge success kick-started the Gainsborough melodrama cycle and typed him as the handsome hero through the many that followed. Despite this success, he wasn't happy. He hated the films, and the best roles in them went to James Mason.

As Mason prepared to depart for Hollywood, the standard of Granger's films improved. By the end of the decade, Granger too was on his way to Hollywood with his bride-to-be Jean Simmons (his first wife was actress Elspeth March).

His first Hollywood film, the remake of King Solomon's Mines, was a big hit and for the rest of the decade he was a feature of many of MGM's epic adventures. He still wasn't happy though, particularly since Simmons was getting the pick of the "proper" acting jobs. The marriage was over by the start of the 60s and so was his MGM contract.

The rest of his film career was spent freelancing in trashy co-productions. When these dried up he took to TV movies. He continued to find work right up to his death, in Santa Monica.

Still from Madonna of the Seven MoonsStewart Granger on the set of Saraband for Dead LoversPressbook for Woman HaterStill featuring Stewart Granger in Harry Black

Filmography

1933 A Southern Maid
1934 Over the Garden Wall
1934 Give Her a Ring
1937 Mademoiselle Docteur
1937 So This is London
1940 Convoy
1942 Secret Mission
1943 Thursday's Child
1943 The Lamp Still Burns
1943 The Man in Grey
1944 Fanny by Gaslight
1944 Love Story
1944 Madonna of the Seven Moons
1945 Waterloo Road
1946 Caravan
1946 Caesar and Cleopatra
1946 The Magic Bow
1947 Captain Boycott
1948 Blanche Fury
1948 Saraband for Dead Lovers
1948 Woman Hater
1948 Adam and Evelyne
1950 King Soloman's Mines (US)
1951 The Light Touch (US)
1951 Soldiers Three (US)
1952 The Wild North (US)
1952 Scaramouche (US)
1952 The Prisoner of Zenda (US)
1953 Young Bess (US)
1953 Salome (US)
1954 All the Brothers Were Valiant (US)
1954 Beau Brummell (US)
1955 Green Fire (US)
1955 Moonfleet (US)
1955 Footsteps in the Fog
1956 Bhowani Junction (US)
1956 The Last Hunt (US)
1957 The Whole Truth
1958 Harry Black
1960 North to Alaska (US)
1961 The Secret Partner
1961 The Swordsman of Siena (It.)
1962 Commando (It.)
1962 La Congiura Dei Dieci
1962 Sodom and Gomorrah (It.)
1963 The Shortest Day
1963 The Legion's Lost Patrol (It.)
1964 The Crooked Road (Yugo.)
1964 Frontier Hellcat
1964 The Secret Invasion (Yugo.)
1965 Rampage at Apache Wells (Ger.)
1965 Old Shatterhand (Ger.)
1966 Red Dragon (Ger.)
1966 Target for Killing (Ger.)
1966 Requiem for a Secret Agent (It.)
1967 The Trygon Factor
1967 The Last Safari
1978 The Wild Geese
1978 Hell Hunters

 Stewart Granger at Amazon UK

 Stewart Granger at Amazon US