in Angels One Five (1951), a war film. He was promoted to leading man for The Brave Don't Cry (1952), about a mining disaster. Gregson had the second lead in Rank's Venetian Bird and supported in The Holly and the Ivy (both 1952). He also had a leading role in another Ealing comedy, The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953). Stardom Gregson became a star when cast in the comedy Genevieve (1953), also starring Kenneth More, Dinah Sheridan and Kay Kendall. It was the second-most popular film of the year in Britain. He was second-billed to Glynis Johns in a prison drama, The Weak and the Wicked (1954), another hit, and played the lead in a light drama, Conflict of Wings (1954). He was loaned to Adelphi Films for The Crowded Day (1954). He followed this with To Dorothy a Son (1954), a comedy co-starring Shelley Winters; and Three Cases of Murder (1955), an omnibus film co-starring Orson Welles. Gregson had a big hit with a war film, Above Us the Waves (1956), playing an Australian, in support of John Mills. He did a comedy with Diana Dors, Value for Money, and a drama Jacqueline (both 1956). More successful was another war movie based on a true story, The Battle of the River Plate (1956) in which Gregson played F. S. Bell. This film helped British exhibitors vote him the eighth-biggest British film star in the country for 1956. He followed it with True as a Turtle (1957), a comedy; and Miracle in Soho (1957), a drama. That year he was the fourth-biggest British star. The following year he was eighth, his last year in the top ten; his films included Rooney (1958), a comedy in which he played an Irish sportsman; Sea of Sand (1958), a war film; and The Captain's Table (1959) a comedy. Gregson supported in SOS Pacific and Hand in Hand (both 1960), but was top-billed in Faces in the Dark (1960) and The Frightened City (1961). He had a support role in The Treasure of Monte Cristo (1961) and was one of many names in The Longest Day (1962). Gregson's final film roles of note were Live Now, Pay Later (1962) and Tomorrow at Ten (1962). Later career Gregson's film career faded after ten good years from 1952–1962. He was one of many leading men and women of the 1950s (the others including Kenneth More, Richard Todd, Patrick