Hitchcock did not forget Laurie and cast him in the role of John the Crofter in what would become the actor's breakthrough third film, The 39 Steps in 1935. Laurie had first met Laurence Olivier at the Old Vic and went on to make their first film appearance together in the 1936 adaptation of As You Like It. Laurie went on to appear in Olivier's three Shakespearean films, Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), and Richard III (1955). During the Second World War, Laurie served in the Home Guard, experience that would be useful for later projects. Other roles included Peter Manson in Michael Powell's The Edge of the World (1937), Clive Candy's batman in Powell and Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), a gardener in Medal for the General (1944), the farmer recruit in The Way Ahead (1944), and the brothel proprietor in Fanny by Gaslight (1944). In the film I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), another Powell and Pressburger production, Laurie had a small speaking part in a céilidh sequence for which he was also credited as an adviser. In the next decade, he played the psychiatrist Dr. James Garsten in Mine Own Executioner (1947), the repugnant Pew in Disney's Treasure Island (1950), Angus in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), and Dr. MacFarlane in Hobson's Choice (1954). In 1954, Laurie joined the Edinburgh Gateway Company to play the leading role in Robert Kemp's The Laird o' Grippy, a translation into Scots of Molière's L'avare. Laurie's role as Private Frazer, the gaunt-faced, intense, pessimistic undertaker, and British Home Guard soldier in the sitcom Dad's Army (1968–1977) remains his best known TV role. Dad’s Army co-star Frank Williams noted in his autobiography that Laurie had ‘a sort of love-hate relationship with the show’, as despite earning him a lot a money he felt that a sitcom was beneath him. Laurie had also gained a reputation on set for being somewhat of a pessimist; Graham McCann said in his book Dad’s Army: The Story of a Very British Comedy, said: “John Laurie was cantankerous, he was rather mischievous, he was someone who enjoyed playing a kind of a professional pessimist.” He featured in many British series of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s including Tales of Mystery, Doctor Finlay's Casebook, and The Avengers. Laurie starred as Mad Peter in the Hammer film The Reptile (1966), and later appeared in