Dall. Warner Bros. offered him a contract but he would only take it if he could have time off to do a play. (Warners also signed Prince.) The Corn Is Green Dall made his film debut in The Corn Is Green (1945), under the direction of Irving Rapper. Richard Waring was originally slated to play the role, but had been called into the army. The film was shot in the middle of 1944. Warners were impressed with the rushes and signed Dall to a new contract. Dear Ruth Dall returned to the stage to play the lead in Norman Krasna's Dear Ruth (1944), under the direction of Moss Hart. It was a huge success. The New York Times said Dall gives "a graceful and easy performance". Even before The Corn Is Green was released Warners announced Dall was one of six contractees they intended to build into a star (the others were Lauren Bacall, Dane Clark, Faye Emerson, Robert Hutton and William Prince.)|author=After The Corn Is Green was released, Dall received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He was called one of the "hottest finds" in Hollywood, and Warners tried to find a film for him and co-star Joan Lorring. The film rights to Dear Ruth were sold to Paramount who cast William Holden in the part originated by Dall. Warners brought the screen rights to John Patrick's play The Hasty Heart and announced Dall would play the role originated by Richard Basehart. Warners gave Dall three months leave to perform The Hasty Heart (1945) on stage on the road. However the film was not made for several more years by which time Richard Todd had been cast in the role. In May 1946, Warners released Dall from his contract. He only made one film for the studio. Universal Paramount announced they were interested in signing Dall and Edward G. Robinson for a role in an adaptation of The Wayfarers. In May 1946 he signed a seven-year deal with David O. Selznick's Vanguard Films. Dall performed Hasty Heart in summer stock. Dall wound up making no films for Selznick. Instead he went over to Universal, where he signed a contract. He played Deanna Durbin's love interest in Something in the Wind (1947); the Los Angeles Times described him as "ill at ease". He was in Another Part of the Forest (1948), based on the play by Lillian Hellman. Rope