serial in the series, Quatermass and the Pit, although on this occasion another actor – Alec Clunes – had already turned them down. This time Morell accepted the part, and is regarded by several critics as having provided the definitive interpretation of the character. Morell personally found that in later years it was the role for which he was most often remembered by members of the public. As well as these and other television appearances, Morell gained several notable film roles towards the end of the 1950s. He appeared in two films which won the Academy Award for Best Picture; The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), as Colonel Green, and Ben-Hur (1959) as Sextus. With Cushing as Sherlock Holmes, he played Arthur Conan Doyle's character Doctor John H. Watson, in Hammer Film Productions' version of The Hound of the Baskervilles (also 1959). Morell was particularly keen that his portrayal of Watson should be closer to that originally depicted in Conan Doyle's stories, and away from the bumbling stereotype established by Nigel Bruce's interpretation of the role. An earlier Hammer film in which Morell appeared was The Camp on Blood Island (1957). In 1960, Morell appeared as Judge Brack in a production of Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler at the Oxford Playhouse. Starring opposite him in the title role was the film actress Joan Greenwood. They fell in love and flew in secret to Jamaica, where they were married, remaining together until his death. Later career Morell continued to appear in Hammer's horror films in the ensuing decade. He had parts in the Shadow of the Cat (1960), She (1964, again with Peter Cushing) and its sequel The Vengeance of She (1967), the lead in The Plague of the Zombies (1965), and The Mummy's Shroud (1966). He also starred with Cushing in Hammer's Cash on Demand, playing the same role he had played opposite Richard Vernon in the original TV play, The Gold Inside, but turned down the opportunity of reprising the title role in Hammer's feature film adaptation of Quatermass and the Pit (1967). Morell continued to act successfully on television throughout the decade, with guest roles in episodes of series such as The Avengers (1963 and 1965), Danger Man (1965), Doctor Who (The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve 1966), The Saint (1965) and in The Caesars (1968) in a prominent role as the Roman emperor Tiberius. In 1969,