Young Idea, Shaw's Arms and the Man, Priestley's Dangerous Corner and Gerald Savory's George and Margaret. In March 1940 Denison and Gray joined the H. M. Tennent Players, appearing in repertory in Edinburgh and Glasgow. 1940s In June 1940 Denison was called up for military service in the Second World War. Gray joined a repertory company in Harrogate, appearing alongside Trevor Howard and Terence Alexander. She began broadcasting for the BBC in 1941, making 395 broadcasts in the radio soap opera Front Line Family. Her first London appearances were at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in 1942, playing Maria in Twelfth Night, Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew and Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream. At the Piccadilly Theatre later in the year she appeared as Alexandra in The Little Foxes alongside Fay Compton and Richard Attenborough. Also in 1942 she made her first film appearance in an uncredited bit part in Banana Ridge. Her performance as Rose in the original stage adaptation of Brighton Rock at the Garrick Theatre in 1944 gave her co-star billing with Attenborough and Hermione Baddeley. The critic of the Sunday Pictorial, having praised Attenborough's performance as the vicious Pinkie, wrote, "But I hadn't reckoned on an even more amazing youngster, Dulcie Gray. Dulcie's performance as the waitress whom he marries was the loveliest, most moving thing I've seen in years". The reviewer in Punch considered that it was her "skilful and moving performance" that held the piece together. Her success in the role led to a contract with Gainsborough Pictures, for whom she made five films before the end of the war in 1945 and with them, and later other studios, she became established as a star. Among the films in which she made her name were Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945), Wanted for Murder (1946) and A Man About the House (1947). After Denison was demobilised in 1946 Gray used her influence with the film studios to help him relaunch his acting career, and they co-starred in the 1947 film My Brother Jonathan. They co-starred again in The Glass Mountain in 1948. When the stage version of Brighton Rock was adapted for a 1948 film, Gray was considered too old, at 32, to play the 15-year-old Rose on screen, and the part went to a younger actress. During 1948 Gray and Denison made their first West End appearance together, in