a French farce, Court in the Act (Old Vic, 1987); and Shaw's You Never Can Tell, (Haymarket, 1987). 1990s In 1990 and 1991, Denison and Gray toured with Frank Thornton in Hugh Whitemore's The Best of Friends, depicting the friendship between the antiquarian Sydney Cockerell (Denison), the nun Laurentia McLachlan (Gray) and the playwright Bernard Shaw (Thornton). Later in 1991 Denison and Grey toured in The Importance of Being Earnest; she played Miss Prism and he doubled the roles of Lane and Dr Chasuble. They again appeared together in a tour of Bedroom Farce in 1992, and in the same year began a long association with Peter Hall's production of An Ideal Husband, this time in the roles of Lord Caversham and Lady Markby. It opened at the Globe in 1992, toured in 1993, returned to the West End at the Haymarket and played on Broadway in 1996 (their New York débuts), and once back in London played at the Haymarket and finally the Gielgud Theatre in 1997. His stage commitments left little scope for cinema work, but in 1993 Denison appeared in his last film, Richard Attenborough's Shadowlands. At the Chichester Festival in 1994 he and Gray played Colonel Pickering and Mrs Higgins in Pygmalion and Admiral and Mrs Rankling in Pinero's The Schoolmistress. The Stage said of the former: Denison's final stage tour was with Gray and Eric Sykes in Two of a Kind, a comedy by Hugh Janes, set in a retirement home. His last appearances on stage were with his wife in March and April 1998 in Curtain Up – An Evening with Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray at the Jermyn Street Theatre. After a short illness, Denison died of liver cancer at his and Gray's home at Shardeloes, near Amersham on 22 July 1998, aged 82. Writings Together with Gray, Denison wrote The Actor and His World (1964). He published two volumes of memoirs, covering both his own and his wife's life and career: Overture and Beginners (1973) and Double Act (1985). For the Dictionary of National Biography he contributed biographies of Sir Noël Coward and Sir Peter Daubeny (1983), Peter Bridge (1987) and Glen Byam Shaw (1994). At the time of his death he was working on a biography of J. B. Priestley, which his widow completed. It was published in 2000. Offices and honours For many years Denison was a leading figure in