A ‘Somewhat Homely’ Stardom: Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray and Refurnishing Domestic Modernity in the Postwar Years

What is it about?

Rachael Low’s History of the British Film suggests that British actors and actresses have not been deemed worthy of the glamorous connotations of star status because they are ‘somewhat homely in comparison with legendary international figures’ (Low, 1971: 263). In the late 1940s, the star image of Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray - a popular husband-and-wife acting duo on stage and screen - was characterised by the ‘homely’: by a vision of their domestic life together as at once aspirational, ordinary and English. However, this paper argues that their stardom can be resituated as a post-war reformulation of modes linking British stars with ideas surrounding domestic modernity in middlebrow culture of the inter-war years. Therefore, Low’s label of homeliness can be re-defined as a key characteristic of the distinction, promotion and reception of popular British stardom in the immediate post-war period.

Featured Image