Stardom
Steel's roles up until then had been essentially bit parts. His first big break was being cast as one of three British POWs who escape from a camp in The Wooden Horse (1950). This film, based on a true story, was the third most popular film at the British box office in 1950 and established Steel as a leading man. Director Jack Lee said that the actor "was fine to work with, just a physical type, a young chap who could do certain things, though he didn't have much acting to do in this." He was paid £15 a week. "[Co star] Leo Genn was getting thousands," Steel recalled. "It made me pretty mad."
Steel was cast as the romantic male lead in The Mudlark (1950), a Hollywood film starring Irene Dunne being shot in London. He had a small part in the comedy Laughter in Paradise (1951) then supported another Hollywood name, Bette Davis in the thriller, Another Man's Poison (1951). He did a play Turn to Page Two (1950).
Steel's next big break was being cast as a game park warden inspired by Mervyn Cowie in Where No Vultures Fly (1951), shot mostly on location in Kenya. This was the most popular British movie of the year and the Royal Command Performance Film for 1951, confirming Steel's status as a genuine box office draw. In 1952 British exhibitors voted him the fourth most popular British star and he was seen as the successor to Stewart Granger. One profile argued that:
Audiences appreciated his lack of "brood" and neurosis; he seemed fresh-faced and decent: the ideal uncomplicated boyfriend/junior lieutenant/game warden. In addition, at a time when many British leading men seemed "indoorsy" (i.e. wimps), Steel was a physically active type. He didn't come across too sleazy on screen, either... he could seem romantically interested in women but not lecherous about it.
He co-starred with Jack Warner in a thriller directed by Lewis Gilbert, Emergency Call (1952). Rank tried Steel in a comedy, Something Money Can't Buy (1952), with Patricia Roc but the public response was not enthusiastic. They put him back in uniform in The Planter's Wife (1952), set during the Malayan Emergency. It was the sixth most popular film of 1952 in Britain, although Steel's part was a relatively minor one in support of Jack Hawkins and Claudette Colbert.
He again supported two stars in a military story when he appeared in Malta Story (1953), with Hawkins and Alec Guinness. It was the fourth most popular film of the year in Britain in 1953. Hollywood called, in the form of Warner Bros. who cast him in support of Errol Flynn in the British-shot swashbuckler The Master of Ballantrae (1953); it was a minor success.
Also moderately popular was Albert R.N. (1952), reuniting Steel with Jack Warner and Lewis Gilbert in another World War II POW film. He starred in a sequel to Where No Vultures Fly, West of Zanzibar (1954). It was not as successful as the first movie although Steel had an unexpected hit record when he recorded a version of the title track.
The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954) was another war film from Gilbert, co-starring Dirk Bogarde and Michael Redgrave. Out of the Clouds (1955) was an ensemble movie set at London airport, not as well received as Steel's war movies.
In 1954 Steel and Dirk Bogarde were the highest paid actors with the Rank Organisation with a reported salary of £15,000 a film. Still, he was not happy with his roles. "In America, they build their male stars by starring them opposite exciting women," he said. "What do they give me? Elephants, crocodiles and giraffes." However, in Passage Home he was cast opposite Diane Cilento. "At last I can prove that I have blood in my veins and can make love to a woman," said Steel. "You know how the public identify themselves with the stars. Well, they think that an actor who gets the girl all the time – especially if she is very glamorous – must really have something." Michael Craig appeared in Passage Home and recalled Steel "treated everyone with casual arrogance" on the set. Cilento wrote in her memoirs:
Anthony was not an actor in any sense of the word. He was an ex-army hunk who used to roll his sleeves up to his armpits so that his bulging biceps would be even more prominent. He was cleft-chinned and had a loose lock of dark hair curling over his forehead. When he spoke, it was more clenched lower jaw than stiff upper lip and it made everything he said sound intimate and urgent.
Steel was given the starring part in Storm Over the Nile (1956), an almost shot-for-shot remake of The Four Feathers (1939) but a solid hit in Britain. The Black Tent (1956) was another war movie, set in Northern Africa during World War II. Checkpoint (1956) was a change of pace, a racing-car thriller partly shot in Italy for director Ralph Thomas.
