Born in India to a British military officer, former merchant seaman Michael
Craig was in his teens working at Oxford Playhouse when he entered films in
1949 as an extra. Briefly under contract to Ealing Studios, Craig was groomed
for stardom by the Rank Organisation as a replacement for Dirk Bogarde, he began
receiving speaking parts in 1954.
A tall and handsome leading man in such films as House
of Secrets (1956), Upstairs and Downstairs (1959) and Mysterious
Island (1961), Craig was required to do little more beyond looking handsome
and dependable. Craig grew dissatisfied with the boundaries in which
Rank confined him, though he played with easy authority. Mercifully,
more rewarding film roles of substance followed in social drama’s
including Guy Green’s The
Angry Silence (1960), and two Basil Dearden’s films; Sapphire
(1959) and Life
for Ruth (1962). He has lived in Australia since the early 1970s
and acted there on stage, screen and television.
