Leo McKern with Australian actress Jane Holland, McKern moved to the United Kingdom to be with her; they married in 1946. He soon became a regular performer at London's Old Vic theatre and the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (now the Royal Shakespeare Theatre) in Stratford-upon-Avon, despite the difficulties posed by his glass eye and Australian accent. McKern's most notable Shakespearean role was as Iago in "Othello", in 1952. In 1955 he appeared in "The Burnt Flower Bed" by Ugo Betti directed by Peter Hall at the Arts Theatre Club in London. He played Big Daddy in Peter Hall's production of "Cat on a
Leo McKern and Disson in Harold Pinter's "Tea Party". He appeared at the Royal Exchange, Manchester in "Uncle Vanya" in 1977 and in "Crime and Punishment" in 1978. McKern's film debut was in "Murder in the Cathedral" (1952). His other more notable film appearances included the science-fiction classics "X the Unknown" (1956), "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" (1961), the World War I drama "King and Country" (1964), "Help!" (1965), the Academy Award-winning adaptation of "A Man for All Seasons" (1966), "The Shoes of the Fisherman" (1968), "Ryan's Daughter" (1970), "Massacre in Rome" (1973), "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother" (1975),