At the start of the 1960s Helpmann worked mostly in non-ballet theatre, forgoing the opportunity to create the role of the Widow Simone in Ashton's "La fille mal gardée" in favour of directing Vivien Leigh and Mary Ure in Jean Giraudoux's play "Duel of Angels" on Broadway. In 1962 he performed again for Australian audiences in another Old Vic company, this time headed by Vivien Leigh, which appeared in the Far East, South America and Australia. In 1963 he choreographed his sixth work for The Royal Ballet, the short-lived and critically damned "Elektra", with music by Malcolm Arnold and featuring Nadia Nerina, David Blair, Monica Mason and Derek Rencher. He also supervised a new production of "Swan Lake" for the company, with important new choreographic contributions from Ashton. In the same year he played Prince Tuan in the film "55 Days at Peking".