Hawkins became a star with the release of three successful films in which he played stern but sympathetic authority figures: "Angels One Five" (1951), as an RAF officer during the war; "The Planter's Wife" (1952), as a rubber planter combating communists in the Malayan Emergency (with Claudette Colbert); and "Mandy" (1952), the headmaster of a school for the deaf. All films ranked among the top ten most popular films at the British box office in 1952 and British exhibitors voted him the fourth most popular British star at the local box office.