Rène Ray

Acting

Rène Ray

Born — Died

1911-09-22 — 1993-08-28

Place of birth

London, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

41 titles

Rène Ray (born Irene Lilian Creese) was a British stage and screen actress of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. She was the third wife of the Earl of Midleton and was also a successful novelist and amateur painter in later life.

Known for

Secret Agent poster
6.1

During World War I, a novelist declared dead is recruited by British intelligence and sent to Switzerland under a new identity to assassinate a German spy. Teamed with a fellow agent posing as his wife and an eccentric assassin known as “the General,” the trio close in on their target — until two of them grow ambivalent when their duty to the mission clashes with their consciences.

Secret Agent

1936

The Good Die Young poster
6.3

An amoral, psychotic playboy incites three men who are down on their luck to commit a mail van robbery, which goes badly wrong.

The Good Die Young

1954

If Winter Comes poster
6.7

The small English town of Penny Green is swarming with scandal when textbook author Mark, unhappily married to the shrewish Mabel, cultivates a friendship with Effie, a young pregnant girl. As the townsfolk theorize that Mark is the baby's father, Effie - already troubled because of her impending motherhood - commits suicide, and circulating rumors lead the authorities to think Mark killed her. The innocent writer must fight to clear his name.

If Winter Comes

1947

The Vicious Circle poster
6.5

When Dr. Howard Latimer finds the German actress whom he had just met at the London Airport murdered in his flat, he is led into a world of murder, blackmail, and a fake passport scam.

The Vicious Circle

1957

They Made Me a Fugitive poster
6.6

After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.

They Made Me a Fugitive

1947

Bank Holiday poster
6.2

A 1930s British summer Bank Holiday starts at midday on Saturday with a rush for the trains to the seaside. Doreen and Milly are off to a beauty contest, Geoffrey and Catherine are having an illicit weekend in the Grand Hotel and May and the kids are set for a more straightforward holiday of sea, sand, and pub. Meanwhile, the manager and performers on the pier are praying for rain.

Bank Holiday

1938

Film credits

1950s · 5 titles

1940s · 4 titles

If Winter Comes poster
6.7

The small English town of Penny Green is swarming with scandal when textbook author Mark, unhappily married to the shrewish Mabel, cultivates a friendship with Effie, a young pregnant girl. As the townsfolk theorize that Mark is the baby's father, Effie - already troubled because of her impending motherhood - commits suicide, and circulating rumors lead the authorities to think Mark killed her. The innocent writer must fight to clear his name.

If Winter Comes

1947

They Made Me a Fugitive poster
6.6

After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.

They Made Me a Fugitive

1947

Old Bill and Son poster
6.6

Old Bill has grumbled his way through the trenches of the First World War. Now it is the Second and, envious of his son, Young Bill, he decides to enlist. He finally enters the Pioneer Corps, which is based near his son. When Young Bill goes missing during a raid, Old Bill shows that there's still life in the old dog yet!

Old Bill and Son

1941

No artwork available
NR

"What a life for a couple of nudes!" Two dancers find a new way of doing their bit for the boys in this frothy wartime propaganda short. Lord Kitchener's famous finger persuades Joan and Ireen, dancers in a 'Non Stop Nudes' revue (not that we see anything that warrants that title), to make a radical career change. Swapping their skimpy costumes for dowdy munitions factory overalls, they join a growing domestic army of women keeping the machines rolling. Belfast-born Brian Desmond Hurst was essentially a feature film director, whose best-remembered work is the Dickens adaptation Scrooge, but whose credits also included the war films Dangerous Moonlight (1941) and The Malta Story (1953). The Call for Arms was one of three propaganda shorts he made between 1940 and 1941, the most memorable being Miss Grant Goes to the Door, in which a pair of village spinsters outwit a Nazi paratrooper.

A Call for Arms!

1940

1930s · 31 titles

Secret Agent poster
6.1

During World War I, a novelist declared dead is recruited by British intelligence and sent to Switzerland under a new identity to assassinate a German spy. Teamed with a fellow agent posing as his wife and an eccentric assassin known as “the General,” the trio close in on their target — until two of them grow ambivalent when their duty to the mission clashes with their consciences.

Secret Agent

1936

Bank Holiday poster
6.2

A 1930s British summer Bank Holiday starts at midday on Saturday with a rush for the trains to the seaside. Doreen and Milly are off to a beauty contest, Geoffrey and Catherine are having an illicit weekend in the Grand Hotel and May and the kids are set for a more straightforward holiday of sea, sand, and pub. Meanwhile, the manager and performers on the pier are praying for rain.

Bank Holiday

1938

The Passing of the Third Floor Back poster
7.8

The tenants of an old London boarding house spend their time in petty bickering and sniping until a mysterious stranger arrives at their door.

The Passing of the Third Floor Back

1935

Housemaster poster
7.5

Three girls arrive at a stuffy English public school and cause all sorts of problems with both the staff and pupils.

Housemaster

1938

The Return of the Frog poster
6.2

The film concerns a police hunt for the criminal known as The Frog.

The Return of the Frog

1938

Tiger Bay poster
6.6

Michael is a young Englishman abroad who deliberately visits a tough Chinese district of Tiger Bay to test his strength. He falls in love and battles a protection racket.

Tiger Bay

1934

The Rat poster
8.1

Jean Boucheron the cat burglar is the darling of the Montmartre whores--and catches the eye of slumming socialite Zelia de Chaumont, who decides to "reform" him. A complication is his lovely young ward Odile... murder and a grand courtoom scene ensue.

The Rat

1937

Farewell Again poster
6.5

Farewell Again is a multiplotted British comedy/drama about soldiers on leave and the people they've left. Given a six-hour pass after a tour of duty in India, several British Tommies (among them Robert Newton, Sebastian Shaw and Anthony Bushell) try to unravel their domestic tribulations before having to ship out again. American expatriate Tim Whelan was the directorial hand who kept the various plot threads from entangling, while another Hollywood vet, James Wong Howe, manned the cameras. The film became instantly dated with the advent of World War II, but in its own time Farewell Again was a box-office smash. The film was issued in the US as Troopship.

Farewell Again

1937

Young Woodley poster
9.0

A schoolboy falls in love with his teacher's young wife.

Young Woodley

1930

Tonight's the Night - Pass It On poster
10.0

Slapstick comedy in which luckless slate club treasurer Bill Smithers is sent to prison for three years after being mistakenly accused of stealing funds.

Tonight's the Night - Pass It On

1931

No artwork available
10.0

During the Edwardian era, a working-class ballet dancer begins a romance with a wealthy artist against a background of sharp disapproval.

Dance Pretty Lady

1931

Two White Arms poster
7.0

A man becomes bored with married life and pretends to have lost his memory so he can pursue other women.

Two White Arms

1932

Once in a New Moon poster
6.9

When a small English town is dragged out into space by the force of a 'dead star' passing Earth, the populace try to organise a local government based on equal rights for all, but conflicts arise between the local aristocracy and the villagers.

Once in a New Moon

1935

Crime Over London poster
7.0

With the police on their tail, a gang of New York criminals decided to relocate to London where they plan a major robbery on a department store.

Crime Over London

1936

The Green Cockatoo poster
5.9

A young girl is travelling to London to find work. Arriving at the station, she meets a man who has been stabbed by a member of a gang of crooks involved with greyhound racing. She becomes a suspect, but flees the scene in order to deliver a message to the dead man's brother. She is protected from the police by a night club entertainer, who she learns is the man she is seeking.

The Green Cockatoo

1937

When London Sleeps poster
7.0

Slippery Rodney Haines runs a high-class gambling joint in Hampstead, while elsewhere in London Lamberti's Fair for the less-well-off is on its last legs. The only link between them seems to be Tommy Blyth, whose betting has put him in serious debt with Haines and who fancies Mary, the Lamberti's adopted daughter. In fact, there is a further unexpected link between the two worlds.

When London Sleeps

1932

No artwork available
7.0

A British musical film directed by Victor Hanbury

Beloved Impostor

1936

The King's Cup poster
9.0

'Romance set around the famous air race in which a girl helps a nervous pilot to victory.' (British Film Institute)

The King's Cup

1933

Born Lucky poster
7.0

A humble girl's rise to fame.

Born Lucky

1933

No artwork available
6.7

Lucy and her brother are struggling to make a go of their Soho pet shop, until Lucy meets Tom, a street singer.

Street Song

1935

No artwork available
10.0

An impoverished duchess arranges a marriage for her daughter to a wealthy working-class London barber.

Rolling in Money

1934

No artwork available
9.0

Romantic comedy of misunderstandings.

Weddings Are Wonderful

1938

No artwork available
9.0

Tommy Deacon learns that a gift bequeathed by his aunt is hidden in her house inside a bust of Napoleon. However, the house has been sold, and is now a girls school and to gain admission Tommy has to pose as the elder brother of Anne, one of the pupils. His arrival in the school results in a variety of escapades, but Tommy resolutely persists in his search for the missing legacy...

Please Teacher

1937

His Lordship poster
6.0

A complicated adventure involving twin brothers and the Foreign Office trying to thwart the ambitions of a hostile sheikh.

His Lordship

1936

No artwork available
9.0

'Man borrows service flat to impress girl's parents.' (British Film Catalogue)

Here's George

1932

No artwork available
10.0

'Colonel thinks he has killed superior while hunting ghost.' (British Film Catalogue)

Excess Baggage

1933

No artwork available
10.0

The arrival of Mr. Knox, the new sports instructor at a British public school, heralds trouble. He imposes his dominant personality to influence colleagues and the headmaster alike, and then attempts to force himself on Millicent, the assistant matron.

Keepers of Youth

1931

Jennifer Hale poster
6.0

Quota quickie with Rene Ray as Jennifer Hale, a chorus girl wanted for questioning in the murder of a theatrical producer. Fleeing to Manchester she becomes a taxi dancer under an assumed name, meets architect Ballard Berkley who falls in love with her.

Jennifer Hale

1937

No artwork available
10.0

A Cambridge student takes the blame for his gambling brother.

Varsity

1930

No artwork available
NR

'Couple fall in love as seasons change through year.' (British Film Catalogue)

The Changing Year

1933

No artwork available
NR

Don't come home with the clap. John Smith does, and infects his unsuspecting wife with gonorrhea. Then their baby is born with it, leading to tragedy.

John Smith & Son

1932