PAUL WELSH looks at the careers of two international stars who had humble beginnings at Elstree Studios.

This week we look back at two screen stars who began their careers within a decade of each other, under contract to Elstree Studios, more than 50 years ago.

Laurence Harvey was born in Lithuania with the less pronouncable name of Hirshke Skikne in 1928.

Twenty years later he got a contract at ABPC Elstree Studios and appeared in their first post-war feature, Man on The Run, followed by a small bit in The Dancing Years.

He walked out on the contract, unhappy with the pay, although he declared: "I prefer to live beyond my means which is always more fun."

Laurence had a rather aloof personality and was not an actor you warmed to, but he continued to enjoy starring roles.

He declined a part in Knights of The Round Table at MGM but returned to Elstree to star in The Silent Enemy in 1958.

He then hit the big time with the classic British films Room at The Top and Expresso Bongo which alerted Hollywood to his potential box office appeal.

In tinseltown, he got starring roles in Butterfield 8 opposite Elizabeth Taylor and supporting John Wayne in the epic Alamo.

Laurence returned to Elstree for The Long, The Short and The Tall, with Richard Todd, who told me: "I found him a very unprofessional actor and it was difficult to work with him. He started to lead a young Richard Harris astray and in the end I had to give them both a dressing down. It was not a happy film."

The Manchurian Candidate and Darling with Julie Christie were popular 1960s hits, but his career went into decline. Laurence embraced the era's drug culture and his style of rigid acting was going out of favour.

He returned for a final time to Elstree with Elizabeth Taylor to make Night Watch in 1972, but it was not a box office success.

Laurence died at an early age from stomach cancer in 1973.

His 35-year-old daughter died from a drug overdose in 2005.

In 1958, Elstree Studios signed the young Richard Harris to make his screen debut in a comedy called Alive and Kicking, now long-forgotten.

He was a hit with the public and within a few years was starring in hits such as This Sporting Life, The Guns of Navarone and Mutiny on The Bounty.

Richard's greatest screen and stage success was, of course, Camelot, a big hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

Throughout this period, Richard was tagged as a hell-raiser and was an alcoholic, often enjoying drinking sessions with Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole.

He later said: "I consider a great part of my career to have been a failure. I got caught up in the 1960s and made a lot of films that were a mistake."

Richard could be scathing about his fellow stars, describing John Wayne and Gary Cooper as pantomime cowboys' and Charlton Heston as wooden'.

He said: "I used to turn up at premieres alone and with a bottle of vodka. Nowadays, Tom Cruise turns up with bodyguards all much taller than him and a bottle of mineral water."

During his last years, Richard mainly lived in a suite at the Savoy Hotel and enjoyed renewed stardom with his role as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies.

He said: "I only took the part owing to pressure from my grand-daughter who said she would refuse to speak to me otherwise."

Richard died in 2002 from Hodgkin's Disease and his ashes were scattered at his home in the Bahamas.

Both actors owed the start of their careers to Elstree Studios but went on to taste world fame. It is amazing how many stars began their careers in Borehamwood. Whether they all enjoyed continued fame and happiness is another matter.