Lived near Manor House in London during the war and would often do concerts with his sister Joyce in shelters of underground stations.
Of Russian Jewish ancestry, in Britain from the age of two. His father, Myer Ogus, a barber, had emigrated from Russia to Canada to start a new life and his wife, Debora "Della" Greenbaum, joined him shortly afterwards.
Attended the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford in 1944 and, two years later, joined a touring company called the Savoy Players.