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Keir's comments on Baker & not getting along with him come from a con interview in Manchester near the end of Keir's life. He certainly had all his faculties and was very well-spoken on the videotape I have of the event, but he had had a heart attack or two by then, and often that does peculiar things to the memory.

Keir told the fan audience that director Roy Ward Baker made it clear up front that he'd wanted actor Kenneth More , who had starred in Baker's A NIGHT TO REMEMBER in '58. Naturally, this put Keir on edge and he had a miserable time throughout the shoot -- "It was hell," he said to the crowd, which moaned. His comments about Barbara Shelley's performance being "uneven" also come from this con appearance.

Roy Baker could be blunt and ascerbic, but he was not an idiot when it came to actors' psychology; hey, c'mon, he worked successfully with Bette Davis and Marilyn Monroe, he knew a thing or two about human behavior. I never thought he would deliberately do anything of the kind. Privately, and then later when we did the commentary for laser & dvd, I asked Baker if Kenneth More had ever been considered. Baker said what I felt, which is: first, that he wasn't aware More's name had ever even been mooted; second, that Kenny More would've been totally wrong for the part; he'd be good in the James Donald role, but that he wasn't right for Quatermass. And in any case, Baker probably had little to say about the casting. (Apparently Peter Cushing was considered at one point, and he did drop by the set while they were shooting. That would've been neat.)

I've never seen any references in books or the trades that Kenneth More was announced as Quatermass. Doesn't mean that Baker didn't say something cutting or unkind-- or that perhaps he said something that Keir misinterpreted ("Oh, nicely done, Andrew, don't worry about it, we'll take it again. Or maybe you'd like me to get Kenny More to take over for you, hmm?" Who knows.)

I don't agree with Keir's assessment of Barbara Shelley's performance, which I certainly don't see as "uneven." I think it's well-modulated, subtle, and perfectly in line with the rest of the cast.
For what it's worth, with due respect to both artists.

PS-- In the first two films, Donlevy pronouces his character name "QWAY-ter-muss," though other characters say "-- mass," with an almost equal inflection on the first and last syllable.