In 1927, Robert proposed to Ella Annesley Voysey, a young actress he met whilst in rep, and two years later the couple married.
Robert and Ella spent a year together at the Festival Theatre in Cambridge, under Tyrone Guthrie. By this time, Robert was taking leading roles and also tried directing for the first time. His career was progressing and he was keen to make the move to the London stage, so he and Ella took a small flat in Seven Dials and Robert began a rather disspiriting period of trying to win roles. Eventually, a breakthrough came and he made his mark as Gideon Sarn in Precious Bane in 1931, followed by more success at that year’s Malvern Festival.......
By now, Robert and Ella had three children: Joanna, John and Brian. Robert saw very little of them during their childhoods, being so often away on stage or filming, but the children got to know their father well as young adults.....
In the meantime, Ella and the children had moved to America for the duration of the war. Ella had always been very understanding of Robert’s romantic dalliances with his leading ladies, accepting it as an inevitable consequence of being an actor. However, they had grown apart. When Ella and the children returned to England, it was clear the marriage was at an end, and in 1946 she and Robert divorced.