On the heel of these two successes, McCowen found time to act in the films of two directing giants, George Cukor's "Travels with My Aunt" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Frenzy" (both 1972). That same year, he directed a London stage production of "While the Sun Shines" before playing opposite Diana Rigg in Tony Harrison's inspired reworking of Moliere's "The Misanthrope" (1973), repeating his performance on Broadway in 1975. 1977 found him back on Broadway as Martin Dysart in "Equus", and the following year, he directed and starred for the first time in his adaptation of "St. Mark's Gospel", a show he also brought to New York in 1978, 1981 and 1990. He delivered one of the nicest touches in "Never Say Never Again" (1983) as Q, 007's favorite armaments specialist who complains of insufficient funding and whose factory looks like a second-rate autobody shop. Among his later films, McCowen appeared in Terry Jones' "Personal Services" (1987), Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V" (1989) and Martin Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence" (1993).