Alec Guinness: Difference between revisions

Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (April 2, 1914 - August 5, 2000) was a British actor who became one of the most versatile and best loved performers of his generation.

Born in London, he first worked in advertising before making his debut at the Old Vic in 1936. During World War II he served in the Royal Navy.

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He was initially mainly associated with the Ealing comedies, and particularly for playing 12 different characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets. Other films from this period included The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers, and The Man in the White Suit.

Guinness was also a talented dramatic and character actor. His film appearances ranged from Lawrence of Arabia to The Bridge on the River Kwai, for which he won an Academy Award as best actor in 1957. He also received an Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievements in 1980. His part as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars brought him worldwide recognition by a new generation (and reputedly lots of money), though he was never happy with being identified with the part. He would throw out any fan mail regarding Star Wars without reading it.

From the 1970s onwards, Guinness made regular television appearances, including the part of George Smiley in the serialisations of two novels by John le Carré: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People. One of his last appearances was in the acclaimed BBC drama, Eskimo Day.

Sir Alec Guinness died of liver cancer on August 5, 2000, at Midhurst in West Sussex, and was interred near Petersfield, Hampshire, England.

He was appointed CBE in 1955, was knighted in 1959, and became a Companion of Honour in 1994. He has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1559 Vine Street.

Guinness wrote three volumes of bestselling autobiography, beginning with Blessings in Disguise in 1985, followed by My Name Escapes Me in 1996 and A Positively Final Appearance in 1999.

Filmography, as actor, includes

• Mute Witness (1994)
• A Foreign Field (1993)
• Kafka (1991)
• Little Dorrit (1988)
• A Handful of Dust (1988)
• A Passage to India (1984)
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Lovesick (1983)
• Raise the Titanic (1980)
• Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
• Murder by Death (1976)
• Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973)
• Fratello sole, sorella luna (1972)
• Scrooge (1970)
• Cromwell (1970)
• The Comedians (1967)
• The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
• Hotel Paradiso (1966)
• Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious (1965)
• Doctor Zhivago (1965)
• The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• H.M.S. Defiant (1962)
• A Majority of One (1961)
• Tunes of Glory (1960)
• Our Man in Havana (1959)
• The Scapegoat (1959)
• The Horse's Mouth (1958)
• Barnacle Bill (1957)
• The Bridge on the River Kwai(1957)
• The Swan (1956)
• Rowlandson's England (1955)
• The Ladykillers (1955)
• The Prisoner (1955)
• To Paris with Love (1955)
• The Stratford Adventure (1954)
• Father Brown (1954)
• The Malta Story (1953)
• The Square Mile (1953) (voice)
• The Captain's Paradise (1953)
• The Card (1952)
• The Man in the White Suit (1951)
• The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
• The Mudlark (1950)
• Last Holiday (1950)
• A Run for Your Money (1949)
• Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
• Oliver Twist (1948)
• Great Expectations (1946)

External link

• IMDb filmography