Alec guinness age
Guinness was one of the most formidable and versatile actors of the post-war period. Appearing in roles as diverse as Fagan in Oliver Twist, to the greatest Ealing comedies, and to Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, Alec Guinness was much loved for his commanding performances &#; rich in diversity and depth of character.
&#;Essentially, I&#;m a small-part actor who&#;s been lucky enough to play leading roles for most of his life.&#;
&#; Alec Guinness
Alec&#;s childhood was far from happy.
He was born, 2 April ; no father was mentioned on his birth certificate.
Sir alec guinness biography of williams In the British Film Institute listing of of the most important British films of the 20th century, Guinness was single most noted actor, represented across nine films — six in starring roles and three in supporting roles. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools.His mother and stepfather displayed little love or concern and his schooling was nondescript. When Alec reached adulthood, he cut off connections with his mother.
In , with the help of John Gielgud, Alec Guinness was given his first significant stage performance in Hamlet. In this interwar period, he gained a good reputation for performances in various stage plays.
He also married Merula Salaman; they were to be happily married for 60 years &#; a rarity for the showbiz environment. At the outbreak of war, Alec applied to join the navy; after initially failing, he was eventually accepted and ended up leading a landing craft in the Mediterranean theatre of war.
After the war, Alec&#;s big breakthrough came with his role in two David Leon film&#;s &#; Great Expectations and as Fagan in Oliver Twist.
Sir alec guinness biography
Guinness was one of the most formidable and versatile actors of the post-war period. Appearing in roles as diverse as Fagan in Oliver Twist, to the greatest Ealing comedies, and to Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, Alec Guinness was much loved for his commanding performances — rich in diversity and depth of character. He was born, 2 April ; no father was mentioned on his birth certificate. His mother and stepfather displayed little love or concern and his schooling was nondescript. When Alec reached adulthood, he cut off connections with his mother.It was this that made him a star on the big screen and a household name, overshadowing his stage career.
This led Alec Guinness to star in the best of the Ealing comedies during its golden years. His first virtuoso performance was in Kind Hearts and Coronets, where Alec Guinness starred as all eight members of the D&#;Ascoyne family who were killed by Dennis Price.
Though Alec later was somewhat dismissive of the importance of the film, it was widely hailed as a great performance. His marvellous comic touch with a hint of darkness was further explored in other Ealing comedies such as the brilliant &#; Lady Killers, The Lavender Hill Mob and The Man in the White Suit.
Guinness went on to star in some of the most successful films of his generation, including Lawrence of Arabia, Dr Zhivago and A Passage to India.
In , he starred in George Lucas&#; box office smash &#; The Star Wars trilogy. Cast as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Alec Guinness was perfect as the wise and intriguing father figure to Luke Sky Walker. The film made Alec Guinness rich as he gained a 2% royalty from the film revenue. However, he later admitted he disliked the cult status that the film brought him.
David niven biography In his acting, he gave a new life to some of the greatest classics in the English language and also helped to promote new work, not least of all the Star Wars series of films despite his own ambivalence about these. Shy in private, he played roles that dominated the stage and screen. For many, he was also the quintessential English gentlemen, a true knight of the stage. On the other hand, he played a very convincing Godbole, an Indian, in the stage adaptation of E. Forster 's A Passage to India, part of his acclaimed collaboration with David Lean and which skillfully exposed British colonial attitudes towards their subject peoples.He never wished to be typecast and later said that he had got fed up with the character.
&#;What I didn&#;t tell Lucas was that I just couldn&#;t go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I&#;d had enough of the mumbo jumbo.&#;
By the end of the s, Alec had disappeared into virtual retirement.
He had little taste for cameo roles or TV appearances. He valued his privacy and close family life.
&#;Nothing is desperately important and the joy of life is just looking at it.&#;
A Positively Final Appearance (Penguin,
During his career, he had few if any real failures.
His commanding performances were easily remembered &#; his versatility and ability to inject a marvellous sense of both intrigue and a character that jumped up from the screen leaving a lasting impression.
Jack hawkins biography Alec Guinness, born in London on April 2, , endured a troubled childhood marked by the absence of a father and emotional neglect from his mother. This early lack of identity led him to adopt a chameleon-like nature, imitating others' mannerisms and social behaviors. Guinness's theatrical journey began in when he joined John Gielgud's troupe. His initial minor appearance caught Gielgud's attention, leading to significant roles. In , Guinness moved to the Old Vic under Laurence Olivier, gaining fame for his neurotic Hamlet in a modern-dress production.Guinness delivered his lines with great poise &#; almost deliberate slowness for dramatic effect. He said of this:
&#;I am always ashamed of the slowness of my reading. I think it stems from the fact that when I come across dialogue in a novel, I can`t resist treating it as the text of a play and acting it out, with significant pauses and all.&#;
Unlike some actors, Alec Guinness was a master of disguise.
He could fit into different characters so well, one felt one was watching a particular character &#; rather than watching the famous actor &#; Alec Guinness.
He was knighted in and died 5 August , aged He was survived by his wife and one son.
Religion
Alec Guinness was a practising Christian and converted to Catholicism shortly after his role as Obi Wan Kenobi.
Writing in his autobiography, he writes of an experience where he felt a religious experience.
&#;I was walking up Kingsway in the middle of an afternoon when an impulse compelled me to start running. With joy in my heart, and in a state of almost sexual excitement, I ran until I reached the little Catholic church there &#; which I had never entered before; I knelt; caught my breath, and for 10 minutes was lost to the world.&#;
&#; Alec Guinness
Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan.
&#;Biography of Alec Guinness”, Oxford, UK. , 26th Feb. Last updated 1 November
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Alec Guinness List of Films
- Evensong
- Great Expectations
- Oliver Twist
- Kind Hearts and Coronets
- A Run for Your Money
- Last Holiday
- The Mudlark
- The Man in the White Suit
- The Lavender Hill Mob
- The Card
- The Captain&#;s Paradise
- The Malta Story
- Father Brown
- To Paris With Love
- The Prisoner
- The Ladykillers
- The Swan
- Barnacle Bill
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
- The Scapegoat
- The Horse&#;s Mouth
- Our Man in Havana
- Tunes of Glory
- A Majority of One
- HMS Defiant
- Lawrence of Arabia
- The Fall of the Roman Empire
- Situation Hopeless but not Serious
- Dr.
Zhivago
- The Quiller Memorandum
- Hotel Paradiso
- The Comedians
- Scrooge
- Cromwell
- Brother Sun, Sister Moon
- Hitler, the Last Ten Days
- Murder by Death
- Star Wars
- To See Such Fun
- The Empire Strikes Back
- Raise the Titanic
- Return of the Jedi
- Lovesick
- A Passage to India
- Little Dorrit
- A Handful of Dust
- Kafka
- A Foreign Field