Alec Guinness on stage and screen
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Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (1914–2000) was an English actor. Known for his extensive roles on stage and film, he has earned acclaim for his numerous collaborations with David Lean and his work in the Ealing Comedies. He is also known for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars franchise starting from 1977. In the BFI Top 100 British films listing, Guinness was single most noted actor, represented across nine films — six in starring roles and three in supporting roles. He received several honors including an Academy Honorary Award, a BAFTA Fellowship and a BFI Fellowship.
After an early career on the stage, Guinness made a name for himself in six Ealing Comedies, starting in 1949 with both A Run for Your Money and Kind Hearts and Coronets — in which he played nine different characters — going on to lead roles in The Lavender Hill Mob and The Man in the White Suit both in 1951, The Ladykillers in 1955, and culminating with Barnacle Bill in 1957.
Guinness is known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), General Yevgraf Zhivago in Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Professor Godbole in A Passage to India (1984).
Guinness is also known for his portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas's original Star Wars trilogy; for his performance in the original 1977 film, he was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for the Academy Award and Golden Globe.
Guinness continued his acting in theatre throughout his working life, but his later life was closely associated with his definitive depiction of the leading role of George Smiley in the two BBC television series of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People by John le Carré.
Acting credits
[edit]Film
[edit]Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Baker's Dozen | The Major | Television film |
| 1959 | The Wicked Scheme of Jebal Deeks | Jebal Deeks | |
| 1969 | Conversation at Night | The Executioner | |
| 1970 | Twelfth Night | Malvolio | |
| 1974 | The Gift of Friendship | Jocelyn Broome | |
| 1976 | Caesar and Cleopatra | Julius Caesar | |
| 1979 | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy | George Smiley | 7 episodes |
| 1980 | Little Lord Fauntleroy | Earl of Dorincourt | Television film |
| 1982 | Smiley's People | George Smiley | 6 episodes |
| 1984 | Edwin | Sir Fennimore Truscott | Television film |
| 1987 | Monsignor Quixote | Monsignor Quixote | Television film |
| 1992 | Tales from Hollywood | Heinrich Mann | Television film |
| 1993 | A Foreign Field | Amos | |
| 1996 | Eskimo Day | James |
Theatre
[edit]| Year | Production | Role | Theatre (London, unless otherwise noted) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Libel! | Junior Counsel (non-speaking role) | Playhouse Theatre | |
| Queer Cargo | Various roles[b] | Piccadilly Theatre | ||
| Hamlet | Osric and Third Player | New Theatre | ||
| 1935 | Noé/Noah | Wolf | ||
| Romeo and Juliet | Sampson and Apothecary | |||
| 1936 | The Seagull | Workman then Yakov | ||
| Love's Labour's Lost | Boyet | The Old Vic | [c] | |
| As You Like It | Le Beau and William | |||
| The Witch of Edmonton | Old Thorney | |||
| 1937 | Hamlet | Osric and Reynaldo | ||
| 1937 | Twelfth Night | Sir Andrew Aguecheek | ||
| Henry V | Exeter | |||
| Hamlet | Osric, Player Queen and Reynaldo | Elsinore Castle, Helsingør, Denmark | [d] | |
| Richard II | Aumerle and The Groom | Queen's Theatre | [e] | |
| The School for Scandal | Snake | |||
| 1938 | The Three Sisters | Fedotik | ||
| The Merchant of Venice | Lorenzo | |||
| The Doctor's Dilemma | Louis Dubedat | Richmond Theatre | ||
| Trelawny of the 'Wells' | Arthur Gower | The Old Vic | [f] | |
| Hamlet | Hamlet | |||
| The Rivals | Bob Acres | |||
| 1939 | Hamlet | Hamlet | [g] | |
| Henry V | Chorus | Tour | ||
| The Rivals | Bob Acres | |||
| Libel! | Emile Flordan | |||
| Macbeth | Macbeth | Sheffield Playhouse, Sheffield | ||
| The Ascent of F6 | Michael Ransom | The Old Vic | ||
| Romeo and Juliet | Romeo | Perth Theatre, Perth, Scotland | [h] | |
| Great Expectations | Herbert Pocket | Rudolf Steiner Hall | [i] | |
| 1940 | Cousin Muriel | Richard Meilhac | Globe Theatre | |
| Saint Joan | The Dauphin | Palace Theatre | ||
| The Tempest | Ferdinand | The Old Vic | ||
| Thunder Rock | Charleston | Tour of England | ||
| Flare Path | Fl. Lt. Graham | Henry Miller's Theatre, Broadway[j] | [3] | |
| 1946 | The Brothers Karamazov | Mitya | Lyric Theatre | [k] |
| 1946 | The Vicious Circle[4] | Garcin | Arts Theatre | |
| King Lear | The Fool | New Theatre | [l] | |
| An Inspector Calls | Eric Birling | |||
| Cyrano De Bergerac | De Guiche | |||
| 1947 | The Alchemist | Abel Drugger | ||
| Richard II | Richard II | [m] | ||
| Saint Joan | The Dauphin | |||
| 1948 | The Government Inspector | Khlestakov | ||
| Coriolanus | Menenius Agrippa | |||
| Twelfth Night | - | [n] | ||
| 1949 | The Human Touch | Dr. James Simpson | Savoy Theatre | |
| The Cocktail Party | Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly | Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh | ||
| 1950 | The Cocktail Party | Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly | Henry Miller's Theatre, Broadway | [5] |
| 1951 | Hamlet | Hamlet | New Theatre | [o] |
| 1952 | Under the Sycamore Tree | The Ant Scientist | Aldwych Theatre | |
| 1953 | Richard III | Richard III | Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ontario, Canada | [p] |
| All's Well That Ends Well | King of France | Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ontario, Canada | ||
| 1954 | The Prisoner | The Cardinal | Globe Theatre | |
| 1956 | Hotel Paradiso | Boniface | Winter Garden Theatre | |
| 1960 | Ross | Aircraftman Ross / T. E. Lawrence | Theatre Royal Haymarket | |
| 1963 | Exit the King | Berenger the First | Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and RCT | |
| 1964 | Dylan | Dylan Thomas | Plymouth Theatre, Broadway | [6] |
| 1966 | Incident at Vichy | Von Berg | Phoenix Theatre | |
| 1966 | Macbeth | Macbeth | Royal Court Theatre | |
| 1967 | Wise Child | Jock Masters/Mrs. Artminster | Wyndham's Theatre | |
| 1968 | The Cocktail Party | Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly | Chichester Festival Theatre, Sussex Wyndham's Theatre, Royal Haymarket |
[q] |
| 1970 | Time out of Mind | John | Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, Surrey. | |
| 1971 | A Voyage Round My Father | Father | Theatre Royal Haymarket | |
| 1973 | Habeas Corpus | Dr. Wickstead | Lyric Theatre | |
| 1975 | A Family and a Fortune | Dudley | Apollo Theatre | |
| 1976 | Yahoo | Dean Swift | Queen's Theatre | [r] |
| 1977 | The Old Country | Hilary | Queen's Theatre | |
| 1984 | Merchant of Venice | Shylock | Chichester Festival Theatre | |
| 1988 | A Walk in the Woods | Andrey Botvinnik | Comedy Theatre |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Taylor 2000, pp. 185–190.
- ^ O'Connor 2002, pp. 409–418.
- ^ "Flare Path (Broadway, 1942)". Playbill. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- ^ "Vicious Circle – cast and crew". theatricalia.com.
- ^ "The Cocktail Party (Broadway, 1950)". Playbill. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- ^ "Dylan (Broadway, 1964)". Playbill. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- ^ The Duke / The Banker
The Parson / The General
The Admiral / Young D'Ascoyne
Young Henry, Lady Agatha - ^ Guinness portrayed Chinese coolie, a French Pirate and an English Sailor
- ^ Start of a season with the Old Vic Company; September 1936 – April 1937.
- ^ Put on by the Old Vic Company at Elsinore Castle
- ^ Start of a season with John Gielgud's Company at the Queen's Theatre, September 1937 – May 1938.
- ^ Start of a season with the Old Vic Company. September to December 1938.
- ^ Start of Tour of Europe and Egypt with the Old Vic Company. January to April 1939.
- ^ Part of the first Perth Scottish Theatre Festival
- ^ Version adapted by Guinness from Charles Dickens novel; Performed by The Actor's Company, a group Guinness had formed with George Devine and Marius Goring.
- ^ Was temporarily released from his war service to perform in this production.
- ^ Adapted by Guinness from Fyodor Dostoevsky.
- ^ Start of a season with the Old Vic Company at the New Theatre. September 1946 – May 1947.
- ^ Start of a season with the Old Vic Company at the New Theatre. September 1947 – May 1948.
- ^ Director only for the Old Vic Company at the New Theatre. September 1948.
- ^ This production was also directed by Guinness.
- ^ Start of a season at the Stratford Festival. July to September 1953.
- ^ Production was also directed by Guinness.
- ^ Adapted by Guinness from the works of Jonathan Swift.
Sources
[edit]- O'Connor, Garry (2002). Alec Guinness: The Unknown. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-283-07340-3.
- Taylor, John Russell (2000). Alec Guinness: A Celebration. London: Pavilion. ISBN 1-86205-501-7.
External links
[edit]- Alec Guinness at the British Film Institute[better source needed]
- Alec Guinness at the BFI's Screenonline
- Alec Guinness at IMDb
- Alec Guinness at the TCM Movie Database