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IMDbPro

Alec Guinness(1914-2000)

  • Actor
  • Writer
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeterTop 5,000390
Alec Guinness in Tähtien sota (1977)
Home Video Trailer from United Artists
Play trailer2:05
Oliver Twist (2005)
60 Videos
99+ Photos
Alec Guinness was an English actor. He is known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Suuret toiveet (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in Kwai-joen silta (1957), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Arabian Lawrence (1962), General Yevgraf Zhivago in Tohtori Zivago (1965), and Professor Godbole in Matka Intiaan (1984).

Guinness is really most remembered for his portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy for which he receive a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1959, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. In the 1970s, Guinness made regular television appearances in Britain, including the role of George Smiley in the serialisations of two novels by John le Carré: Pappi, Lukkari, Talonpoika, Vakooja (1979) and Smiley's People (1982). In 1980 he received the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement.

Guinness was also one of three British actors, along with Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, who made the transition from Shakespearean theatre in England to Hollywood blockbusters immediately after the Second World War.

Guinness died on 5 August 2000, from liver cancer, at Midhurst in West Sussex.
BornApril 2, 1914
DiedAugust 5, 2000(86)
BornApril 2, 1914
DiedAugust 5, 2000(86)
IMDbProStarmeterTop 5,000390
  • Won 1 Oscar
    • 30 wins & 19 nominations total

Photos377

Alec Guinness in Päin seiniä (1958)
Alec Guinness in Päin seiniä (1958)
Alec Guinness and Kay Walsh in Päin seiniä (1958)
Alec Guinness and Kay Walsh in Päin seiniä (1958)
Alec Guinness in Päin seiniä (1958)
Alec Guinness in Päin seiniä (1958)
Alec Guinness in Päin seiniä (1958)
Alec Guinness in Päin seiniä (1958)
Alec Guinness in Päin seiniä (1958)
Alec Guinness in Päin seiniä (1958)
Alec Guinness in Kwai-joen silta (1957)
Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa in Kwai-joen silta (1957)

Known for:

Anthony Daniels, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, David Prowse, and Kenny Baker in Tähtien sota (1977)
Tähtien sota
8.6
  • Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi
  • 1977
Alec Guinness, William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, Geoffrey Horne, and Ann Sears in Kwai-joen silta (1957)
Kwai-joen silta
8.1
  • Colonel Nicholson
  • 1957
Alec Guinness in Kruunupäitä ja hyviä sydämiä (1949)
Kruunupäitä ja hyviä sydämiä
8.0
  • The D'Ascoyne Family: The Duke
  • The Banker
  • The Parson
  • The General
  • The Admiral
  • Young Ascoyne
  • Young Henry
  • Lady Agatha
  • 1949
Päin seiniä (1958)
Päin seiniä
7.0
  • Gulley Jimson
  • 1958

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actor

  • Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, and Peter Mayhew in Imperiumin vastaisku (1980)
    Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back: Deleted Scenes
    8.8
    Video
    • Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi
    • 2011
  • Eskimo Day (1996)
    Eskimo Day
    7.6
    TV Movie
    • James
    • 1996
  • Marina Zudina in Mykkä todistaja (1995)
    Mykkä todistaja
    6.7
    • The Reaper (as Mystery Guest Star)
    • 1995
  • Screen One (1985)
    Screen One
    6.6
    TV Series
    • Amos
    • 1993
  • Performance (1991)
    Performance
    6.6
    TV Series
    • Heinrich Mann
    • 1992
  • Kafka (1991)
    Kafka
    6.8
    • The Chief Clerk
    • 1991
  • Kristin Scott Thomas, Rupert Graves, and James Wilby in Kourallinen tomua (1988)
    Kourallinen tomua
    6.6
    • Mr. Todd
    • 1988
  • Alec Guinness, Derek Jacobi, Joan Greenwood, Robert Morley, and Sarah Pickering in Pikku Dorrit (1987)
    Pikku Dorrit
    7.2
    • William Dorrit
    • 1987
  • Great Performances (1971)
    Great Performances
    7.9
    TV Series
    • Father Quixote
    • 1986
  • Alec Guinness in Edwin (1984)
    Edwin
    6.8
    TV Movie
    • Sir Fennimore Truscott
    • 1984
  • Matka Intiaan (1984)
    Matka Intiaan
    7.3
    • Professor Godbole
    • 1984
  • Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, Warwick Davis, David Prowse, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Carter, and Larry Ward in Jedin paluu (1983)
    Jedin paluu
    8.3
    • Ben 'Obi-Wan' Kenobi
    • 1983
  • Elizabeth McGovern and Dudley Moore in Lovesick (1983)
    Lovesick
    5.2
    • Sigmund Freud
    • 1983
  • Smiley's People (1982)
    Smiley's People
    8.5
    TV Mini Series
    • George Smiley
    • 1982
  • Ricky Schroder and Connie Booth in Pikku lordi (1980)
    Pikku lordi
    7.4
    TV Movie
    • Earl of Dorincourt
    • 1980

Writer

  • Päin seiniä (1958)
    Päin seiniä
    7.0
    • screenplay
    • 1958

Soundtrack

  • Saiturin joulu (1970)
    Saiturin joulu
    7.5
    • performer: "See the Phantoms" (uncredited)
    • 1970
  • Alec Guinness, William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, Geoffrey Horne, and Ann Sears in Kwai-joen silta (1957)
    Kwai-joen silta
    8.1
    • Soundtrack ("Colonel Bogey March" (1914), uncredited)
    • 1957

Videos60

Star Wars
Clip 0:57
Star Wars
Lawrence of Arabia
Clip 1:58
Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia
Clip 1:32
Lawrence of Arabia
The Bridge On The River Kwai
Clip 1:17
The Bridge On The River Kwai
The Bridge On The River Kwai
Clip 1:55
The Bridge On The River Kwai
Oliver Twist
Clip 0:49
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist
Clip 1:07
Oliver Twist
Official Trailer
Trailer 4:45
Official Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:08
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:15
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 3:05
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 3:23
Trailer

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative names
    • Alec Guiness
  • Height
    • 1.76 m
  • Born
    • April 2, 1914
    • Marylebone, London, England, UK
  • Died
    • August 5, 2000
    • Midhurst, Sussex, England, UK(liver cancer)
  • Spouse
    • Merula SalamanJune 20, 1938 - August 5, 2000 (his death, 1 child)
  • Children
    • Matthew Guinness
  • Parents
      Andrew Geddes
  • Relatives
      Sally Guinness(Grandchild)
  • Other works
    Stage: Appeared (as "Richard III") in Stratford Festival's tent theatre during its inaugural season
  • Publicity listings
    • 13 Print Biographies
    • 1 Interview
    • 19 Articles
    • 1 Pictorial
    • 17 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    The book "Alec Guinness: The Authorised Biography" (2003) reprints several letters that Guinness wrote to his longtime friend and correspondent Anne Kaufman Schneider in which he expressed his displeasure with and dubiousness about the quality of Star Wars (1977) as it was in production. Before filming started, he wrote: "I have been offered a movie (20th Century Fox) which I may accept, if they come up with proper money. London and North Africa, starting in mid-March. Science fiction--which gives me pause--but is to be directed by Paul [sic] Lucas who did American Graffiti, which makes me feel I should. Big part. Fairy-tale rubbish but could be interesting perhaps." Then after filming started, he wrote to Kaufman again to complain about the dialogue and describe his co-stars: "new rubbish dialogue reaches me every other day on wadges of pink paper--and none of it makes my character clear or even bearable. I just think, thankfully, of the lovely bread, which will help me keep going until next April. I must off to studio and work with a dwarf (very sweet--and he has to wash in a bidet) and your fellow countrymen Mark Hamill and Tennyson (that can't be right) Ford. Ellison (?--No!)--well, a rangy, languid young man who is probably intelligent and amusing. But oh God, God, they make me feel ninety--and treat me as if I was 106. Oh, [the actor's name is] Harrison Ford--ever heard of him?".
  • Quotes
    [on how much he disliked working on Tähtien sota (1977) and his attempts to encourage George Lucas to kill off Obi-Wan Kenobi] And he agreed with me. What I didn't tell him was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo.
  • Trademarks
      Known for playing multiple complex characters and changing his appearance to suit.
  • Salaries
      Pikku Dorrit
      (1987)
      £180,000

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