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Alec Guinness is a Actor and Writer British born on 2 april 1914 at Marylebone (United-kingdom)

Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness
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Birth name Alec Guinness de Cuffe
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 2 april 1914 at Marylebone (United-kingdom)
Death 5 august 2000 (at 86 years) at Midhurst (United-kingdom)
Awards Laurence Olivier Award, Academy Award for Best Actor, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage he was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He is also 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). He is also known for his portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas's original Star Wars trilogy, receiving a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Guinness was one of three major British actors, along with Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, who successfully made the transition from Shakespearean theatre in their home country to Hollywood blockbusters immediately after the Second World War. As well as an Academy Award, he has also won a BAFTA Award, Golden Globe and a Tony Award. In 1959, he was knighted by Elizabeth II for services to the arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, received the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in 1980, and the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award in 1989.

Biography

Guinness married the artist, playwright and actress Merula Sylvia Salaman (1914–2000) in 1938; in 1940, they had a son, Matthew Guinness, who later became an actor. The family lived at Steep Marsh in Hampshire.

In his biography, Alec Guinness: The Unknown, Garry O'Connor alleges that Guinness was arrested and fined 10 guineas (£10.50) for a homosexual act in a public lavatory in Liverpool in 1946. Guinness is said to have avoided publicity by giving his name to police and court as "Herbert Pocket", the name of the character he played in Great Expectations. The allegation was not made until April 2001, eight months after his death when a BBC News article claimed that Guinness was in fact bisexual and that he had successfully kept his sexuality private from the public eye as his closest friends and family members also knew he had sexual relationships with men. Piers Paul Read, Guinness's official biographer, doubts that this incident actually occurred. He believes that Guinness was confused with John Gielgud, who was notoriously arrested for such an act in 1953.

Best films

Star Wars (1977)
(Actor)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
(Actor)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
(Actor)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
(Actor)
A Passage to India (1984)
(Actor)
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
(Actor)

Usually with

George Lucas
George Lucas
(6 films)
David Lean
David Lean
(6 films)
Ronald Neame
Ronald Neame
(6 films)
Phil Tippett
Phil Tippett
(4 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Alec Guinness (60 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, 2h22
Directed by J. J. Abrams
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, War, Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Themes Space adventure films, Monde imaginaire, Dans l'espace, Sur une planète fictive, Space opera, Children's films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Robot films
Actors Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Ian McDiarmid, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels
Roles Obi-Wan Kenobi (archive voice)
Rating63% 3.199043.199043.199043.199043.19904
L'univers de Star Wars se déroule dans une galaxie qui est le théâtre d'affrontements entre les Chevaliers Jedi et les Seigneurs noirs des Sith, personnes sensibles à la Force, un champ énergétique mystérieux leur procurant des pouvoirs psychiques. Les Jedi maîtrisent le Côté lumineux de la Force, pouvoir bénéfique et défensif, pour maintenir la paix dans la galaxie. Les Sith utilisent le Côté obscur, pouvoir nuisible et destructeur, pour leurs usages personnels et pour dominer la galaxie.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, 2h15
Directed by J. J. Abrams
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Themes Space adventure films, Monde imaginaire, Dans l'espace, Sur une planète fictive, Films about extraterrestrial life, Space opera, Children's films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Robot films
Actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, John Boyega
Roles Obi-Wan Kenobi (archive sound) (uncredited)
Rating77% 3.8951953.8951953.8951953.8951953.895195
L'univers de Star Wars se déroule dans une galaxie théâtre d'affrontements entre les Chevaliers Jedi et les Seigneurs noirs des Sith, personnes sensibles à la Force, un champ énergétique mystérieux leur procurant des pouvoirs psychiques. Les Jedi maîtrisent le côté lumineux de la Force, pouvoir bénéfique et défensif, pour maintenir la paix dans la galaxie. Les Sith utilisent le côté obscur, pouvoir nuisible et destructeur, pour leur usage personnel et pour dominer la galaxie. Les Sith vont par deux : un maître et un apprenti.
Mute Witness, 1h35
Directed by Anthony Waller
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Horror
Themes Films about films, Medical-themed films, Psychologie, Snuff films in fiction, Films about television, Films about psychiatry, Films about disabilities, Personne sourde ou muette
Actors Barry Bostwick, Kim Delaney, Fay Ripley, Kane Hodder, Oleg Yankovsky, Marina Zoudina
Roles The Reaper
Rating66% 3.345843.345843.345843.345843.34584
Billy (Marina Zudina), an FX make up artist who does not have the physical ability to speak, is in Moscow working on a low budget slasher film directed by her sister's boyfriend Andy (Evan Richards). On one particular night Billy returns to the set to fetch a piece of equipment for the next day's shoot when she is accidentally locked in the studio. Being unable to speak but having the ability to communicate with her sister Karen (Fay Ripley), Billy makes several telephone calls but is interrupted when she discovers a small film crew working after hours to shoot a cheap porno film. Watching unseen Billy is amused until the performed sex becomes sadistic. When a masked actor pulls out a knife and stabs the actress (Olga Tolstetskaya), Billy reacts and is discovered. She flees pursued by the homicidal film crew.
A Foreign Field, 1h35
Directed by Charles Sturridge
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Comedy
Actors Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Edward Herrmann, John Randolph, Geraldine Chaplin, Lauren Bacall
Roles Amos
Rating78% 3.9341453.9341453.9341453.9341453.934145
Cyril (McKern) and Waldo (Randolph), who are British and American, respectively, have both returned to France in search of the same woman (Moreau) with whom they each had a rendezvous in 1944 (unknown to the other). Cyril is accompanied by fellow veteran Amos (Guinness), while Waldo has his petty daughter Beverly (Chaplin) and her henpecked husband (Herrmann) in tow. Amos is childlike and carries an empty jam jar as if it is a favored toy. The two groups encounter one another, and after some conflict find common ground in old sorrows. Along the way they meet the recently widowed Lisa (Bacall), who has come in search of her brother's grave.
Kafka
Kafka (1991)
, 1h38
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Biography, Comedy
Themes Films about writers, Political films, Dystopian films
Actors Jeremy Irons, Theresa Russell, Joel Grey, Ian Holm, Jeroen Krabbé, Armin Mueller-Stahl
Roles The Chief Clerk
Rating67% 3.3968153.3968153.3968153.3968153.396815
Set in the city of Prague in 1919, Kafka tells the tale of an insurance worker who gets involved with an underground group after one of his co-workers is murdered. The underground group, responsible for bombings all over town, attempts to thwart a secret organization that controls the major events in society. He eventually penetrates the secret organization in order to confront them.
A Handful of Dust, 1h58
Directed by Charles Sturridge
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Romance
Actors James Wilby, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rupert Graves, Anjelica Huston, Judi Dench, Alec Guinness
Roles Mr. Todd
Rating65% 3.2950253.2950253.2950253.2950253.295025
The marriage of English country gentleman Tony Last and his wife Brenda is falling apart as Brenda begins an affair with social climber John Beaver. When the Last's eight-year-old son John Andrew is killed in a riding accident, Brenda informs Tony of her affair and her wishes for a divorce so she can marry Beaver. Tony is shattered, but initially agrees and intends to provide her with £500 a year. Beaver and his mother have pressed Brenda to demand £2,000 a year. This amount would require Tony to give up Hetton Abbey, his beloved Victorian/Gothic style house and estate. After determining that Brenda is aware that he would have to give up the estate, and knowing as she does how much he loves his home, he withdraws from the divorce arrangements, and announces that he intends to travel for six months. On his return, he says, Brenda may have her divorce, but without any financial settlement.
Little Dorrit, 6h
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Romance
Actors Derek Jacobi, Joan Greenwood, Max Wall, Patricia Hayes, Alec Guinness, Miriam Margolyes
Roles William Dorrit
Rating71% 3.591513.591513.591513.591513.59151
Le film est présenté en deux parties. Dans la première, sous-titrée "La faute à personne" (une allusion à un des titres auxquels avait pensé Dickens pour le roman), l'histoire est présentée en fonction du personnage d'Arthur Clennam. La seconde, sous-titrée "L'histoire de la petite Dorrit", reprend une grande partie des mêmes événements, mais cette fois selon le point de vue de l'héroïne.
A Passage to India, 2h43
Directed by David Lean
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Adventure, Historical
Themes Films about racism, Théâtre, Films based on plays
Actors Judy Davis, Victor Banerjee, Peggy Ashcroft, James Fox, Alec Guinness, Nigel Havers
Roles Professor Godbole
Rating72% 3.6462853.6462853.6462853.6462853.646285
The film is set in the 1920s during the period of growing influence of the Indian independence movement in the British Raj. Adela Quested (Judy Davis) and Mrs Moore (Peggy Ashcroft) sail from England to India, where Ronny Heaslop (Nigel Havers), the older woman's son and younger woman's fiancé, is the magistrate in the provincial town of Chandrapore. Through school superintendent Richard Fielding (James Fox), the two visitors meet eccentric elderly Brahmin scholar Professor Godbole (Alec Guinness), and they befriend Dr Aziz Ahmed (Victor Banerjee), an impoverished widower who initially meets Mrs Moore in a moonlit mosque overlooking the Ganges River. Their sensitivity and unprejudiced attitude toward native Indians endears them to him. When Mrs Moore and Adela express an interest in seeing the "real" India, as opposed to the Anglicised environment of cricket, polo, and afternoon tea the British expatriates created for themselves, Aziz offers to host an excursion to the remote Marabar Caves.
Return of the Jedi, 2h14
Directed by Richard Marquand
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Themes Films about children, Space adventure films, Monde imaginaire, Dans l'espace, Sur une planète fictive, Films about extraterrestrial life, Space opera, Children's films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Robot films
Actors Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse
Roles Ben 'Obi-Wan' Kenobi
Rating79% 3.9623853.9623853.9623853.9623853.962385
Luke Skywalker initiates a plan to rescue Han Solo from the crime lord Jabba the Hutt with the help of Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2. Leia infiltrates Jabba's palace on Tatooine disguised as a bounty hunter with Chewbacca as her prisoner. Lando is already there disguised as a guard. Leia releases Han from his carbonite prison, but she is captured and enslaved. Luke arrives soon afterward but after a tense standoff, he is captured. After Luke survives his battle with Jabba's Rancor, Jabba sentences him and Han to death by feeding them to the Sarlacc. Luke frees himself and battles Jabba's guards. During the chaos, Boba Fett, who has remained at Jabba's palace since delivering Han, attempts to attack Luke, but Han inadvertently knocks him into the Sarlacc pit. Meanwhile, Leia strangles Jabba to death, and Luke destroys Jabba's sail barge as the group escapes. While the others rendezvous with the Rebel Alliance, Luke returns to Dagobah where he finds that Yoda is dying. Before he dies, Yoda confirms that Darth Vader, once known as Anakin Skywalker, is Luke's father, and there is "another Skywalker". The spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi confirms that this other Skywalker is Luke's twin sister, Leia. Obi-Wan tells Luke that he must fight Vader again to defeat the Empire.
Lovesick
Lovesick (1983)
, 1h35
Directed by Marshall Brickman
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Romantic comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Actors Dudley Moore, Elizabeth McGovern, Alec Guinness, Christine Baranski, Wallace Shawn, Ron Silver
Roles Sigmund Freud
Rating52% 2.6082852.6082852.6082852.6082852.608285
Psychologist Saul Benjamin takes on a patient temporarily as a favor to a colleague friend, Otto Jaffe, who is infatuated with her. After her doctor dies, Chloe Allen comes to see Dr. Benjamin and immediately he is smitten with her, too.
Smiley's People (TV miniseries), 6h
Directed by Simon Langton
Origin United-kingdom
Actors Alec Guinness, Michael Byrne, Bill Paterson, Anthony Bate, Bernard Hepton, Eileen Atkins
Rating84% 4.2474854.2474854.2474854.2474854.247485
The series Smiley’s People closely follows the plot of the original novel. It tells the story of George Smiley, called out of retirement when one of his former assets/contacts, an émigré general, is found murdered. In tidying up loose ends for the "Circus", his former employers, he finds Vladimir had uncovered a clandestine operation run by his nemesis, Karla, for his own personal benefit. Smiley is able to use this irregularity against Karla, forcing him to defect to the West.
Little Lord Fauntleroy, 1h43
Directed by Jack Gold
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Comedy-drama
Themes Films about children
Actors Rick Schroder, Alec Guinness, Eric Porter, Colin Blakely, Connie Booth, Patrick Stewart
Roles Earl of Dorincourt
Rating73% 3.6956753.6956753.6956753.6956753.695675
Cedric Errol est un jeune Américain pauvre vivant dans le quartier de Brooklyn à New York. À l'âge de 9 ans, il apprend qu'il est le seul héritier d'un riche comté d'Angleterre. Cedric devient alors Lord Fauntleroy, destiné à être, un jour, Comte de Dorincourt.
Raise the Titanic, 1h55
Directed by Jerry Jameson
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Adventure
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, RMS Titanic in fiction, Films set in the future, Disaster films, Films about seafaring accidents or incidents
Actors Jason Robards, M. Emmet Walsh, Richard Jordan, David Selby, Anne Archer, Alec Guinness
Roles John Bigalow
Rating52% 2.602212.602212.602212.602212.60221
The film opens on the fictional island of Svardlov in the far North Sea above the Soviet Union where an American spy breaks into an old mine where he discovers the frozen body of a US Army sergeant and mining expert Jake Hobart. Next to the frozen corpse is a newspaper from 1912 as well as some mining tools from the early part of the 20th Century. Using a radiation meter, the spy discovers that what he seeks, an extremely rare mineral named byzanium was there but has been mined out leaving only traces. He is then chased and shot by Soviet forces but rescued at the last moment by Dirk Pitt (Richard Jordan) a former U.S. Navy officer and a clandestine operator.
The Empire Strikes Back, 2h4
Directed by Irvin Kershner
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Action, Adventure
Themes Space adventure films, Monde imaginaire, Dans l'espace, Sur une planète fictive, Films about extraterrestrial life, Films about disabilities, Space opera, Children's films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Robot films
Actors Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse
Roles Obi-Wan Kenobi
Rating84% 4.2101654.2101654.2101654.2101654.210165
Three years after the destruction of the Death Star, the Rebel Alliance has been driven from their former base on Yavin IV by the Galactic Empire. Princess Leia leads a contingent including Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in a new base on the icy planet Hoth. The Imperial Fleet, led by Darth Vader, continues to hunt for Rebels’ new base by dispatching probe droids across the galaxy.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (TV miniseries)
Directed by John Irvin
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller
Themes Spy films, Political films
Actors Alec Guinness, Michael Jayston, Anthony Bate, George Sewell, Bernard Hepton, Ian William Richardson
Roles George Smiley
Rating84% 4.2476854.2476854.2476854.2476854.247685
George Smiley (Guinness), deputy head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, is forced into retirement in the wake of "Operation Testify", a failed spy mission to Czechoslovakia. Veteran British agent Jim Prideaux (Bannen) had been sent to meet with a Czech general he's been told has information identifying a deep-cover Soviet spy planted in the highest echelons of British Secret Intelligence Service, known as the Circus because of its headquarters at Cambridge Circus in London.