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Sir Alec Guinness CH CBE (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies , including Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), in which he played eight characters; The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination; and The Ladykillers (1955).
For his audition, Guinness made a controversial decision: He made the character stereotypically Jewish. It wasn’t in the book, but to Guinness it seemed like a good fit. Lean loved it too—but when the film opened in London, the outrage quickly began. Ronald Neame Production, The Promoter (1952) 13. The Americans Didn’t Want Him
- Great Expectations (1946) Guinness’s first scene in his first film role is, aptly, a moment of introduction. As the boyish gentleman Herbert Pocket, he bounds up a flight of stairs to meet his new lodging companion, Pip (John Mills).
- Oliver Twist (1948) David Lean was puzzled when pale, young Guinness asked to play Fagin, Dickens’s grotesque old king of pickpockets, described in the novel as being shrivelled and Jewish, with a “villainous-looking and repulsive face”.
- Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) One of Guinness’s most celebrated cinema turns is among his most theatrical. He dresses up as nine assorted members of the noble D’A scoyne clan in Robert Hamer’s elegant, black-hearted comedy about a vengeful outcast relation (Dennis Price) ingeniously murdering his way through his kinfolk to inherit the family title.
- The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) Guinness’s first Oscar nomination was for his role as baby-faced, speech-impaired bank employee Henry Holland, who hatches a plan to steal the gold bullion he is supposed to protect and smuggle it to France right under the authorities’ noses.
Alec Guinness. Actor: Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. Alec Guinness was an English actor of stage and screen, his career spanning over sixty years. His best known screen works are his starring roles in several of the Ealing comedies between 1949 and 1957 (most notably as eight members of the same family in Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), his Oscar-nominated turn as bank clerk turned ...
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- Marylebone, London, England, UK
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- Midhurst, Sussex, England, UK
Apr 10, 2021 · One of Sir Alec Guinness' most memorable roles was as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars franchise. ... And for good reason, too — in a film series filled with iconic moments and feats of cinematic ...
May 27, 2022 · Alec Guinness (left) and George Lucas on the set of Star Wars. THR’s May 20, 1977, review (inset) said Guinness was “outstanding” as Obi-Wan, a part that would earn him an Oscar nom for ...
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Alec Guinness in 1973, by Allan Warren. Sir Alec Guinness, CH , CBE (1914–2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played nine different characters. He is known for his six collaborations with ...
