Alec Guinness

Sir Alec Guinness KBE (April 2, 1914 - August 5, 2000) was a British actor.

Born in London on April 2, 1914, he first worked in advertising, before making his debut at the Old Vic[?] in 1936. During World War II, he served in the Royal Navy.

He is mainly associated with the Ealing Comedies[?], and particularly for playing 12 parts in Kind Hearts and Coronets[?]. Other films from this period included The Ladykillers and The Man in the White Suit[?].

Guinness was also a talented dramatic and character actor. His film appearances ranged from Lawrence of Arabia to The Bridge on the River Kwai (1958), for which he won an Academy Award. His part as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars brought him worldwide recognition by a new generation (and reputedly lots of money), though he was never happy with being identified with the part.

From the 1970s onwards, Guinness made regular television appearances, including the part of George Smiley in the serialisations of novels by John Le Carre.

Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, Sir Alec Guiness died of liver cancer on August 5, 2000, at Midhurst[?] in West Sussex and was interred near Petersfield[?], Hampshire, England.

Alec Guinness has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1559 Vine Street.

Filmography, as actor, includes

• Mute Witness[?] (1994)
• A Foreign Field[?] (1993)
• Kafka[?] (1991)
• Little Dorrit (1988)
• A Handful of Dust[?] (1988)
• A Passage to India (1984)
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Lovesick[?] (1983)
• Raise the Titanic[?] (1980)
• Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
• Murder by Death[?] (1976)
• Hitler: The Last Ten Days[?] (1973)
• Fratello sole, sorella luna[?] (1972)
• Scrooge[?] (1970)
• Cromwell[?] (1970)
• The Comedians[?] (1967)
• The Quiller Memorandum[?] (1966)
• Hotel Paradiso[?] (1966)
• Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious[?] (1965)
• Doctor Zhivago (1965)
• The Fall of the Roman Empire[?] (1964)
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• H.M.S. Defiant[?] (1962)
• A Majority of One[?] (1961)
• Tunes of Glory[?] (1960)
• Our Man in Havana (1959)
• The Scapegoat[?] (1959)
• The Horse's Mouth[?] (1958)
• Barnacle Bill[?] (1957)
• The Bridge on the River Kwai(1957)
• The Swan (1956)
• Rowlandson's England[?] (1955)
• The Ladykillers (1955)
• The Prisoner (1955)
• To Paris with Love[?] (1955)
• The Stratford Adventure[?] (1954)
• Father Brown[?] (1954)
• The Malta Story[?] (1953)
• The Square Mile[?] (1953) (voice)
• The Captain's Paradise[?] (1953)
• The Card[?] (1952)
• The Man in the White Suit[?] (1951)
• The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
• The Mudlark[?] (1950)
• Last Holiday[?] (1950)
• A Run for Your Money[?] (1949)
• Kind Hearts and Coronets[?] (1949)
• Oliver Twist (1948)
• Great Expectations (1946)