Alec Guinness
CBE | |
---|---|
Born | Alec Guinness de Cuffe 2 April 1914 Maida Vale, London, England |
Died | 5 August 2000 Midhurst, West Sussex, England | (aged 86)
Burial place | Petersfield Cemetery |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1934–1996 |
Works | Full list |
Spouse |
Merula Salaman (m. 1938) |
Children | Matthew |
Relatives | Nesta Guinness-Walker (great-grandson) |
Awards | Knight Bachelor (1959) |
Military career | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | Royal Navy |
Years of service | 1941–1943 |
Rank | Lieutenant |
Battles/wars |
|
Sir Alec Guinness
Guinness began his stage career in 1934. Two years later, at the age of 22, he played the role of
Guinness won an
Early life
Guinness was born Alec Guinness de Cuffe at 155 Lauderdale Mansions South,[1] Lauderdale Road, in Maida Vale, London.[2] His mother's maiden name was Agnes Cuff, born on 8 December 1890 to Edward Cuff and Mary Ann Benfield. On Guinness's birth certificate, his mother's name is given as Agnes de Cuffe; the infant's name (where first names only are placed) is given as Alec Guinness, and there are no details for the father.[3]
The identity of Guinness's father has never been officially confirmed.[4] From 1875, under English law, when the birth of an illegitimate child was registered, the father's name could be entered on the certificate only if he were present and gave his consent. Guinness himself believed that his father was a Scottish banker, Andrew Geddes (1861–1928), who paid for Guinness's boarding-school education at Pembroke Lodge, in Southborne, and Roborough, in Eastbourne. Geddes occasionally visited Guinness and his mother, posing as an uncle.[5] Guinness's mother later had a three-year marriage to a Scottish army captain named Stiven, whose behaviour was often erratic or even violent.[6][7]
Early career
Guinness first worked writing advertising copy. His first job in the theatre was on his 20th birthday (2 April 1934), while he was a student at the
Guinness continued playing
Second World War
Guinness served in the
During the war, he was granted leave to appear in the Broadway production of Terence Rattigan's play Flare Path, about RAF Bomber Command, with Guinness playing the role of Flight Lieutenant Teddy Graham.[20]
Postwar stage career
Guinness returned to the Old Vic in 1946 and stayed until 1948, playing Abel Drugger in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, the Fool in King Lear opposite Laurence Olivier in the title role, DeGuiche in Cyrano de Bergerac opposite Ralph Richardson in the title role, and finally starring in an Old Vic production as Shakespeare's Richard II. After leaving the Old Vic, he played Eric Birling in J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls at the New Theatre in October 1946. He played the Uninvited Guest in the Broadway production of T. S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party (1950, revived at the Edinburgh Festival in 1968). He played Hamlet under his own direction at the New Theatre in the West End in 1951.[21]
Invited by his friend
Guinness won a
Film career
Guinness made his speaking debut in film in the drama
Guinness's other notable film roles of this period included
David Lean
Guinness won particular acclaim for his work with director
Despite a difficult and often hostile relationship, Lean, referring to Guinness as "my good luck charm", continued to cast Guinness in character roles in his later films:
Star Wars
Guinness's role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy, beginning in 1977 with Star Wars, brought him worldwide recognition to a new generation, as well as Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. In letters to his friends, Guinness described the film as "fairy-tale rubbish" but the film's sense of moral good – and the studio's doubling of his initial salary offer – appealed to him and he agreed to take the part of Kenobi on the condition that he would not have to do any publicity to promote the film.[35]
He initially negotiated a deal for 2% of the film's royalties paid to the director, George Lucas, who, upon the warm reception of the film with the press and film critics, and as a gesture of good-will for the positive amendments and suggestions Guinness proposed to the screenplay for the film, offered Guinness an additional 0.5%, bringing his share to 2.5%. When Guinness enquired about the share with the film's producer Gary Kurtz, and asked for a written agreement so as to codify his earnings, Kurtz revised Lucas's offering down by 0.25%, bringing Guinness's final, agreed-upon share of royalties paid to the director to 2.25% (Lucas received one-fifth of the overall box office takings, which would take Guinness's share of the overall box office to approximately 0.45%).[36][37] This made him very wealthy in his later life.
Upon his first viewing of the film, Guinness wrote in his diary, "It's a pretty staggering film as spectacle and technically brilliant. Exciting, very noisy, and warm-hearted. The battle scenes at the end go on for five minutes too long, I feel, and some of the dialogue is excruciating and much of it is lost in noise, but it remains a vivid experience."[38]
Guinness soon became unhappy with being identified with the part and expressed dismay at the fan following that the Star Wars trilogy attracted. In the DVD commentary of the original Star Wars, Lucas says that Guinness was not happy with the script rewrite in which Obi-Wan is killed. Guinness said in a 1999 interview that it was actually his idea to kill off Obi-Wan, persuading Lucas that it would make him a stronger character and that Lucas agreed to the idea. Guinness stated in the interview, "What I didn't tell Lucas was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo." He went on to say that he "shrivelled up" every time Star Wars was mentioned to him.[39]
Although Guinness disliked the fame that followed and he did not hold the work in high esteem,
In 2003, Obi-Wan Kenobi as portrayed by Guinness was selected as the 37th-greatest hero in cinema history by the American Film Institute.[41] Digitally altered archival audio of Guinness's voice was used in the films Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).[42][43]
Television appearances
Guinness was reluctant to appear on television, but accepted the part of George Smiley in the serialisation of John le Carré's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) after meeting the author.[44] Guinness reprised the role in Smiley's People (1982), and twice won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the character.[45] He received another nomination for best actor for his role in Monsignor Quixote in 1987.[46] One of Guinness's last appearances was in the BBC drama Eskimo Day (1996).[47][48]
Awards and honours
Guinness won the
For his theatre work, he received an
Guinness was appointed a
Personal life
Guinness married the artist, playwright and actress Merula Silvia Salaman (1914–2000) in 1938; in 1940, they had a son, Matthew Guinness, who later became an actor. From the 1950s the family lived at Kettlebrook Meadows, near Steep Marsh in Hampshire. The house itself was designed by Merula's brother Eusty Salaman.[56][57] His great-grandson Nesta Guinness-Walker is a professional footballer.[58]
A biography claimed that Guinness was arrested and fined 10
While serving in the
Guinness told a story in a media interview and wrote in his memoir that he met James Dean and predicted Dean's death one week before he was killed in a car accident in 1955.[67][68] However, in interviews shortly after Dean's death, Guinness made no mention of his "prediction" but did recall that all of Dean's friends had issued similar warnings because Dean drove the sports car too fast.[69]
Every morning, Guinness recited verse eight from Psalm 143, "Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning".[70]
Death
Guinness died on the night of 5 August 2000 at King Edward VII's Hospital in Midhurst, West Sussex.[71][72] He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in February 2000, and with liver cancer two days before he died. His wife, who died two months later on 18 October 2000, also had liver cancer.[73] His funeral was held at St. Laurence Catholic Church in Petersfield, Hampshire, and he was interred at Petersfield Cemetery.[74][75]
Archives
In 2013 the British Library acquired the personal archive of Guinness consisting of over 900 letters, manuscripts for plays, and 100 volumes of diaries from the late 1930s to his death.[76]
Autobiographies and biography
Guinness wrote three volumes of a best-selling autobiography, beginning with Blessings in Disguise in 1985, followed by My Name Escapes Me in 1996, and A Positively Final Appearance in 1999. He recorded each of them as an audiobook. Shortly after his death, Lady Guinness asked the couple's close friend and fellow Catholic, novelist Piers Paul Read, to write Guinness's official biography. It was published in 2002.
Box office ranking in Britain
For a number of years, British film exhibitors voted Guinness among the most popular stars in Britain at the box office via an annual poll in the Motion Picture Herald.
- 1951: most popular British star in British films and fifth in international films.[29]
- 1952: 3rd-most popular British star[77]
- 1953: 2nd-most popular British star
- 1954: 6th-most popular British star
- 1955: 10th-most popular British star[78]
- 1956: 8th-most popular British star[79]
- 1958: most popular star[80]
- 1959: 2nd-most popular British star[81]
- 1960: 4th-most popular star
Bibliography
- Guinness, Alec (1986). Blessings in Disguise. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0394552377.
- Guinness, Alec (1998). My Name Escapes Me. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-027745-6.
See also
References
Notes
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/74513. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ GRO Register of Births: June 1914 1a 39 Paddington – Alec Guinness De Cuffe, mmn = De Cuffe.
- ^ a b "Alec Guinness." Hollywood Walk of Fame (Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Hollywood, California), 2011. Retrieved: 22 June 2011.
- ^ "Alec Guinness biography." Archived 26 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSN Movies. Retrieved: 29 July 2007.
- ^ Read 2005.
- ^ "Sir Alec Guinness". The Daily Telegraph. UK. 8 August 2000. Archived from the original on 11 August 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ^ "Guinness: The black stuff", guardian.co; retrieved 8 April 2012.
- ^ Read 2005, p. 61.
- ^ Extracts from Guinness's Journals, The Daily Telegraph, 20 March 1999.
- ^ a b Chambers 2002, p. 334.
- ^ a b c 'Guinness, Alec (1914–2000)', The Cambridge Guide to Theatre, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK; viewed 22 June 2011, from Credo reference (subscription required)
- ^ "The London Theatre Studio, by Sophie Jump", michelsaintdenis.net, accessed 14 December 2020
- ^ Marshall, Herbert. "Obituary: Robert Ardrey (1907–1980)." Bulletin of the Center for Soviet & East European Studies Spring 1980. pp. 4–6. Print
- ^ On 3 June 1961, Guinness sent a letter to Stan Laurel Archived 11 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine, acknowledging that he must have unconsciously modeled his portrayal of Sir Andrew Aguecheek as he imagined Laurel might have done. Guinness was 23 at the time he was performing in Twelfth Night, around 1937, by which time Laurel had become an international movie star.
- ^ "NY Times: Great Expectations". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2009. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
- ^ Houterman, J.N. "Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) Officers 1939–1945", Unithistories.com; retrieved 7 March 2010.
- ^ "No. 35561". The London Gazette. 15 May 1942. p. 2127.
- ^ "No. 36096". The London Gazette. 16 July 1943. p. 3235.
- ^ "'Fleming': 10 Famous Brits Who Were Heroes In World War II". BBC America. 25 October 2017.
- ^ "Theatre Obituaries: Sir Alec Guinness", Telegraph.co.uk, 8 August 2000; retrieved 22 February 2011.
- ^ McCarten, John (4 February 1950). "Eliot and Guinness". The New Yorker. 25 (50): 25–26.
- ISBN 978-0-313-27804-4
- ISBN 978-0-7710-6949-9
- ^ Taylor 2000, pp. 133–134.
- ^ Alec Guinness, Journals, November 1998.
- ^ Fahy, Patrick (21 August 2015). "Alec Guinness: 10 essential performances". British Film Institute. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
- ^ "The 100 best British films". Time Out. Retrieved 24 October 2017
- ^ Capua, Michelangelo (2017). Jean Negulesco: The Life and Films. McFarland. p. 65.
- ^ Townsville Daily Bulletin, via National Library of Australia, 29 December 1951, p. 1. Retrieved: 24 April 2012.
- ^ Derek Malcolm, Ian Nathan, Wendy Mitchell, Neil Norman. (2017) "Discovering Peter Sellers". Sky Arts. Retrieved 27 April 2020
- ^ Canby, Vincent. "Screen: 'Last Ten Days': Guinness Plays Hitler in Bunker Episode, The Cast." The New York Times, 10 May 1973.
- ^ Canby, Vincent (24 June 1976). "Murder By Death (1976) Simon's Breezy 'Murder by Death'". The New York Times.
- ^ Guinness 1998, pp. 90–91.
- ^ British Film Institute – Top 100 British Films (1999). Retrieved 27 August 2016
- ^ Selim, Jocelyn. "Alec Guinness: Reluctant Intergalactic Icon." Archived 9 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine Cancer Today magazine, Spring 2012.
- ^ "How Star Wars Producers Screwed Alec Guinness Out Of Millions". CINEMABLEND. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ "Alec Guinness on Star Wars in 1977, interviewed by Michael Parkinson – YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ a b Read 2005, p. 507.
- ^ "Alec Guinness Blasts Jedi 'Mumbo Jumbo'", 8 September 1999.
- ^ Guinness 1986, pp. 214.
- ^ "Good and Evil Rival for Top Spots in AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains". American Film Institute. 4 June 2003. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- ^ Frank, Allegra (21 December 2015). "You might have missed these classic characters in Star Wars: The Force Awakens". Polygon. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ Fullerton, Huw (20 December 2019). "Who were the Jedi voices in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker?". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 25 July 2020.
- ^ le Carré, John (8 March 2002). Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: A Conversation with John le Carré (DVD). Disc 1.
{{cite AV media}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "Le Carré adaptations: six of the best". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
- ^ "BAFTA Awards Search. Alec Guinness". BAFTA. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Eskimo Day (1996)". Screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
- ^ "BBC Four – Eskimo Day". BBC. 11 January 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
- ^ "Fellowship", British Academy of Film and Television Arts
- ^ Taylor 2000, p. 131.
- ^ "No. 40497". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1955. p. 3268.
- ^ United Kingdom list: "No. 41589". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1958. p. 1.
- ^ United Kingdom list: "No. 53696". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 June 1994. p. 5.
- ^ "Honorary Degrees conferred from 1977 till present." Cambridge University, 18 December 2008.
- ^ "Royal Mail's 'remarkable lives' stamp series – in pictures". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
- ^ Read 2005, pp. 256–258.
- ^ "Obituary: Lady Guinness". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022.
- ^ "Exclusive interview with AFC Wimbledon prospect Nesta Guiness-Walker on looking to perform on a football pitch – not a stage or the big screen". 30 August 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
- ^ "The Concealed Genius of Alec Guinness". Daily Beast. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
- ^ Read 2005, p. 249.
- ^ "Sir Alec Guinness was bisexual." BBC News (Showbiz), 16 April 2001. Retrieved: 24 August 2009.
- ^ Pearce 2006, p. 301.
- ^ "Sir Alec Guinness." Telegraph (Obituaries), 8 August 2000. Retrieved: 26 August 2009.
- ^ Sutcliffe, Tom."Sir Alec Guinness (1914–2000)." The Guardian, 7 August 2000. Retrieved: 26 August 2009.
- ISBN 9781557835741.
- ^ Pearce 2006, p. 311.
- ^ "Alec Guinness warned James Dean one week before his death: "Please do not get into that car!"" – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Thelma Moss: Parapsychologist to the Stars". www.americanghostwalks.com.
- ^ Parsons, Louella (1955, October 4), "Anne Baxter Signs for 'The Come On.'" San Francisco Examiner, I-19.
- The Sunday Age, 13 August 2000.
- ^ GRO Register of Deaths: AUG 2000 1DD 21 Chicester– Alec Guinness, DoB = 2 April 1914, aged 86.
- ^ "Acting world mourns Sir Alec". BBC News. 7 August 2000. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
- ^ "Alec Guinness, Reluctant Intergalactic Icon" Archived 20 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Cancer Today. Retrieved 24 May 2020
- ^ Demetriou, Danielle (12 August 2000). "Sir Alec laid to rest near family home". Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ "Low-key funeral for Sir Alec". BBC News. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ Sir Alec Guinness Archive, archives and manuscripts catalogue, the British Library. Retrieved 26 May 2020
- ^ "Comedian tops film poll." The Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW: 1949–1953), via National Library of Australia, 28 December 1952, p. 4. Retrieved: 27 April 2012.
- ^ "'The Dam Busters'." Times [London, England], 29 December 1955, p. 12 via The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved: 11 July 2012.
- ^ "The Most Popular Film Star In Britain." Times [London, England] 7 December 1956, p. 3 via The Times Digital Archive.. Retrieved: 11 July 2012.
- ^ "Mr. Guinness Heads Film Poll." Times [London, England], 2 January 1959, p. 4 via The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved: 11 July 2012.
- ^ "Year Of Profitable British Films." Times [London, England] 1 January 1960, p. 13 via The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved: 11 July 2012.
Sources
- Chambers, Colin (2002). Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-4959-X.
- Guinness, Alec (2001). A Positively Final Appearance: A Journal, 1996–1998. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-029964-9.
- O'Connor, Garry (2002). Alec Guinness: The Unknown. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-283-07340-3.
- Pearce, Joseph (2006). Literary Converts: Spiritual Inspiration in an Age of Unbelief. London: Ignatius Press. ISBN 978-1-58617-159-9.
- ISBN 978-0-7432-4498-5.
- ISBN 1-86205-501-7.
External links
- Alec Guinness at IMDb
- Alec Guinness at the Internet Broadway Database
- Alec Guinness at the TCM Movie Database
- Alec Guinness at AllMovie
- Alec Guinness at the BFI's Screenonline
- Alec Guinness at British Comedy Guide
- Alec Guinness discography at Discogs
- Performances in Theatre Archive, Bristol
- Works by Alec Guinness at Open Library
- Costume Sketches for unrealized one-man show "The Angry Clown" – Motley Collection of Theatre & Costume Design