Born in England in 1914, Sir Alec Guiness' film career began when he portrayed a WWI soldier in the audience of a concert in the 1934 film Evensong, a role that was uncredited. His first credited role was in the 1946 movie Great Expectations as Herbert Pocket. From there he went on to play various roles in many different films and theatre.
In 1955, Guiness was knighted and in 1957 he won an Oscar and a British Film Award for his role as Colonel Nicholson in Bridge on the River Kwai. His roles were diverse, ranging from a Japanese gentleman to Hitler to soldiers to an Arab Prince. This diversity signaled the actor's to take on any role available to him.
Guiness' films included Oliver Twist (1948, playing the role of Fagin), Passage To India (1984, playing the role of Professor Godbole), Man in the White Suit (1951, playing the role of Sidney Stratton), To Paris With Love (1955, playing the role of Col. Sir Edgar Fraser), and The Lady Killers (1955, playing the role of Professor Marcus).
He also starred in Bridge over the River Kwai, for which he won an Oscar (1957, playing the role of Colonel Nicholson), Doctor Zhivago (1965, playing the role of Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago), Lawrence of Arabia (1962, playing the role of Prince Feisal), the TV Movie E. E. Cummings (1970), Cromwell (1970, playing the role of King Charles I) and Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973, playing Adolf Hitler).
But perhaps, his most well know role was that of the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas' Star Wars and it's two sequels. It was a role that he reportedly didn't like very much, but it won him the love of Sci-Fi fans everywhere. He reportedly also claimed to be the one who came up with the idea of killing off Obi-Wan saying later that he "just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines," and that he'd "had enough of the mumbo jumbo."
Go To Page: 1 2
