We continue our latest series of examining some of the works outside the saga of some of our most beloved actors in a galaxy far, far away.
Today we continue with of one of the most celebrated actors of the British Entertainment Industry – Sir Alec Guinness.
Alec Guinness was born on April 2nd 1914 in London. Guinness served for the Royal Navy during the Second World War and was granted leave to appear on Broadway for a short time. His early-stage career in the West End would go on to be one of the most illustrious and lauded of his generation. Guinness was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1959 and he passed away on August 5th 2000 in Sussex. He is survived by his son, Matthew Guinness, who made a small cameo in The Rise of Skywalker.
The Bridge Over The River Kwai (1957)
Widely recognized as one of the greatest films ever made, this historical epic was the highest grossing picture of the year. The film won a total of seven Academy Awards and took home the trophy for Best Picture. In 1999, the British Film Institute voted the film the 11th Greatest of the 20th Century. The film is often confused as being based on a true story; however, the events are entirely fictional. The plot revolves around British prisoners of war in a Japanese encampment who are ordered to build a bridge to accommodate a railway. Though the prisoner’s instincts are to initially sabotage the bridge, they come together to aid moral of the troops around them. Guinness won an Oscar for his performance, and it is considered his finest work of a long career.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
This biographical epic stars Peter O’Toole as Lawrence as Guinness as Prince Faisel. It’s style of filmmaking would go on to inspire a generation of storytellers, including George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The film won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. It once again was another cinematic classic in the career of Guinness and the film holds the prestigious title of being voted the Greatest British Film Ever Made in 2004 in a poll by The Sunday Times as voted for by leading filmmakers. The film is an historical epic of sheer Biblical proportions and was directed by David Lean, who had worked with Guinness previously on The Bridge Over The River Kwai.
Oliver Twist (1948)
Probably the second most famous work by Charles Dickens, after A Christmas Carol, sees Alec Guinness playing Fagin himself in this early depiction of the celebrated story. Guinness wore heavy prosthetics at the time (for Fagin’s nose), which caused some controversy, but the note of importance here is that the make-up was done by none other than Stuart Freeborn himself. The film was met with praise and a strong box office for its era and would go on to inspire the popular musical in 1968 simply titled Oliver! The British Film Institute ranked the film in the 50 most important films you should see by the age of 14.
The Ladykillers (1955)
This famous film of the Ealing Comedies has gone onto become a celebrated piece of work in the theatre world with constant adaptations in the West End and Broadway. It even spawned a remake in 2004 starring Tom Hanks in the role once taken by Guinness. The plot follows a gang of inept and baffling oddball criminals who are planning a bank robbery and whilst they plot their job, they rent a room of a lovely old-aged pensioner. The film starred Peter Sellers in one of his first major film roles before he became a comedy superstar and won several accolades after its release. The film holds the hard-to-attain 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and The Guardian named it the 5th greatest comedy of all time in 2010.
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Omar Sharif stars in the title role of this sweeping romance epic that has a legacy most films could only dream over. The story takes place in Russia during WWI and The Russian Civil War and features Sharif as the poet whose life is altered by the Russian Revolution. The film was nominated for ten Oscars and took home five and features a mammoth run time of over three hours long. A fun fact here is that adjusted for the proper inflation of the times, the film is the 9th highest grossing film of all time.
Guinness was noted by all who worked with him as a kind and generous man and, true to form, all the Star Wars cast have never had nothing but high praise for him. It is said that each morning when Guinness awoke, he would recite verse eight from Psalm 143 to himself. It goes like this; “Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning.” Amen to that indeed.
