Alec Guinness

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April 2, 1914

August 5, 2000

Alec Guinness de Cuffe

Merula Salaman (20 June 1938 - 5 August 2000) (his death)

Eskimo Day (1996) (TV)

Mute Witness (1994)

A Foreign Field (1993)

Tales from Hollywood (1992) (TV)

Kafka (1991)

A Handful of Dust (1988)

Little Dorrit (1988)

Great Performances (1 episode, 1987)

Late Night With David Letterman (1 episode, 1986)

Apostrophes (1 episode, 1986)

The South Bank Show (2 episodes, 1985)

A Passage to India (1984)

Edwin (1984) (TV)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

Lovesick (1983)

Smiley's People (6 episodes, 1982)

Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980)

Raise the Titanic (1980)

Star Wars Episode V (1980)

The Morecambe & Wise Show (1 episode, 1980)

The 52nd Annual Academy Awards
(1980) (TV)

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (7 episodes, 1979)

Star Wars Episode V (1977)

Parkinson (1 episode, 1977)

The Making of 'Star Wars' (1977) (TV)

Murder by Death (1976)

Hallmark Hall of Fame (1 episode, 1976)

The Gift of Friendship (1974) (TV)

Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973)

Fratello sole, sorella luna (1972)

Scrooge (1970)

Cromwell (1970

E.E. Cummings (1970) (TV)

ITV Saturday Night Theatre (1 episode, 1969)

Thirty-Minute Theatre (1 episode, 1969)

The Comedians in Africa (1967) (uncredited)

The Comedians (1967)

The Quiller Memorandum (1966)

Hotel Paradiso (1966)

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious (1965)

Pasternak (1965)

Toast of the Town (1 episode, 1964)

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)

Startime (1 episode, 1959)

The Wicked Scheme of Jebal Deeks (1959) (TV)

The Scapegoat (1959)

Our Man in Havana (1959)

The Horse's Mouth (1958)

Barnacle Bill (1957)

The Steve Allen Show (1 episode, 1957)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

The Swan (1956)

The Ladykillers (1955)

Baker's Dozen (1955) (TV)

The Prisoner (1955)

To Paris with Love (1955)

Rowlandson's England (1955)(Narrator)

The Stratford Adventure (1954)

Father Brown (1954)

Malta Story (1953)

The Captain's Paradise (1953)

The Square Mile (1953) (voice)

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)

Evensong (1934) (uncredited)

Blessings in Disguise 1985

My Name Escapes Me 1996

A Positively Final Appearance 1999

Academy Awards

1989 Nominated Oscar Best Actor in a Supporting Role for: Little Dorrit (1988)

1980 Won Honorary Award For advancing the art of screen acting through a host of memorable and distinguished performances

1978 Nominated Oscar Best Actor in a Supporting Role for: Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

1959 Nominated Oscar Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for: The Horse's Mouth (1958)

1958 Won Oscar Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Alec Guinness was not present at the awards ceremony. Jean Simmons accepted the award on his behalf

1953 Nominated Oscar Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA

1978 Won Saturn Award Best Supporting Actor for: Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

BAFTA Awards

1989 Won Academy Fellowship

1986 Nominated BAFTA TV Award Best Actor for: "Great Performances" (1972). For episode "Monsignor Quixote (#15.1)"

1983 Won BAFTA TV Award Best Actor for: "Smiley's People" (1982)

1980 Won BAFTA TV Award Best Actor for: "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (1979)

1961 Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best British Actor for: Tunes of Glory (1960)

1960 Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best British Screenplay for: The Horse's Mouth (1958)

1958 Won BAFTA Film Award Best British Actor for: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

1956 Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best British Actor for: The Prisoner (1955)

Berlin International Film Festival

1988 Won Honorary Golden Berlin Bear

Broadcasting Press Guild Awards

1980 Won Broadcasting Press Guild Award Best Actor for: "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (1979)

Emmy Awards

1983 Nominated Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special for: "Smiley's People" (1982). (Syndicated)

1960 Nominated Emmy Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor (Lead or Support) for: "Startime" (1959) (NBC). For episode "The Wicked Scheme of Jebal Deeks (#1.6)". (Shown within "Startime" (1959))

European Film Awards

1996 Won Life Achievement Award

Evening Standard British Film Awards

1995 Won Special Award

1979 Won Evening Standard British Film Award Best Actor for: Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

Film Society of Lincoln Center

1987 Won Gala Tribute

Golden Globes, USA

1989 Nominated Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for: Little Dorrit (1988)

1978 Nominated Golden Globe Best Motion Picture Actor in a Supporting Role for: Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

1958 Won Golden Globe Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama for: The Bridge on the River Kwai
(1957)

Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists

1952 Won Silver Ribbon Best Actor - Foreign Film (Migliore Attore Straniero) for: The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards

1968 Won KCFCC Award Best Supporting Actor for: The Comedians (1967). Tied with Robert Shaw for A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Laurel Awards

1959 3rd place Golden Laurel Top Male Comedy Performance for: The Horse's Mouth (1958)

1958 2nd place Golden Laurel Top Male Dramatic Performance for: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

London Critics Circle Film Awards

1990 Won Special Achievement Award

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

1988 Won LAFCA Award Best Supporting Actor for: Little Dorrit (1988)

National Board of Review, USA

1957 Won NBR Award Best Actor for: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

1950 Won NBR Award Best Actor for: Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

New York Film Critics Circle Awards

1957 Won NYFCC Award Best Actor for: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Sant Jordi Awards

1961 Won Sant Jordi Best Foreign Actor (Mejor Actor Extranjero) for: The Horse's Mouth (1958) and The Prisoner (1955)

1959 Won Sant Jordi Best Foreign Actor (Mejor Actor Extranjero) for: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Venice Film Festival

1958 Won Volpi Cup Best Actor for: The Horse's Mouth (1958)

Walk of Fame

???? Won Star on the Walk of Fame Motion Picture At 1551 Vine Street.

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Sir Alec Guinness's career spanned more than 60 years, his performances ranging from Shakespeare to Ealing Studios comedies. His movie roles included an Oscar-winning performance as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), where his brand of subtly unhinged Britishness is at the heart of David Lean's film.

He started out as an advertising copywriter before winning a scholarship at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art. He then joined London's Old Vic theater in his early twenties, and had his big break as Osric in the company's production of Hamlet in 1934. Directed by Lean, Guinness entered films by way of several Charles Dickens adaptations, playing herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946) and Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948). After these, he became a fixture in gentle, barbed, endlessly pleasurable Ealing comedies: he was an entire family of murder victims, playing eight different characters, in Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949); a heist planner mild or mad in The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955); and an unworldly inventor in The Man in the White Suit (1951).

Guinness personally scripted The Horse's Mouth (1958), gifting himself with the role of unconventional artist Gulley Jimpson. He then specialized in military commanders losing ground, being passed over for promotion in Tunes of Glory (1960) and committing suicide in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973). As Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (1977), he took a percentage of the profits, earning a retirement income. But the great role of his later career was on TV as John Le Carre's spymaster in Tinker, Tailer, Soldier, Spy (1979) and Smiley's People (1982). Guinness was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1979 in recognition of his achievements in screen acting.

Salaries:

Little Dorrit (1988) £ 180,000
Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) $150,000 + 2% of profits
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) £ 6,000
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) £ 6,000

"An actor...can call on heaven and hell to mesmerize a group of innocents."

He passed away in Midhurst, Sussex, England, UK of cancer of the liver.