Alec Guinness

(1914–2000)

British actor, writer (d. 86) | The Man in the White Suit (1951), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Distinguished British stage actor, who in the late 1940s started a spectacular film career first as a master of disguise, then as a young hero and later as any character from Hitler to Obi Wan Kenobi

Mini Biography

Alec Guinness received an honorary Oscar in 1979 ‘for advancing the art of screen acting’.

Latest Alec Guinness Pictures

Main title from the 2016 ‘War Films’ episode of Talking Pictures (2013) (1) — Talking Pictures (2013) | War Films (2016) opening credits (1)

Screenshot from The Quiller Memorandum (1966) (1) featuring Alec Guinness as Pol — The Quiller Memorandum (1966) screenshot (1) | Alec Guinness

Main title from The Man in the White Suit (1951) (10) featuring Alec Guinness as Sidney Stratton and Cecil Parker as Alan Birnley — The Man in the White Suit (1951) photograph (10) | Guinness, Parker

Photograph from The Man in the White Suit (1951) (9) featuring Alec Guinness as Sidney Stratton — The Man in the White Suit (1951) photograph (9) | Alec Guinness

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Personal Details

Born

Died

Born

Alec Guinness was born (as Alec Guinness de Cuffe) in Marylebone, London on 2^nd April, 1914.
Died

Alec Guinness died of liver cancer in Midhurst, West Sussex on 5^th August, 2000, aged 86.

Watch Alec Guinness on British television

- The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
- British POWs in Burma are employed by the Japanese to build a bridge; meanwhile British agents seek to destroy it.
- Tomorrow at 2.25pm on Sky Cinema Greats HD
- Sunday at 7pm on GREAT! movies action
- Tunes of Glory (1960)
- The new disciplinarian CO of a Highland regiment crosses swords with his lax, hard-drinking predecessor.
- Monday at 2.50am on GREAT! movies classic
- Monday at 3.50am on GREAT! movies classic Plus 1
- Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973)
- With Adolf and Eva in the bunker.
- Tuesday at 5.35pm on TCM Movies HD
- Tuesday at 6.35pm on TCM Movies Plus 1
- 7^th July at 9.05am on TCM Movies HD
- 7^th July at 10.05am on TCM Movies Plus 1
- Our Man in Havana (1959)
- A British vacuum cleaner salesman in Havana allows himself to be recruited as a spy, and wishes he hadn’t.
- Tuesday at 6.45pm on GREAT! movies classic
- Tuesday at 7.45pm on GREAT! movies classic Plus 1
- 8^th July at 9.10am on GREAT! movies classic
- 8^th July at 10.10am on GREAT! movies classic Plus 1
- 11^th July at 10.45am on GREAT! movies classic
- 11^th July at 11.45am on GREAT! movies classic Plus 1
- The Ladykillers (1955)
- An old lady takes in a sinister lodger, who with his four friends commits a robbery. When she finds out, they plot to kill her, but are hoist with their own petards.
- 8^th July at 7pm on TCM Movies HD
- 8^th July at 8pm on TCM Movies Plus 1
- Oliver Twist (1948)
- A foundling falls among thieves, but is rescued by a benevolent old gentleman.
- 10^th July at 2.40pm on Talking Pictures TV

Alec Guinness News

- Alec Guinness letters and diaries sold to the British Library
- 10^th February, 2013
- Diaries and letters of the British theatre knight, Alec Guinness, have been acquired by the British Library.