Alec Guinness

British actor, writer (1914–2000) | 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 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

Photograph from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) featuring Terence Rigby (as Roy Bland) and Alec Guinness (as George Smiley) — Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) photograph | Rigby, Alec Guinness

Photograph from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) featuring Alec Guinness (as George Smiley) (1) — Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) photograph (1) | Alec Guinness

Select Alec Guinness Filmography

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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

- Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- Today at 4.45am on Sky Cinema Greats HD
- An adventurer’s life with the Arabs, told in flashbacks after his accidental death in the thirties.
- The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
- Tomorrow at 11.40am on Sky Cinema Action HD
- Tuesday at 3.30am on Sky Cinema Action HD
- Saturday at 9.15am on Sky Cinema Select
- British POWs in Burma are employed by the Japanese to build a bridge; meanwhile British agents seek to destroy it.
- The Ladykillers (1955)
- Tomorrow at 3.10pm on Film4 HD
- Friday at 4.25am on Sky Cinema Greats HD
- 24^th January at 12.55pm on Film4 HD
- 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.
- Father Brown (1954)
  
  [as The Detective]
- Tuesday at 9.15am on Sony Movies Action
- Thursday at 7.10pm on Sony Movies Classic
- Thursday at 8.10pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- Thursday at 8.10pm on Sony Movies Classic
- Thursday at 9.10pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- 24^th January at 12.50pm on Sony Movies Classic
- 24^th January at 1.50pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- 24^th January at 1.50pm on Sony Movies Classic
- 24^th January at 2.50pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- 25^th January at 5.15pm on Sony Movies Classic
- 25^th January at 6.15pm on Sony Movies Classic
- 25^th January at 6.15pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- 25^th January at 7.15pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- A Catholic clergyman retrieves a priceless church cross from master thief Flambeau.
- The Prisoner (1955)
- Wednesday at 1.05pm on Sony Movies Classic
- Wednesday at 2.05pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- Wednesday at 2.05pm on Sony Movies Classic
- Wednesday at 3.05pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- Friday at 6am on Sony Movies Classic
- Friday at 7am on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- In a European totalitarian state, a cardinal is tortured and brainwashed.
- Our Man in Havana (1959)
- Thursday at 9pm on Sony Movies Classic
- Thursday at 10pm on Sony Movies Classic
- Thursday at 10pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- Thursday at 11pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- 24^th January at 6.40pm on Sony Movies Classic
- 24^th January at 7.40pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- 24^th January at 7.40pm on Sony Movies Classic
- 24^th January at 8.40pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- 27^th January at 6.50pm on Sony Movies Classic
- 27^th January at 7.50pm on Sony Movies Classic
- 27^th January at 7.50pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- 27^th January at 8.50pm on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- A British vacuum cleaner salesman in Havana allows himself to be recruited as a spy, and wishes he hadn’t.
- Tunes of Glory (1960)
- 30^th January at 2.55am on Sony Movies Classic
- 30^th January at 3.55am on Sony Movies Classic Plus 1
- The new disciplinarian CO of a Highland regiment crosses swords with his lax, hard-drinking predecessor.

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.