| Sir Alec Guinness - 1914 - 2000 | |
| by Tom Fogg | |
 The sad news appeared in Monday's newspapers of the death at the age of 86, Sir Alec Guinness. After an illustrious career spanning seven decades Guinness was noted for his versatility and penchant for subtle disguises that the personality's of the characters he played were so often concealed. The most famous example of this being his magnificent performances of eight members (including a woman) of the D'Ascoyne family in Kind Hearts and Coronets in 1949. After a lonely childhood he had always harboured the wish to be an actor, spending his pocket money at the Old Vic, and after studying acting at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art he joined John Gielgud's company in 1936. His first major screen role that of was Herbert Pocket in David Lean's, Great Expectations (1946), the start of one of the most successful Actor/Director collaborations in cinematic history that would last nearly 40 years. Lean employed Guinness in 6 of his greatest epics, utilising his unsurpassable talent for character acting in roles ranging from Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), the marvellously eloquent Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) to the potent Yevgraf Zhivago in Doctor Zhivago (1965). In a comment made in between Great Expectations and Oliver Twist he generously stated of Lean, "I owe David my career." A firm disbeliever in The Method, there are many further examples of his remarkable versatility as a character actor, he played: Benjamin Disraeli; Adolf Hitler; Marcus Aurelius; Charles I; Marley's ghost in Scrooge; Pope Innocent III and Sigmund Freud. Of course, sadly, his most famous character was that of Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (1977), a role that, although paid terribly well, he came to resent for "those bloody awful lines." Sir Alec Guinness was nominated for 4 Academy Awards, won Best Actor for his excellent character study of a proud British officer in Bridge On The River Kwai in 1957. Also, in the 1980 Oscar ceremony he received an Honorary Award for, "advancing the art of screen acting through a host of memorable and distinguished roles. He was knighted by the Queen in 1959 at the age of just 45 for his achievements on stage and screen. He leaves a widow, Merula Guinness after 62 years of marriage.
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