The acting world has been paying tribute to Sir Alec Guinness, who died at the weekend aged of 86.

Sir Alec was a versatile performer whose career spanned six decades, from the Ealing comedies and adaptations of Charles Dickens' novels, to the Star Wars character, Obi Wan Kenobi and the television spymaster George Smiley.

The actor, who died at the King Edward VII Hospital in Midhurst, West Sussex on Saturday, had been suffering from ill health for a number of years.

Sir Alec was said to have hated his part in Star Wars

He was one of the last surviving members of a great generation of UK actors, which included Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Mills.

Mills, who acted with Sir Alec in the classic films Great Expectations and Tunes of Glory, described him as a "very, very rare" individual.

"Alec was very, very unusual," he said. "He was first of all, as you know, a very, very great actor but he was very, very retiring, shy, very charming and he had great humility.

"I was lucky enough to know him very well indeed, we were great friends."

Sir John also revealed that Sir Alec was so keen to keep his privacy he had not even told him he was ill.

"He was a very shy man and it is not surprising that he just went away very quietly," he said.

In The Lavender Hill Mob, 1951

He added: "I remember him as first of all a wonderful actor, one of the best actors I have ever acted with and as a sweet, lovely person."

Ronald Neame, the producer of Great Expectations and Oliver Twist in which Sir Alec starred, said he was "shattered by the news". He told BBC Radio Five Live that Sir Alec was one of the all-time greats.

"He taught me more about acting than anybody else I have ever met or am likely to meet," he said.

"He was like a chameleon - he became the character he was playing. I made six pictures with him and they were the happiest films of my entire life."

'Terribly sad news'

Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, Sir Alec's former publicist and agent, said: "This is terribly sad news."

He told the Daily Telegraph: "I know Alec had been ill for some time and his wife is not that well either. He was a marvellous actor and will be sorely missed."

Sir Alec was taken to hospital by ambulance on Thursday from his home in the village of Steep Marsh, near Petersfield, Hampshire.

A Hampshire Ambulance spokesman said: "We received a routine call on Thursday evening from his GP and took him to hospital. It wasn't an emergency."

The hospital would not reveal the cause of death, but Sir Alec had been suffering from ill health for a number of years.

He had chronic glaucoma and had undergone cataract surgery to restore his vision.

Star Wars

The actor, whose career covered 60 years, was famous for his role in the Ealing comedy films.

His performance as the Colonel in Bridge On the River Kwai won him an Oscar and led to his knighthood in the same year, 1959.

Older cinema fans remember him tackling eight different roles in the 1949 comedy classic "Kind Hearts and Coronets," but to anyone under 30 he was probably most famous for playing the part of Obi-Wan Kenobi in 1977's Star Wars.

It was, however, a role he said he disliked, throwing away all Star Wars fan-mail unopened.

Sir Alec married playwright Merula Salaman in 1938. They had one son, Matthew.

Just two months ago Sir Alec attended Sir John Gielgud's memorial service.

The Star Wars film maker George Lucas paid tribute, describing Sir Alec as "one of the most talented and respected actors of his generation".

He added: "I was looking for an actor who brought a certain authority to the role - someone who was powerful yet gentle and that came across in Alec as a person and as an actor."

Film critic Sheridan Morley told BBC News 24 that, unlike many esteemed actors of his generation, Sir Alec knew screen-acting was completely different from the stage.

"He realised that cinema was something new just after the war, he also understood the others were very theatrical on film, almost over the top," he said.

"He was very quiet, he understood the camera, he understood that if you let the camera come to you and don't go out to it, it becomes a very powerful weapon."

George Lucas was amongst the first to pay tribute

He said Guinness's partnership with the director David Lean - which first produced two Charles Dickens adaptations, Oliver Twist and Great Expectations - went on to produce an extraordinary run of epics.

These included Bridge on the River Kwai, Dr Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and A passage to India.

He agreed with George Lucas that Guinness was "a gentle, modest man, very religious".

Mr Morley said Guinness's best acting had to be found in the film Kind Hearts and Coronets, where Sir Alec played eight different roles.

He said: "He was a great disguise actor, not even Peter Sellers who was pretty good as a mimic, got through eight separate roles in 90 minutes and made them all distinct."

Filmmaker Ronald Neame, who produced the two Dickens films, felt devastated by the news.

"He was one of the all time greats of both stage and screen. Professionally and personally he was one of my greatest friends and I am absolutely shattered," he said.

Eye for detail

The American actress Eileen Brennan starred with him in "Murder by Death" and knew him well.

She told 5Live: "I remember warmth from him, he had an eye for detail...his detail of a character was superb."

She said despite his reputation as an excellent actor she was never in awe of him as he had such a benevolent personality.

Ms Brennan said she was still in shock over the news of his death.

She said: "I had a letter on my desk, sealed up to mail to him. Now I'll put it in with another letter to his wife."