Alec Guinness on stage and screen

Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (1914–2000) was an English actor. In the British Film Institute listing of 1999 of the 100 most important British films of the 20th century, Guinness was single most noted actor, represented across nine films — six in starring roles and three in supporting roles.

Alec Guinness in 1973, by Allan Warren

Plaque installed by the British Film Institute in the City of Westminster, London in recognition of Guinness's contribution to British cinema

After an early career on the stage, Guinness made a name for himself in six Ealing Comedies, starting in 1949 with both A Run for Your Money and Kind Hearts and Coronets — in which he played nine different characters — going on to lead roles in The Lavender Hill Mob and The Man in the White Suit both in 1951, The Ladykillers in 1955, and culminating with Barnacle Bill in 1957.

Guinness is known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), General Yevgraf Zhivago in Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Professor Godbole in A Passage to India (1984).

Guinness is also known for his portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas's original Star Wars trilogy; for the original film, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 50th Academy Awards.

Guinness continued his acting in theatre throughout his working life, but his later life was closely associated with his definitive depiction of the leading role of George Smiley in the two BBC television series of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People by John le Carré.

Theatre

Stage credits of Guinness^[1][2]

Year	Production	Role	Theatre (London, unless otherwise noted)	Notes
1934	Libel!	Junior Counsel	Playhouse Theatre	Non-speaking role
	Queer Cargo	Chinese coolie, French Pirate and English Sailor	Piccadilly Theatre
	Hamlet	Osric and Third Player	New Theatre
1935	Noé/Noah	Wolf
	Romeo and Juliet	Sampson and Apothecary
1936	The Seagull	Workman then Yakov
	Love's Labour's Lost	Boyet	The Old Vic	Start of a season with the Old Vic Company; September 1936 – April 1937.
	As You Like It	Le Beau and William
	The Witch of Edmonton	Old Thorney
1937	Hamlet	Osric and Reynaldo
1937	Twelfth Night	Sir Andrew Aguecheek
	Henry V	Exeter
	Hamlet	Osric, Player Queen and Reynaldo	Elsinore Castle, Helsingør, Denmark	Put on by the Old Vic Company at Elsinore Castle
	Richard II	Aumerle and The Groom	Queen's Theatre	Start of a season with John Gielgud's Company at the Queen's Theatre, September 1937 – May 1938.
	The School for Scandal	Snake
1938	The Three Sisters	Fedotik
	The Merchant of Venice	Lorenzo
	The Doctor's Dilemma	Louis Dubedat	Richmond Theatre
	Trelawny of the 'Wells'	Arthur Gower	The Old Vic	Start of a season with the Old Vic Company. September to December 1938.
	Hamlet	Hamlet
	The Rivals	Bob Acres
1939	Hamlet	Hamlet		Start of Tour of Europe and Egypt with the Old Vic Company. January to April 1939.
	Henry V	Chorus		Tour
	The Rivals	Bob Acres
	Libel!	Emile Flordan
	Macbeth	Macbeth	Sheffield Playhouse, Sheffield
	The Ascent of F6	Michael Ransom	The Old Vic
	Romeo and Juliet	Romeo	Perth Theatre, Perth, Scotland	Part of the first Perth Scottish Theatre Festival
	Great Expectations	Herbert Pocket	Rudolf Steiner Hall	Version adapted by Guinness from Charles Dickens novel; Performed by The Actor's Company, a group Guinness had formed with George Devine and Marius Goring.
1940	Cousin Muriel	Richard Meilhac	Globe Theatre
	Saint Joan	The Dauphin	Palace Theatre
	The Tempest	Ferdinand	The Old Vic
	Thunder Rock	Charleston	Tour of England
	Flare Path	Fl. Lt. Graham	Henry Miller's Theatre, New York City, United States	Was temporarily released from his war service to perform in this production.
1946	The Brothers Karamazov	Mitya	Lyric Theatre	Adapted by Guinness from Fyodor Dostoevsky.
1946	The Vicious Circle[3]	Garcin	Arts Theatre
	King Lear	The Fool	New Theatre	Start of a season with the Old Vic Company at the New Theatre. September 1946 – May 1947.
	An Inspector Calls	Eric Birling
	Cyrano De Bergerac	De Guiche
1947	The Alchemist	Abel Drugger
	Richard II	Richard II		Start of a season with the Old Vic Company at the New Theatre. September 1947 – May 1948.
	Saint Joan	The Dauphin
1948	The Government Inspector	Khlestakov
	Coriolanus	Menenius Agrippa
	Twelfth Night	-		Director only for the Old Vic Company at the New Theatre. September 1948.
1949	The Human Touch	Dr. James Simpson	Savoy Theatre
	The Cocktail Party	Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly	Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland.
1950	The Cocktail Party	Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly	Henry Miller's Theatre, New York City, USA
1951	Hamlet	Hamlet	New Theatre	This production was also directed by Guinness.
1952	Under the Sycamore Tree	The Ant Scientist	Aldwych Theatre
1953	Richard III	Richard III	Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ontario, Canada	Start of a season at the Stratford Festival. July to September 1953.
	All's Well That Ends Well	King of France	Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ontario, Canada
1954	The Prisoner	The Cardinal	Globe Theatre
1956	Hotel Paradiso	Boniface	Winter Garden Theatre
1960	Ross	Aircraftman Ross / T. E. Lawrence	Theatre Royal Haymarket	Evening Standard Theatre Awards – Best Actor
1963	Exit the King	Berenger the First	Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and Royal Court Theatre
1964	Dylan	Dylan Thomas	Plymouth Theatre, New York City, USA	Drama League Awards-Distinguished Performance Award; Tony Awards- Best Actor
1966	Incident at Vichy	Von Berg	Phoenix Theatre
1966	Macbeth	Macbeth	Royal Court Theatre
1967	Wise Child	Jock Masters/Mrs. Artminster	Wyndham's Theatre
1968	The Cocktail Party	Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly	Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester, Sussex, Wyndham's Theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket	Production was also directed by Guinness.
1970	Time out of Mind	John	Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, Surrey.
1971	A Voyage Round My Father	Father	Theatre Royal Haymarket
1973	Habeas Corpus	Dr. Wickstead	Lyric Theatre
1975	A Family and a Fortune	Dudley	Apollo Theatre
1976	Yahoo	Dean Swift	Queen's Theatre	Adapted by Guinness from the works of Jonathan Swift.
1977	The Old Country	Hilary	Queen's Theatre
1984	Merchant of Venice	Shylock	Chichester Festival Theatre
1988	A Walk in the Woods	Andrey Botvinnik	Comedy Theatre

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1934	Evensong		Uncredited extra
1946	Great Expectations	Herbert Pocket as an adult
1948	Oliver Twist	Fagin
1949	Kind Hearts and Coronets	The Duke, The Banker, The Parson, The General, The Admiral, Young D'Ascoyne, Young Henry, Lady Agatha	National Board of Review Award for Best Actor Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
	A Run for Your Money	Whimple
1950	Last Holiday	George Bird
	The Mudlark	Benjamin Disraeli
1951	The Lavender Hill Mob	Henry Holland	Nastro d'Argento Award for Best Foreign Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
	The Man in the White Suit	Sidney Stratton
1952	The Card	Edward Henry 'Denry' Machin
1953	The Square Mile	Narrator	Short subject
	The Captain's Paradise	Capt. Henry St. James
	Malta Story	Flight Lieutenant Peter Ross RAF
1954	Father Brown	Father Brown
	The Stratford Adventure	Himself	Short subject
1955	Rowlandson's England	Narrator	Short subject
	To Paris with Love	Col. Sir Edgar Fraser
	The Prisoner	The Cardinal	Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
	The Ladykillers	Professor Marcus
1956	The Swan	Prince Albert
1957	The Bridge on the River Kwai	Col. Nicholson	Academy Award for Best Actor BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama National Board of Review Award for Best Actor New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor Nominated—Laurel Award for Top Male Dramatic Performance
	Barnacle Bill	Captain William Horatio Ambrose
1958	The Horse's Mouth	Gulley Jimson	Also writer Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor Volpi Cup for Best Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay Nominated—Laurel Award for Top Male Comedy Performance Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
1959	The Scapegoat	John Barratt/Jacques De Gue
	Our Man in Havana	Jim Wormold
1960	Tunes of Glory	Maj. Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M.	Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1961	A Majority of One	Koichi Asano
1962	H.M.S. Defiant	Captain Crawford
	Lawrence of Arabia	Prince Faisal
1964	The Fall of the Roman Empire	Marcus Aurelius
1965	Pasternak	Himself	Short subject
	Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious	Wilhelm Frick
	Doctor Zhivago	Lieutenant General Yevgraf Andreyevich Zhivago
1966	Hotel Paradiso	Benedict Boniface
	The Quiller Memorandum	Pol
1967	The Comedians in Africa	Himself	Short subject Uncredited
	The Comedians	Major H.O. Jones	Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
1970	Cromwell	King Charles I
	Scrooge	Jacob Marley's ghost
1972	Brother Sun, Sister Moon	Pope Innocent III
1973	Hitler: The Last Ten Days	Adolf Hitler
1976	Murder by Death	Jamesir Bensonmum
1977	Star Wars	Obi-Wan Kenobi	Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1980	The Empire Strikes Back
	Raise the Titanic	John Bigalow
1983	Lovesick	Sigmund Freud
	Return of the Jedi	Obi-Wan Kenobi
1984	A Passage to India	Professor Godbole
1987	Little Dorrit	William Dorrit	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
1988	A Handful of Dust	Mr. Todd
1991	Kafka	The Chief Clerk
1994	Mute Witness	The Reaper
2015	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	Obi-Wan Kenobi (voice)	Posthumous release; archival audio
2019	Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1955	Baker's Dozen	The Major	Television film
1959	The Wicked Scheme of Jebal Deeks	Jebal Deeks
1969	Conversation at Night	The Executioner
1970	Twelfth Night	Malvolio
1974	The Gift of Friendship	Jocelyn Broome
1976	Caesar and Cleopatra	Julius Caesar
1979	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	George Smiley	7 episodes British Academy Television Award for Best Actor Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actor
1980	Little Lord Fauntleroy	Earl of Dorincourt	Television film
1982	Smiley's People	George Smiley	6 episodes British Academy Television Award for Best Actor Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1984	Edwin	Sir Fennimore Truscott	Television film
1987	Monsignor Quixote	Monsignor Quixote	Television film Nominated—British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
1992	Tales from Hollywood	Heinrich Mann	Television film
1993	A Foreign Field	Amos
1996	Eskimo Day	James