Alec Guinness biography

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From his youth, Guinness was interested in acting, though he was not much encouraged. At age 18 he began working for an advertising agency, but he soon began to study acting and made his stage debut in 1934 as an extra at the King's Theatre in Hammersmith, London. Three years later he got his first real break when he joined the acting company of John Gielgud. As a member of the company he appeared in such classics as Richard II (1937), The School for Scandal (1937), The Three Sisters (1937), and The Merchant of Venice (1938). In 1938 he starred in a popular modern-dress version of Hamlet at London's Old Vic. While on leave from the Royal Navy during World War II, he made his New York stage debut in a 10-day Christmas run of Flare Path (1942–43), and in later years he appeared there in T.S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party (1964) and in a play about the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, Dylan (1964).

Guinness's initial screen role was as Pip's friend Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), an adaptation of the novel by Charles Dickens. After this he performed in Oliver Twist (1948) and a series of Ealing Studios comedies, notably the internationally popular Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), in which he played the roles of each of eight heirs to a dukedom, as well as The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The Man in the White Suit (1951), and The Ladykillers (1955).

One of the more unique aspects of Guinness's talent was his ability to disappear into a role, thus belying the dictum that actors without a consistent screen persona are not likely to become stars. Fellow actor Peter Ustinov once called Guinness “the outstanding poet of anonymity,” in reference to Guinness's ability to create complex characterizations without incorporating his own recognizable personal traits and mannerisms. Guinness's characters ranged from meek to malevolent, from timid bank clerks to fiery military officers, and all were noted for their depth and credibility, even those that called for him to wear layers of heavy makeup and prosthetics.