Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. He featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. Guinness later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai. His most prominent role in his later career was as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Guinness was born at ...
more
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. He featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. Guinness later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai. His most prominent role in his later career was as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Guinness was born at 155 Lauderdale Mansions South, Lauderdale Road in Maida Vale, London as Alec Guinness de Cuffe. Under the column for name (where the first names only are usually stated) his birth certificate says 'Alec Guinness'. There is nothing written in the column for name and surname of father. In the column for mother's name is written 'Agnes de Cuffe'. On this basis it has been frequently speculated that the actor's father was a member of the Irish Guinness family. However, his benefactor was a Scottish banker named Andrew Geddes, and the similarity of...
less