10 Best Movies Starring Sir Alec Guinness

10 Best Movies Starring Sir Alec Guinness

Sir Alec Guinness has delighted many generations as not only Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars but through some of the best movies of all time.

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A renowned actor on the stage as well as on the screen, Sir Alec Guinness entertained audiences across generations and continues to do so, even after his passing in 2000. His most famous role is perhaps the wise Obi-Wan Kenobi in the classic Star Wars trilogy, for which he was nominated for four different awards, two of which he won.

But before he picked up the lightsaber to battle Darth Vader, he appeared and starred in a number of movies, some of which are considered to be the greatest in history. Some of these movies went on to win a number of awards, including Best Actor for Guinness himself.

10 Great Expectations (1946)

One of Guinness’ first movies was an adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations. The story is about Pip (played by John Mills as an adult) as he mysteriously inherits a fortune and aspires to become a gentleman to impress the love of his life, Estella (Valerie Hobson).

Guinness plays the sprightly Herbert Pocket, providing relief and fun to the movie by teaching Pip to behave like a gentleman. Whilst the tale has been adapted frequently for the screen, it is perhaps this version that remains the most famous.

9 Oliver Twist (1948)

Guinness then went on to star in another Dickens adaptation, Oliver Twist. This time, he had a larger role – the sinister Fagin, a role that has also been played by Ron Moody, Sir Ben Kingsley, Timothy Spall, and Rowan Atkinson.

The movie was a huge success on release and part of the success is, without a doubt, because of Guinness’ portrayal as the famous Dickensian villain, despite the attracted controversy that came with the part. According to Independent, the movie’s release was delayed in the U.S. for three years, as a result.

8 Kind Hearts & Coronets (1949)

Guinness featured in a number of comedies produced by Ealing Studios known as The Ealing Comedies. One of the most renowned is Kind Hearts & Coronets, a black comedy about a son of a disowned aristocrat who decides to take revenge by inheriting the title of Duke of Chalfont through murdering the eight relatives next in line for the dukedom, one by one.

This movie remains one of Guinness’ most memorable, as he played a whopping eight characters in the movie, which were all eight of the relatives/murder victims.

7 The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

The Lavender Hill Mob is another Ealing Comedy and perhaps the earliest well-known heist movie. Guinness stars alongside Stanley Holloway as a clerk and his neighbor who plot to steal gold bars from the Bank of England and smuggle them to France.

The Lavender Hill Mob was a success, with Guinness nominated for Best Actor, and it remains one of the most popular heist movies to this day. This film also remains famous for being one of the first and best movies of another screen icon, Audrey Hepburn.

6 The Man In The White Suit (1951)

That same year, Guinness starred in The Man in the White Suit, another comedy film produced by Ealing Studios. The movie is about Sidney Stratton (played by Guinness), a young scientist who creates a new dirt-resistant fabric. As a result, he is the target of the textile mill bosses and the trade unions, who realize this new fabric could put them out of a job.

Mark Duguid, a senior curator at the BFI National Archive, commented on BFI’s Screenonline that, “It is arguably the best of Guinness’s string of fine performances for the studio.”

5 The Ladykillers (1955)

A fourth Ealing comedy is among the best movies starring Guinness – this time a comedy crime caper. The Ladykillers sees Guinness lead a team of crooks who con a sweet old widow into using her home as a hideout and ultimately helping them with a robbery.

Once she discovers their plans, they each take turns to try and kill her … only to be killed themselves. The film was well-received, with The Guardian claiming “aside from Scotch whiskey, Mr. Alec Guinness is the best export to America we have got.”

4 The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

Considered one of the best British movies of all time, the war film The Bridge on the River Kwai received great critical acclaim and won several awards, including seven of the eight Academy Awards it was nominated for. One of these awards was Best Actor for Guinness as Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson, leader of the British prisoners of war in a Japanese prison camp.

Oddly, Guinness was not the first choice for the role, and he noted in his autobiography quoted by RogerEbert.com that director David Lean “didn’t particularly want [Guinness]” for the part.

3 Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

Lawrence of Arabia is an epic based on the experiences of British soldier T.E. Lawrence (played by Peter O’Toole) in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Guinness starred alongside O’Toole as Prince Faisal, a role originally intended for Laurence Olivier.

His makeup was so well done that, according to PRI.org, he was mistaken for the Prince when he was in Jordan, where it was filmed. The movie is regarded as one of the greatest war movies of all time and it went on to win seven Academy Awards.

2 Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Another widely acclaimed film to feature Guinness is Doctor Zhivago. Unlike Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago was not received well by critics when it was first released, but its success and acclaim have grown over time.

Guinness plays the part of Zhivago’s uncle General Yevgraf. Whilst a supporting role rather than a starring one, it is he that ties the movie together with the opening and closing scenes and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, “he makes his role humanistic, amiable and endearing.”

1 Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

No Alec Guinness compilation would be complete without at least one Star Wars movie. But it is A New Hope, the movie that started an entire franchise phenomenon, that stands out as one of Guinness’s best movies.

Audiences see Alex Guinness take the role of the legendary Obi-Wan Kenobi, who acts as a guide for Luke Skywalker and is the first to battle the sinister Darth Vader. This role introduced new generations to the iconic Sir Alec Guinness and continues to do so to this day.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/sir-alec-guinness-best-movies/

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