Guinness, Alec ___ 1914-2000 ___ British ___ actor

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Guinness was born in London, went to work in advertising but then switched to the theatre, making his stage debut in 1934 as an extra at the King's Theatre. In 1937, he joined John Gielgud's acting company and appeared in many theatre classics. A year later he married Merula Salaman, and they had one son. During the war, he served in the Royal Navy, first as a seaman then as an officer with various commands in the Mediterranean area. Although he returned to the stage after the war, he also became increasingly involved with films, starring in many of the Ealing comedies, such as 'Kind Hearts and Coronets, 'The Ladykillers' and 'The Man in the White Suit'. In 1954, he converted to Roman Catholicism. Guinness remained a star in the late 1950s and 1960s thanks to films such as 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' (for which the British Academy awarded him a best actor award. He was knighted in 1959. In the 1970s, Guinness seemed to have more success in television, particularly in the role of George Smiley in several serialisations of John le Carré novels. And then, in the late 1970s and 1980s, he won over a new generation of fans by appearing in the 'Star Wars' movies. During 1995, he wrote a diary recording day-to-day events intermingled with memories.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - I noticed my feet

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1995 ___ travel theatre film people society

WEB TEXT LINKS
a few pages
about

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
 

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
My Name Escapes Me
 

May 2005, June 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.