Sir Alec Guinness

Name at birth: Alec Guinness de Cuffe

Knighted in 1959, Guinness was one of the most celebrated actors of the 20th century. He is known to modern audiences as the man who played "Ben" Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). After starting on the English stage and serving in World War II, Guinness made his reputation in cinema with Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948) and 1949's Kind Hearts and Coronets (in which he played 8 different roles). In the 1950s he established himself as one of the great actors in movies. His films included The Lavender Hill Mob (1951, his first Oscar nomination), Bridge On The River Kwai (1957, he won the best actor Oscar) and The Horse's Mouth (1958, he wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay). During the '60s and '70s he made comedies and epics, including Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr. Zhivago (1965) and Murder By Death (1976), then signed on for the George Lucas series of Star Wars movies, earning an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi. On television he was a critical and popular success as John Le Carré's George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979) and Smiley's People (1982), and one of his last films, Little Dorrit (1988), earned him another Oscar nomination.