Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 - 5 August 2000) was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He 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.
[>>]Source: WikipediaSir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 - 5 August 2000) was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He 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.
Early years
Guinness was born at 155 Lauderdale Mansions South, Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale, London as Alec Guinness de Cuffe. His mother's maiden name was Agnes Cuff. She was born 8 December 1890 to Edward Cuff and Mary Ann née Benfield. On Guinness's birth certificate, the field for mother's name displays Agnes de Cuffe. In the field for the infant's name (where first names only are usually given), it says Alec Guinness. There is nothing written in the column for name and surname of father. On this basis it has been frequently speculated that the actor's father was a member of the Irish Guinness family. However, it was a Scottish banker named Andrew Geddes who paid for Guinness's private school education. From 1875, English law required both the presence and consent of the father when the birth of an illegitimate child was registered in order for his name to be put on the certificate. Guinness and Geddes never met, and the identity of Guinness's father has never been confirmed. Guinness hated his mother, who later had a short marriage to a violent shell shocked veteran of the Anglo-Irish War.
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