Biography
Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe) was an English actor whose career spanned more than sixty years. He began on the stage in 1934 and appeared in numerous films, including eight roles in the Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).
Guinness collaborated six times with director David Lean and played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy (1977–1983). Later credits include Kafka (1991), in which he played The Chief Clerk. He was knighted in 1959 and received the Academy Honorary Award in 1980.
