Sir Alec Guinness CH CBE was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets, in which he played nine different characters, The Lavender Hill Mob, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination, and The Ladykillers. He collaborated six times with director David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations, Fagin in Oliver Twist, Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai, Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia, General Yevgraf Zhivago in Doctor Zhivago, and Professor Godbole in A Passage to India. In 1970 he played Jacob Marley's ghost in Ronald Neame's Scrooge. He also portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas's original Star Wars trilogy; for the original 1977 film, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 50th Academy Awards.
Guinness began his stage career in 1934. Two years later, at the age of 22, he played the role of Osric in Hamlet in the West End and joined the Old Vic. He continued to play Shakespearean roles throughout his career.