Alec Guinness

Merula planned to write a book about her relationship with Guinness but died before the book was written. Hunter's two previous marriages included actress Barbara Rush in the early 1950s. The biography also states, on the basis of letters written by his wife, Merula, that Guinness was an emotionally abusive husband who regularly publicly humiliated both his wife and son. He died the following day from his injuries. Either date is several years after his 1938 marriage -- http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biog2/guin1.html and http://myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/~stafflag/alecguinness.html (The Knitting Circle of South Bank University). In May 1969, shortly after marrying actress Emily McLaughlin, he suffered a cerebrovascular accident while at home, causing a fall and a skull fracture. NOTE: Other accounts give the date of the Liverpool arrest as 1946. With the demise of the studio contract system in the early 1960s and the out-sourcing of much feature production, Hunter like many other leading men of the 1950s had to find work in B-pictures produced in Europe, Hong Kong, and Mexico, with the occasional television guest part in Hollywood.

When arrested the actor gave as his name Herbert Pocket, the character he had just played in David Lean's film version of Great Expectations and was prosecuted and fined under that name, but avoided public scandal because the police never realised the true identity of "Pocket" until decades later. But Hunter was soon filming the pilot for yet another NBC series, the espionage thriller Journey Into Fear, which the network failed to pick up and a motion picture called Brainstorm (1965). It also revealed that the actor was arrested in Liverpool in 1948 for cottaging (soliciting for sex in a public toilet). Although Temple Houston did not survive its first season, NBC offered him the lead role of Captain Christopher Pike in the pilot episode (The Cage) of a new science fiction series, Star Trek. His pensive take on the role was in contrast to the more idiosyncratic style of William Shatner, who took the part after Hunter, deciding to concentrate on motion pictures, declined to film a second Star Trek pilot requested by NBC in 1965. A 2003 biography of Guinness, by the author Piers Paul Read, revealed that the actor was bisexual, who before his marriage had had several homosexual relationships. that included starring as a circuit-riding Texas lawyer in the NBC series Temple Houston (1963-64), which Hunter's production company co-produced. Guinness wrote three volumes of bestselling autobiography, beginning with Blessings in Disguise in 1985, followed by My Name Escapes Me in 1996 and A Positively Final Appearance in 1999. Having guest starred on television dramas since the mid-1950s, Hunter was now offered a two-year contract by Warner Bros.

He has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1559 Vine Street. Among an all-star cast in the World War II battle epic The Longest Day (1962), he provided the climactic heroic act of breaching the defense wall atop Normandy's Omaha Beach. He was appointed CBE in 1955, was knighted in 1959, and became a Companion of Honour in 1994. Ford also recommended Hunter to director Nicholas Ray for the role of Jesus in the biblical King of Kings (1961), a difficult part met by critical reaction that ranged from praise to ridicule. Sir Alec Guinness died of liver cancer on August 5, 2000, at Midhurst in West Sussex, and was interred near Petersfield, Hampshire, England. A loan-out to co-star with John Wayne in the title roles of the now-classic western The Searchers (1956) began the first of three pictures he made with director John Ford, followed by The Last Hurrah (1958) and Sergeant Rutledge (1960). One of his last appearances was in the acclaimed BBC drama Eskimo Day. Hunter's handsome looks and gentle manner recalled two earlier Fox stars, Tyrone Power and the young Henry Fonda.

From the 1970s, Guinness made regular television appearances, including the part of George Smiley in the serialisations of two novels by John le Carré: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People. He made his Hollywood debut in Fourteen Hours (1951), had star billing by Red Skies of Montana (1952), and first billing in Sailor of the King (1953). He would throw out any fan mail regarding Star Wars without reading it. In 1950, while a graduate student in radio at the University of California, Los Angeles and appearing in a college play, he was spotted by talent scouts and offered a two-year motion picture contract by 20th Century Fox that was eventually extended to 1959. His part as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars brought him worldwide recognition by a new generation (and reputedly lots of money), though he was never happy with being identified with the part. He served stateside in the United States Navy in World War II, then studied drama at Northwestern University. He also received an Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievements in 1980. He was born Henry Herman McKinnies, Jr. in New Orleans, Louisiana, and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he began acting in local theater and radio in his early teens.

He was nominated again in 1958 for his screenplay adapted from Joyce Cary's novel The Horse's Mouth. Jeffrey Hunter (November 25, 1926 - May 27, 1969) was a film and television actor. His film appearances ranged from Lawrence of Arabia to The Bridge on the River Kwai, for which he won an Academy Award as best actor in 1957. Guinness was also a talented dramatic and character actor. In 1954 during the shooting of the film Father Brown, he converted to Roman Catholicism and became devout, attending church regularly for the rest of his life.

In 1952, director Ronald Neame cast Guinness in his first romantic lead role, opposite Petula Clark in The Card. Other films from this period included The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers, and The Man in the White Suit. He was initially mainly associated with the Ealing comedies, and particularly for playing 12 different characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets. He returned to the Old Vic in 1946.

During the War he appeared in Terence Rattigan's West End Play for Bomber Command, Flare Path. Alec Guinness served in the Royal Navy throughout World War II, serving first as a seaman in 1941 and being commissioned the following year and commanded a landing craft taking part in the invasion of Sicily and Elba and later ferrying supplies to the Yugoslav partisans. He married the artist, playwright, and actress Merula Salaman in 1938, and they had a son, Matthew, in 1940. Born in London, he first worked in advertising before making his debut at the Old Vic in 1936.

Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (April 2, 1914 - August 5, 2000) was a British actor who became one of the most versatile and best loved performers of his generation. Great Expectations (1946). Oliver Twist (1948). Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949).

A Run for Your Money (1949). Last Holiday (1950). The Mudlark (1950). The Lavender Hill Mob (1951).

The Man in the White Suit (1951). The Card (1952). The Captain's Paradise (1953). The Square Mile (1953) (voice).

The Malta Story (1953). Father Brown (1954). The Stratford Adventure (1954). To Paris with Love (1955).

The Prisoner (1955). The Ladykillers (1955). Rowlandson's England (1955). The Swan (1956).

The Bridge on the River Kwai(1957). Barnacle Bill (1957). The Horse's Mouth (1958). The Scapegoat (1959).

Our Man in Havana (1959). Tunes of Glory (1960). A Majority of One (1961). Defiant (1962).

H.M.S. Lawrence of Arabia (1962). The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964). Doctor Zhivago (1965).

But Not Serious (1965). Situation Hopeless.. Hotel Paradiso (1966). The Quiller Memorandum (1966).