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Biography
Sir John Gielgud (1904-2000) was an outstanding British actor whose illustrious career extended for almost eighty years. He was born into a famous acting family: his great-aunt was Ellen Terry; his great-uncle was Fred Terry who created the role of The Scarlet Pimpernel; his grandmother, Kate Terry Gielgud, played Cordelia at the age of 14; and his brother, Val Gielgud, was a playwright and radio producer.
He was educated at Westminster School and, aged 16, made his stage debut in 1921 at the Old Vic, playing the English herald in Shakespeare's Henry V. He was hired by His cousin, Phylis Neilson-Terry, recruited him to be an assistant stage manager and understudy in The Wheel in 1922. He studied for the stage at Lady Benson's Dramatic Academy and then spent a year at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. His first major London success was as the student, Trofimov, in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. In 1924, he was Noël Coward's understudy and took over from him as the lead in The Vortex and The Constant Nymph.
He then joined J. B. Fagan's company in Oxford and in the West End before being invited by Lilian Baylis to return to the Old Vic in 1929. Over the next two seasons, he established himself as the leading interpreter of Shakespeare’s major tragic roles. At the age of 26, he played Hamlet to universal acclaim. It was a role that he returned to in hi own 1933 production and that he was, during his long career, to perform over 500 times.
Important non-Shakespeare roles included John Worthing in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest (1930) and Gordon Daviot’s Richard of Bordeaux (1932) that made him a popular West End star. His superb performances in and his direction of The Seagull (1936), The Three Sisters (1937) and The Cherry Orchard (1961) did much to secure Chekhov’s place in the English-speaking stage repertoire. In the 1950s, he did much, as an actor and director, to establish modern playwrights, including Terence Rattigan and Graham Greene.
Although the theatre was obviously his main interest, Gielgud also had a most successful film career. He won an Oscar for perhaps the lightest of his roles - the butler role in Arthur (1981), but his really great performances are found elsewhere – the conspiratorial scene-stealing Cassius in Julius Caesar (1953); Clarence in Olivier's Richard III (1955); the poignant, tragic Henry IV in Orson Welles's elegiac Chimes at Midnight (1966); and his astonishing Prospero in Peter Greenaway's amazing reworking of The Tempest as Prospero's Books (1991).
He was the author of autobiographies (Early Stages, 1939; An Actor in His Time, 1979) and studies of acting (Stage Directions, 1963; Acting Shakespeare, 1991). He was knighted in 1953.
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| 000911 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | THE TRAGEDY OF KING LEAR (by Shakespeare) with John Gielgud & Moira Lister |
| 010760 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | KING HENRY VIII (by Shakespeare) with John Gielgud & Edith Evans |
| 012279 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | THE COMPLAISANT LOVER (by Graham Greene) with Ralph Richardson & Paul Scofield |
| 012536 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | OEDIPUS SENECA (adapt. Ted Hughes) with JOHN GIELGUD |
| 014588 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | THE LAST JOKE (by Enid Bagnold) with Sir JOHN GIELGUD & Sir RALPH RICHARDSON |
| 014598 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | IVANOV (by Anton Chekov; adapt. John Gielgud) with JOHN GIELGUD & CLAIRE BLOOM |
| 014758 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | THE BEST OF FRIENDS (by Hugh Whitemore) with JOHN GIELGUD |
| 014884 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | BEST OF FRIENDS (by Hugh Whitemore) with JOHN GIELGUD |
| 000298 |
Theatre: Programs - Souvenir | SHAKESPEARE MEMORIAL THEATRE - 1950 season |
| 000023 |
Theatre: Playbills | HOME (by David Storey) with John Gielgud & Ralph Richardson |
| 010843 |
Theatre: Playbills | ABSENCE OF A CELLO (by Ira Wallach) |
| 015574 |
Theatre: Playbills | FIVE FINGER EXERCISE (by Peter Shafer) with Jessica Tandy |
| 011817 |
Cinema & TV: Signed Material | Sir JOHN GIELGUD - signed photo |
| 011825 |
Cinema & TV: Signed Material | Sir JOHN GIELGUD - signed photo |
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