John Gielgud

Pictured with Ralph Richardson on one of a set of eight British commemorative postage stamps celebrating the 200th anniversary of The Old Vic Theatre, issued 30 August 2018. The stamp shows Gielgud and Richardson in a 1975 performance of "No Man's Land". Other performers appearing on stamps in this set are Laurence Olivier, Glenda Jackson, Albert Finney, Maggie Smith, Sharon Benson, Judi Dench, John Stride, and Richard Burton.

Archive footage of him as Hamlet appears briefly on the computer screen of Ethan Hawke as Hamlet (2000) in the year 2000 version of Shakespeare's play. The role is considered the summit for a tragedian, and Gielgud was the most celebrated Hamlet of the 20th century, surpassing even John Barrymore, Laurence Olivier and Richard Burton in acclaim for his stage portrayal of the melancholy Dane.

He was predeceased by his longtime lover, Martin Hensler (who was almost four decades younger than Gielgud), in December 1998.

In December 1996 he was made a member of "Order of Merit" by Queen Elizabeth II for exceptional contributions to the arts.

He believed that animals should not be exploited. He was particularly fond of birds and joined PETA's campaign against the foie gras industry in the early 1990s, narrating PETA's video exposé of the force-feeding of geese and ducks. Many chefs and restaurateurs who saw that video dropped foie gras from their menus. He received PETA's Humanitarian of the Year Award twice, in 1994 and 1999.

He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Special Award in 1986 (1985 season) for lifetime achievement to theatre.

He has two roles in common with both Malcolm McDowell and Michael York: (1) McDowell played King Arthur in Arthur the King (1985), York played him in The Wonderful World of Disney: A Knight in Camelot (1998) and Gielgud played him in DragonHeart (1996) and (2) McDowell played Merlin in Kids of the Round Table (1995), York played him in A Young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1995) and Gielgud played him in Quest for Camelot (1998).

He was awarded the 1982 London Evening Theatre Award's Special Award for lifetime achievement to the theatre.

He had minor roles in two consecutive films which won the Academy Award for Best Picture: Chariots of Fire (1981) and Gandhi (1982).

He was considered for the cameo role of Sir Michael Hughes in Meteor (1979). Trevor Howard was eventually cast.

He played three Popes, all of whom were named Pius: the fictional Pope Pius XIII in The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Pope Pius XII in The Scarlet And The Black (1983) and Pope Pius V in Elizabeth (1998).

William Redfield, who appeared as Guildernstern in the Gielgud-directed stage version of Richard Burton's "Hamlet" (a filmed version of the stage production was released in 1964, as Hamlet (1964)) wrote in his 1967 memoir of the event, "Notes of an Actor", that Gielgud had an encyclopedia knowledge of the play and could play any and all parts of it from memory for his cast as he directed the production.

Won a Tony in 1961 for Best Director of a Play for "Big Fish, Little Fish".

He was succeeded by Helen Mirren in two roles after the characters' gender was changed: (1) Gielgud played Prospero in a 1957 production of "The Tempest" in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane while Mirren played Prospera in The Tempest (2010) (2) Gielgud played Hobson in Arthur (1981) and Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988) while Mirren played Lillian Hobson in Arthur (2011).

He appeared in three Best Picture Academy Award winners, the last two of which were in consecutive years: Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Chariots of Fire (1981) and Gandhi (1982). Trevor Howard and John Mills also appeared in both Around the World in 80 Days (1956) and Gandhi (1982) while Ian Charleson and Richard Griffiths also appeared in both Chariots of Fire (1981) and Gandhi (1982). Besides that, John Gielgud has also appears in five other films nominated for Best Picture: Julius Caesar (1953), Becket (1964), The Elephant Man (1980), Shine (1996) and Elizabeth (1998).

He was the only actor to appear in a Shakespearean film directed by Laurence Olivier (Richard III (1955)) and one directed by Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet (1996)).

Knighted in the Coronation Honours List of 1953 and made a Companion of Honour in the 1977 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

A blue plaque commemorating him is on the 18th century terraced house in Cowley Street, Westminster where he lived 1945 -1976. His great aunt, actress Dame Ellen Terry has one in Earls Court.

Gielgud stated in his autobiography that he wanted desperately to be cast as The Chorus in Laurence Olivier's film Henry V (1944). He understood why Olivier did not cast him, as when the two had acted together in Shakespearean repertory in the mid-'30s, Gielgud got the better notices. Blessed with a beautiful voice, Gielgud played Shakespeare traditionally, a style Olivier thought of as too close to song as compared to his own revolutionary colloquial style. When Olivier was more secure, he did cast Gielgud as Clarence in Richard III (1955).

He played Benjamin Disraeli in both The Prime Minister (1941) and Edward the King (1975).

In 1936 he and Leslie Howard appeared on Broadway in "rival" productions of "Hamlet". Gielgud's was the more successful of the two.

Appeared with Laurence Olivier in a 1935 production of "Romeo and Juliet" in which he and Olivier alternated the roles of Romeo and Mercutio. Gielgud got the better reviews in the lead as Romeo, which spurred Olivier on to become a better actor.

Is one of 13 actors who have received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a real-life king. The others in chronological order are Charles Laughton for The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933), Robert Morley for Marie Antoinette (1938), Basil Rathbone for If I Were King (1938), Laurence Olivier for Henry V (1944) and Richard III (1955), José Ferrer for Joan of Arc (1948), Yul Brynner for King and I, The (1956), Peter O'Toole for Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968), Robert Shaw for A Man for All Seasons (1966), Richard Burton for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), Kenneth Branagh for Henry V (1989), Nigel Hawthorne for The Madness of King George (1994), and Colin Firth for The King's Speech (2010).

A three-time Tony winner, he graced the Broadway boards as a live performer 15 times between 1928-76, yet never won an acting Tony Award. He was nominated twice for Best Actor (Dramatic): Edward Albee's "Tiny Alice" and in 1971 for David Storey's "Home." It was as a director that he was honored, with the 1961 Tony as Best Director (Dramatic) for "Big Fish, Little Fish." Directing a total of 15 Broadway productions starring himself or others, he also was nominated as Best Director (Dramatic) in 1963 for Richard B. Sheridan's "The School for Scandal." He won two other Tonys, a 1959 Special Award "for his contribution to theatre for his extraordinary insight into the writings of Shakespeare as demonstrated in his one-man play, "Ages of Man"," and shared in a 1948 award for Oustanding Foreign Company for Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," which he produced, directed and starred in.

Born in London, England, John Gielgud trained at Lady Benson's Acting School and RADA, London. Best known for his Shakespearean roles in the theater, he first played Hamlet at the age of 26. He worked under the tutelage of Lilian Bayliss with friend and fellow performer Laurence Olivier and other contemporaries of the National Theatre at the "Old Vic", London. He made his screen debut in 1924.

Son of Franciszek Henryk (later Frank Henry) Gielgud (1860-1949) and Mabel Terry-Lewis (1868-1958). Brother of Val Gielgud. Cousin of Phyllis Neilson-Terry. Uncle of Maina Gielgud. Great-uncle of dancer/choreographer Piers Gielgud. Great-nephew of Dame Ellen Terry.