Background

Ethnicity: On his father's side, Gielgud was of Lithuanian and Polish descent. The surname derives from Gelgaudiškis, a village in Lithuania.

John Gielgud was born on April 14, 1904 in London, United Kingdom. He was the third of the four children and youngest of three sons of Frank Henry Gielgud and his second wife, Kate Terry-Gielgud, née Terry-Lewis.

Education

John Gielgud studied at Hillside preparatory school in Surrey. He hated mathematics, but encouraged his interest in drama, and he played several leading roles in school productions. Later he studied at Westminster School, where, as he later said, he had access to the West End theater. On leaving Westminster in 1921, Gielgud persuaded his reluctant parents to let him take drama lessons.

Gielgud joined a private drama school run by Constance Benson. Before and after joining the school he played in several amateur productions, and in November 1921 made his debut with a professional company. He played the Herald in Henry V at the Old Vic. Gielgud also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He appeared again for Playfair in Robert E. Lee by John Drinkwater.

Later in life, Gielgud was awarded honorary degrees by St Andrews, Oxford and Brandeis universities.

Career

When John Gielgud left the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the end of 1923, he played a Christmas season as Charley in Charley's Aunt in the West End. Later he joined Fagan's repertory company at the Oxford Playhouse where he worked from 1924 to 1925. He played a wide range of parts in classical and modern plays, greatly increasing his technical abilities in the process. He made his screen debut during 1924 as Daniel Arnault in Walter Summers's silent film Who Is the Man?

In May 1925 Gielgud played Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard. His distinctive speaking voice attracted attention and he began to work for BBC Radio. In October 1925 he played Konstantin in The Seagull and Tusenbach in the British premiere of Three Sisters. In 1928 Gielgud made his Broadway debut as the Grand Duke Alexander in Alfred Neumann's The Patriot. After returning to London he starred in a succession of short runs such as Ghosts with Mrs Patrick Campbell and Reginald Berkeley's The Lady with a Lamp. In 1928 he made his second film, The Clue of the New Pin.

Gielgud joined the Old Vic company in 1929, where he began to develop his elegant style and expressive "cello-like" voice. During his first season at the Old Vic, Gielgud played Romeo to the Juliet of Adele Dixon, Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, Cleante in The Imaginary Invalid, the title role in Richard II, and Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream. He was most famous for his role as Hamlet, which he played first in 1930 and which he played over 500 times in his career, being fixed in the tradition of significant English "Hamlets" since the 18th century. He also played Lord Trinket in The Jealous Wife, Richard II again, Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, Malvolio in Twelfth Night during the 1930–31 season at the Old Vic.

When John Gielgud returned to the West End, he starred in J. B. Priestley's The Good Companions, adapted for the stage by the author and Edward Knoblock. The production ran from May 1931 for 331 performances. In 1932 he turned to directing. He took charge of the production of Romeo and Juliet. Gielgud also directed one new and one classic play, Strange Orchestra Rodney Ackland in the West End, and The Merchant of Venice at the Old Vic in 1932. In May 1936 Gielgud played Trigorin in The Seagull, with Evans as Arkadina and Ashcroft as Nina. From September 1936 to February 1937 Gielgud played Hamlet in North America, opening in Toronto before moving to New York and Boston.

In 1937 Gielgud returned from America and starred in He Was Born Gay by Emlyn Williams. Soon he decided that he must form his own company to play Shakespeare and other classic plays in the West End. He invested £5,000, most of his earnings from the American Hamlet. From September 1937 to April 1938 Gielgud was the tenant of the Queen's Theatre, where he presented a season consisting of Richard II, The School for Scandal, Three Sisters, and The Merchant of Venice. However, this venture did not make much money, and in July 1938 Gielgud turned to more conventional West End enterprises. He directed Spring Meeting directed and appeared in The Importance of Being Earnest.

At the start of the Second World War Gielgud volunteered for active service, but was told that men of his age, thirty-five, would not be wanted for at least six months. Gielgud directed Michael Redgrave in a 1940 London production of The Beggar's Opera for the Glyndebourne Festival. Together with Harley Granville-Barker and Guthrie he reopened the Old Vic with Shakespeare. He also joined tours of military camps. He gave recitals of prose and poetry, and acted in a triple bill of short plays, including two from Coward's Tonight at 8.30. He returned to filming in 1940, as Disraeli in Thorold Dickinson's The Prime Minister.

In late 1945 and early 1946 Gielgud toured for ENSA in the Middle and Far East with Hamlet and Coward's Blithe Spirit. During this tour he played Hamlet on stage for the last time. He was Raskolnikoff in a stage version of Crime and Punishment, in the West End in 1946 and on Broadway the following year. In 1953 Gielgud made his first Hollywood film, the sole classical actor in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Julius Caesar, playing Cassius. After that Gielgud concentrated on directing and did not appear on stage.

In the 1960s, and 1970s Gielgud alternated acting with directing, helping to promote many new playwrights such as Terence Rattigan, Graham Greene, and Enid Bagnold, as well as directing opera. He created a one-man show based on the works of Shakespeare entitled Ages of Man, which toured Britain and was seen in New York and on American television. He appeared with lifelong friend Ralph Richardson in two acclaimed plays in the early 1970s: David Storey's Home and Harold Pinter's No Man's Land.

In the 1960s he finally began to take the cinema seriously, for financial and sometimes artistic reasons. He told his agent to accept any reasonable film offers. His films of the mid-1960s were The Loved One, Chimes at Midnight, Assignment to Kill. Having finally embraced film-making, Gielgud appeared in six films in 1967–69. His most substantial role was Lord Raglan in Tony Richardson's The Charge of the Light Brigade.

In 1970 Gielgud played another modern role in the play Home and also made seven films and six television dramas. Gielgud continued his long stage association with Richardson in Harold Pinter's No Man's Land. Later he worked more for cinema and television than on stage. His roles included Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Gray, John of Gaunt in Richard II and Chorus in Romeo and Juliet. In the 1980s Gielgud appeared in more than twenty films. His final West End play was The Best of Friends where he played Sir Sydney Cockerell. In 1990 Gielgud appeared in the James Scott-directed Strike It Rich. To mark his ninetieth birthday he played Lear for the last time. His last role in the medium was in a BBC production that year of J. B. Priestley's rarely-revived Summer Day's Dream.

John Gielgud first book Early Stages was published in 1939. Later he wrote such books as Distinguished Company, An Actor and His Time, Backward Glances and Sir John Gielgud's Ages of Man.

Achievements

• John Gielgud was an English actor, theatre director and writer who was famous as one of the trinity of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He was the first classical actor of his generation to discard antique modes of Shakespearean interpretation and performance.
  
  Gielgud received the Tony Award, British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award and Golden Globe Award. In 1982 he was awarded the Academy Award. He also was made a Knight Bachelor in 1953. In 1960 he received the Legion of Honour and in 1977 was awarded the Companion of Honour. Gielgud received the Order of Merit in 1996. In the same year the Globe Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue was renamed the Gielgud Theatre.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Sir John Gielgud: A Life in Letters

    (A captivating compilation of two hundred intimate letters...)

  • An Actor and His Time

    (John Gielgud tells the story of his life in the theatre, ...)

    1979
  • Acting Shakespeare

    (The celebrated actor offers his insights on William Shake...)

  • Sir John Gielgud: A Life in Letters

    (Here is a remarkable autobiography of one of the greatest...)

    2004
  • Backward Glances

    (Using his knowledge of more than 60 years in the theatre,...)

    1989
  • Stage Directions 1963

• movie

  • The Good Companions 1933
  • Julius Caesar 1953
  • Richard III 1955
  • Becket 1964
  • Chimes at Midnight 1965
  • Watch The Shoes of the Fisherman 1968
  • Murder on the Orient Express 1974
  • Seven Dials Mystery 1981
  • Arthur 2 - On the Rocks 1988
  • The Best of Friends 1991

Religion

As a boy John Gielgud had been fascinated by the rituals at Westminster Abbey, but his brief attraction to religion quickly faded, and as an adult he was a non-believer.

Views

Quotations: "I feel so sorry for those poor men sitting up there all day. They must be so cold."

"I'm sure there isn't an after-life. If there were, Ivor Novello would have got a message to us."

"Acting is half shame, half glory. Shame at exhibiting yourself, glory when you can forget yourself."

"Before you can do something you must first be something."

Membership

John Gielgud was a member and president of the Shakespeare Reading Society and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

• Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , United Kingdom

  1977 - 1989

Personality

Those who knew John Gielgud said that he was concentrated on his work and that left little scope for leisure activities. The critic Nicholas de Jongh wrote that Gielgud's personality was "such infinite, mischievous fun".

Quotes from others about the person

• Ronald Hayman: "John Gielgud didn't play Hamlet, he was Hamlet."
  
  Michael Coveney: "I have seen Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Alec Guinness and Peggy Ashcroft but John Gielgud is something else. Gielgud is the lone survivor of those great actors whose careers laid the foundation stones of modern theatre. He is acclaimed as the greatest speaker of Shakespearean verse this century. People my age and younger can only take on trust the impact of the Hamlet whose influence lasted more than 30 years. Even the recordings do not quite convey the mellifluous magic of the voice once described by Guinness as a "silver trumpet muffled in silk". He is indelibly linked with the roles of Prospero and King Lear – regarded as pinnacles of theatrical achievement – yet he is also widely remembered for his wonderful comic touch as Jack Worthing in Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. But his influence goes far beyond his performances. Without Gielgud there would be no National Theatre or Royal Shakespeare Company. He was a pioneer in establishing the first permanent companies in the West End."
  
  Cole Lesley: "The words tumbling out of his mouth in an avalanche, frequently having to wipe away his own tears of laughter at the funniness of the disasters he recounted, disasters always against himself."

Interests

• Music, painting

Connections

John Gielgud met Martin Hensler in 1962. They became a long-term couple and lived together until Hensler's death.

Father:

Frank Gielgud

Mother:

Kate (Terry-Lewis) Gielgud

grandmother:

Kate Terry

Kate Terry was an English actress and a sister of the actress Ellen Terry.

Brother:

Val Gielgud

Val Gielgud was an English actor, writer, director and broadcaster. He was a pioneer of radio drama for the BBC.

Sister:

Eleanor Gielgud

Brother:

Lewis Gielgud

Lewis Gielgud was an English scholar, writer, intelligence officer and humanitarian worker.

niece:

Maina Gielgud

Maina Gielgud is a former British ballet dancer and a veteran ballet administrator.

life partner:

Martin Hensler

References

• Gielgud: A Theatrical Life, 1904-2000 Based on interviews with over 100 friends and colleagues who worked with Gielgud, this biography covers Gielgud's childhood amongst his famous Terry relations, his early struggles as a young actor, his triumphs in Shakespeare at the Old Vic and his late flowering as an Oscar-winning film star.
  2000
• John Gielgud: Matinee Idol to Movie Star
  2001
• The Ages of Gielgud: An Actor at Eighty Actors, friends, and critics reminisce about the famous British actor's career, stage performances, and work as a director
  1984