The English actor Alec Guinness de Cuffe CH, CBE was born on the 2nd April 1914 in Paddington which is an area of the City of Westminster, in Central London, England.

Alec’s birth certificate names him as 'Alec Guinness’ without an entry for his father’s name or surname. His mother’s name was ‘Agnes de Cuffe' and it has been concluded that his father was an Irish Guinness family member. However, his patron Andrew Geddes who was a Scottish banker sometimes is speculated to be his father.

Alec Guinness started working as an advertising copy writer before getting a major break in 1938 at the Albery Theatre where he played the role of Osric in Hamlet which turned out to be the most successful tragic play directed by John Gielgud. Guinness mostly portrayed Shakespearean roles of prominent characters like Aumerle of Richard II , Lorenzo of The Merchant of Venice, Lead charter Romeo of Romeo and Juliet, Andrew Aguecheek of Twelfth Night, Exeter of Henry V & Ferdinand of The Tempest.

In 1938, Guinness married the actress, playwright & artist Merula Salaman and in 1940 their actor son Matthew Guinness was born. In 1939, Alec Guinness played the role of Herbert Pocket based on Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations, The play turned out to be a great success and provided an opportunity for 'Alec Guinness' to repeat the role on the big screen.

Guinness served as a seaman in 1941 in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in the Second World War and was subsequently commissioned the next year. During the war time, Alec continued to display his exceptional acting skills and appeared in Terence Rattigan's West End Play Flare Path for his military unit Bomber Command.

In 1946, Alec Guinness came back to the Old Vic and stayed till 1948, during his stay he featured in The Alchemist, Cyrano de Bergerac & King Lear. Alec Guinness also achieved phenomenal success in T. S. Eliot’s Broadway production The Cocktail Party.

After the end of World War II Alec Guinness returned back to acting. This time Alec was primarily associated with the Ealing comedies and played comic roles in Kind Hearts and Coronets. Some other films of this season included The Lavender Hill Mob, The Man in the White Suit & The Lady killers. In 1952, Alec appeared in his first romantic lead role in Ronald Neame’s The Card opposite Petula Clark.

Alec Guinness featured in many popular movies including the 1956 romantic comedy film The Swan opposite Grace Kelly, in the 1960 Ronald Neame's movie Tunes of Glory , in the 1962 British film Damn the Defiant! , in the 1964 epic film The Fall of the Roman Empire , in the 1966 film The Quiller Memorandum, in the 1970 musical film Scrooge , and in the 1973 film Hitler: The Last Ten Days. From 1970 onwards, Guinness made television appearances too in two novel based serials Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy & Smiley's People of John le Carré. His last appearance was seen in the BBC drama Eskimo Day.

During his long career Alec Guinness received many awards including the Academy Award of Best Actor for a 1957 World War II based film Bridge on the River Kwai. In 1977, Alec received the Best Supporting Actor Award for the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi. In 1980, a lifetime achievement Academy Honorary Award followed by a second time nomination in 1989 for his role in Charles Dickens novel adaptation Little Dorrit.

In 1955, Alec was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and in 1959, he was bestowed the title of knight by the empire. In 1994, Alec was awarded a Companion of Honour at age 80.

In 1985 Alec wrote 3 volumes his commercially successful autobiography by the titles Blessings in Disguise, My Name Escapes Me published in 1996 & A Positively Final Appearance published in 1999. The British novelist & a close friend of Alec, Piers Paul Read wrote his authorized biography in 2003.

Guinness died of liver cancer on the 5th August, 2000, at Midhurst in West Sussex and was buried in Petersfield, Hampshire, England. In October 2000, Merula Sylvia Guinness too died at age 86 due to cancer; she was buried near her husband’s grave.