Wissenswertes

Was J.K. Rowling's original inspiration for the character of Albus Dumbledore.

The fourth of 19 individuals who are an "EGOT", meaning having received at least one of all of the four major entertainment awards: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony, competitively. Chronologically, the other recipients are Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, Audrey Hepburn, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick, Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols, Whoopi Goldberg, Scott Rudin, Robert Lopez, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, John Legend, Alan Menken, Jennifer Hudson, Viola Davis and Elton John.

Laurence Olivier, acknowledging Gielgud's mastery of Shakespeare's verse (though he criticized him for making it too much like song), said that Gielgud was possessed of a voice "that wooed the world".

Has been called arguably the 20th century's greatest "Hamlet".

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

He once playfully quipped, "Ingrid Bergman is fluent in five languages. And she can't act in any of them."

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.

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.

His 1953 arrest for "soliciting homosexual acts" in a public lavatory was dramatized in 2008 as the play "Plague Over England "by Nicholas de Jongh.

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

He never retired from acting and worked right up until his death at the age of ninety-six.

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.

All his Oscar and Emmy nominations were received during the latter part of his career, after he had turned 60.

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.

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.

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)).

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

He had minor roles in two consecutive films which won the Academy Award for Best Picture: Die Stunde des Siegers (1981) and Gandhi (1982).

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

Gielgud stated in his autobiography that he wanted desperately to be cast as The Chorus in Laurence Olivier's film Heinrich 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).

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

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

His paternal grandparents, Adam Jerzy Konstanty Gielgud and Leontyna Aniela Aszperger, were Polish (Adam also had distant Lithuanian ancestry, with the family surname having originally been "Gelgaudas".) Leontyna's mother, Aniela (Wasinskiej) Aszperger, was a prominent Polish stage actress. His maternal grandparents, Arthur James Lewis and Kate Terry, were English, and Kate was also a well-known actress.

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

He provided the voice of King Arthur in Dragonheart (1996), played King Constant, King Arthur's grandfather, in Merlin (1998) and provided the voice of Merlin in Das magische Schwert - Die Legende von Camelot (1998).

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 Prosperos Bücher (1991), as well as many times on stage, while Mirren played Prospera in The Tempest - Der Sturm (2010); (2) Gielgud played Hobson in Arthur - Kein Kind von Traurigkeit (1981) and Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988) while Mirren played Lillian Hobson in Arthur (2011).

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.

He has two roles in common with both Malcolm McDowell and Michael York: (1) McDowell played King Arthur in Merlin und das Schwert (1985), York played him in Ein Ritter in Camelot (1998) and Gielgud played him in Dragonheart (1996) and (2) McDowell played Merlin in Alex und das Zauberschwert (1995), York played him in Mit Vollgas in King Arthurs Tafelrunde (1995) and Gielgud played him in Das magische Schwert - Die Legende von Camelot (1998).

He appeared in two different adaptations of William Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar": Julius Caesar (1953) and Julius Caesar (1970). He played Cassius in the former and the title character in the latter.

He played three Popes, all of whom were named Pius: the fictional Pope Pius XIII in In den Schuhen des Fischers (1968), Pope Pius XII in Im Wendekreis des Kreuzes (1983) and Pope Pius V in Elizabeth (1998).

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.

He appeared in three Best Picture Academy Award winners, the last two of which were in consecutive years: In 80 Tagen um die Welt (1956), Die Stunde des Siegers (1981) and Gandhi (1982). Trevor Howard and John Mills also appeared in both In 80 Tagen um die Welt (1956) and Gandhi (1982) while Ian Charleson and Richard Griffiths also appeared in both Die Stunde des Siegers (1981) and Gandhi (1982). Besides that, John Gielgud has also appears in five other films nominated for Best Picture: Julius Caesar (1953), Becket (1964), Der Elefantenmensch (1980), Shine - Der Weg ins Licht (1996) and Elizabeth (1998).

During the time he was a lecturer at R.A.D.A, John Gielgud was known for being a rigid disciplinarian and who demanded 100 % dedication from his students.

John recorded the narration for the film Zelig but Woody Allen dropped it as he felt John's voice was too grand.

Died the same day as Dame Barbara Cartland.

He never married or had any children. He dedicated his whole life to acting.

Made his stage debut as the Herald in 'Henry V.

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 Das Privatleben Heinrichs VIII. (1933), Robert Morley for Marie-Antoinette (1938), Basil Rathbone for König der Vagabunden (1938), Laurence Olivier for Heinrich V. (1944) and Richard III. (1955), José Ferrer for Johanna von Orleans (1948), Yul Brynner for Der König von Siam (1956), Peter O'Toole for Becket (1964) and Der Löwe im Winter (1968), Robert Shaw for Ein Mann zu jeder Jahreszeit (1966), Richard Burton for Königin für tausend Tage (1969), Kenneth Branagh for Henry V. (1989), Nigel Hawthorne for King George - Ein Königreich für mehr Verstand (1994), and Colin Firth for The King's Speech - Die Rede des Königs (2010).

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.

Buried at Westminster Abbey, Westminster, City of Westminster, Greater London, England. Plot Poets' Corner.

In 1998 he was scheduled to star with Robin Williams in a film of Don Quixote but it was abandoned,.

Considered Providence (1977) and the television mini-series Wiedersehen mit Brideshead (1981) to be his only two screen appearances of which he was genuinely proud.

He was educated at Hillside School, Godalming where he played Mark Antony in Julius Caesar.