Helen Mirren intimidated by Olivier, Gielgud (BUSINESS STANDARD)

When I came into the acting profession it was quite different, it was quiet hierarchical. You didn't sit at the same table as the leading actor," femalefirst.co.uk quoted Mirren as saying.

"It was coming out of that 1950s period. You know Lawrence Olivier, John Gielgud - these were very, very intimidating and powerful people," she added.

Mirren has gone on to enjoy an incredible career and has won numerous awards for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen".

However, she feels that her juniors might feel the same while looking at her.

"There were certain actors when I was young who were quite intimidating. They probably didn't mean to be, and maybe other people now look at me and go, 'Ooh she's scary,' but I really don't want to be or feel I am," she said.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/helen-mirren-intimidated-by-olivier-gielgud-113071000037_1.html

Alec Guinness personal letters and diaries acquired by British Library Archive of theatre knight, famed for Ealing comedies, reveal Pooterish moments and brickbats for Sir Laurence (THE GUARDIAN)

Maev Kennedy
The Guardian,

Alec Guinness as Colonel Nicholson in the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai. Photograph: Allstar/COLUMBIA/Sportsphoto

On July 12 1989, one of the greatest actors of his generation was reflecting in his diary on the death of another. If Sir Alec Guinness's thoughts/words of praise for Sir Laurence Olivier were extracted, as theatre promoters routinely do with critics' write-ups, it could read as a rave review.

The full text, revealed for the first time in the actor's personal archive just acquired by the British Library, tells a different story. In his impeccably neat tiny script, Guinness wrote of Olivier: "I greatly admired his extraordinary courage … as a comedian he was superb … technically brilliant … he was a great actor."

But he also wrote: "Like so many people whose ambition drive them to great eminence, he had a cruel and destructive streak. Side by side with his generosity, he could be unpleasant, possibly even vindictive. Consciously or not, he made attempts to destroy John G [Gielgud], [Michael] Redgrave, [Paul] Scofield and if he had been given the chance, me."

The theatre knights meet again in the library. The vaults also hold the archives of Olivier, Gielgud, and an actor of whom Guinness writes with uncomplicated affection, Ralph Richardson.

Olivier and Guinness were near contemporaries, born respectively in 1907 and 1914, and met constantly on stage and elsewhere over more than half a century.

Guinness said: "There was a touch of pretension about him, and his public speeches were fulsome and awful. I first met him in 1935, in Romeo and Juliet. We all thought he looked and behaved like the leader of a dance band. But his Romeo was as arresting and beautiful as his Mercutio was vulgar and gimmicky."

That production was famous for the fact that Olivier and Gielgud opened as Romeo and Mercutio respectively, and then swapped roles.

Guinness conceded: "Many of us were … too admiring of John to value Larry's qualities fairly." However, he then added a snide line recalling: "The sniggers that went round when he said, during a rehearsal I think, of the procession at George V's jubilee … 'I had a wonderful view of the whole corsage'."

Guinness was unforgettable in a string of classic Ealing comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters, and for his long collaboration with the director David Lean, including with the film The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1957, for which he won an Oscar.

He was also acclaimed as John le Carre's spy George Smiley, in the television adaptation of the novels. However to fans of a certain age his true stardom came in the 1970s, as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy.


READ MORE:http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/feb/07/alec-guinness-letters-british-library

The 100 British Actors and Actresses of All Time by The_Etiquette created 22 Jan 2011 | last updated - 23 Jan 2011

Agree with most of these, perhaps not this order however.  AND, where is Benedict Cumberbatch? Tom Hiddleston? Matthew Macfadyen?  Sir Kenneth Branagh??? and so many more...


HERE ARE THE FIRST TEN, ACCORDING TO IMDB:

1.

Laurence Olivier
Actor, Rebecca
He could speak William Shakespeare's lines as naturally as if he were "actually thinking them", said English playwright Charles Bennett, who met Laurence Olivier in 1927. One of Olivier's earliest successes as a Shakespearean actor on the London stage came in 1935 when he played "Romeo" and "Mercutio" in alternate performances of "Romeo and Juliet" with John Gielgud...

2.
Maggie Smith
Actress, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
One of the world's most famous and distinguished actresses, Dame Maggie Smith was born Margaret Natalie Smith in Essex. Her father was a teacher at Oxford University and her mother worked as a secretary. Smith has been married twice: to actor Robert Stephens and to playwright Beverley Cross. Her marriage to Stephens ended in divorce in 1974...

3.
Judi Dench
Actress, Casino Royale
Attended Mount School in York, and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She has performed with Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and at Old Vic Theatre. She is a ten-time BAFTA winner including Best Actress in a Comedy Series for A Fine Romance in which she appeared with her husband...

4.
Ian McKellen
Actor, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
On May 25th, 1939, in the town of Burnley, Lancashire, in the north of England, Ian Murray McKellen was born. His parents, Denis and Margery, soon moved with Ian and his sister Jean to the mill town of Wigan. It was in this small town that young Ian rode out World War II. He soon developed a fascination with acting and the theater...

5.
Michael Caine
Actor, The Dark Knight
Born Maurice Micklewhite in London, Michael Caine was the son of a fish-market porter and a charlady. He left school at 15 and took a series of working-class jobs before joining the British army and serving in Korea during the Korean War, where he saw combat. Upon his return to England he gravitated toward the theater and got a job as an assistant stage manager...

6.
John Gielgud
Actor, Gandhi
Sir John Gielgud is a highly distinguished and prolific performer who is considered to be one of the finest actors of his generation. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, Gielgud played his first Hamlet in 1930 and quickly established himself as one of the most eminent Shakespearean interpreters of his time...

7.
Helen Mirren
Actress, The Queen
Dame Helen Mirren was born in Queen Charlote Hospital, in North London to Kathleen Alexandrina Eva Matilda Rogers and Vasiliy Petrovich Mironov. Mirren attended St. Bernards High School for girls, where she would act in school productions. After high school, she began her acting career in theatre working in many titles, all the way up to Broadway.

8.
Michael Gambon
Actor, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
After joining the National Theatre, under the Artistic Directorship of Sir Laurence Olivier, Gambon went on to appear in a number of leading roles in plays written by Alan Ayckbourn. His career was catapulted in 1980 when he took the lead role in John Dexter's production of "Galileo". Since then...

9.
Peter Ustinov
Actor, Spartacus
Peter Ustinov was two times Academy Award-winning film actor, director, writer, journalist, and raconteur. He wrote and directed many acclaimed stage plays and led numerous international theatrical productions. He was born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov on April 16, 1921, in Swiss Cottage, London...

10.
David Niven
Actor, The Pink Panther
David Niven was named after the Saint's Day on which he was born, St. David, patron Saint of Wales. He attended Stowe School and Sandhurst Military Academy and served for two years in Malta with the Highland Light Infantry. At the outbreak of World War II, although a top-line star, he re-joined the army (Rifle Brigade).

SEE THE REST - WHAT NAMES ARE MISSING IN YOUR OPINION?
http://www.imdb.com/list/JCunN7-wkME/

Maggie Smith: Oh! What a Lovely War Musical comedy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIEwKyxr2bU&feature=related


144 minutes Directed by Richard Attenborough

Starring Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Kenneth More, John Clements, Ian Holm, Meriel Forbes, Wensley Pithey, Ruth Kettlewell, Paul Daneman, Corin Redgrave, Pamela Abbott, Maggie Smith, Michael Redgrave, Juliet Mills, Susannah York, Dirk Bogarde, Cecil Walker, Thorley Walters, Guy Middleton, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Flemyng, Mary Wimbush, Colin Farrell, Maurice Roëves, Paul Shelley, Malcolm McFee.

World War I is given the musical treatment, told in a series of a song-and-dance vignettes. Throughout we follow the Smith family, stand-ins for the British working class, who initially view the war with sunny optimism. But, after the Smith boys Jack[C26], Freddy[C27], Harry[C24]and George[C25]witness the reality of trench warfare, their illusions are inevitably shattered, and the best they can hope for is survival.

Luke Evans for King Arthur role?

Luke Evans could be set to play King Arthur

Tuesday November 08 2011

Luke Evans could be preparing for another medieval role in Arthur And Lancelot.

The Three Musketeers star's name is said to be in the mix to portray King Arthur, alongside Toby Kebbell, Game Of Thrones actor Kit Harington and his screen half-brother Richard Madden, said The Hollywood Reporter.

The Killing's Joel Kinnaman has already been cast as Lancelot in the upcoming adaptation by Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin, while Guinevere, the woman who comes between the king and his knight, is expected to be announced shortly.

Filming is scheduled to begin next year.

King Arthur has been a prestigious part to play, both on stage and on screen, with Richard Harris, Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, John Gielgud and Clive Owen taking on the legendary role.

Next up for Welsh actor Luke is a role in Immortals, followed by Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings two-part prequel The Hobbit, where he plays Bard the Bowman.

IndependenIE

Luke Evans for King Arthur role?

 

(UKPA) – 1 hour ago

Luke Evans could be preparing for another medieval role in Arthur And Lancelot.

The Three Musketeers star's name is said to be in the mix to portray King Arthur, alongside Toby Kebbell, Game Of Thrones actor Kit Harington and his screen half-brother Richard Madden, said The Hollywood Reporter.

The Killing's Joel Kinnaman has already been cast as Lancelot in the upcoming adaptation by Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin, while Guinevere, the woman who comes between the king and his knight, is expected to be announced shortly.

Filming is scheduled to begin next year.

King Arthur has been a prestigious part to play, both on stage and on screen, with Richard Harris, Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, John Gielgud and Clive Owen taking on the legendary role.

Next up for Welsh actor Luke is a role in Immortals, followed by Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings two-part prequel The Hobbit, where he plays Bard the Bowman.