Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
August 16, 2000
Sir Alec Guinness, Catholic convert, dead at 86
LONDON (CNS) - Sir Alec Guinness, a convert to Catholicism who died Aug. 5 in London at the age of 86, was perhaps best known to the current generation of moviegoers for a part he almost turned down.
Guinness was initially put off by the science fiction label on the script for "Star Wars." But after he read the script, he was fascinated by the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the knight of the Jedi.
The part "was a rather simple outline of a good man who had some magical powers," he told Time magazine. "I tried to make him uncomplicated. I'm cunning enough now to know that to be simple carries a lot of weight."
Commenting on the film's concept of a benevolent power in the universe, Guinness said, "I'm an alleged Christian, so to that extent, yes, I do believe that something like the force exists. But not as expressed in `Star Wars."'
One of Britain's most outstanding actors, Guinness was equally at home on the stage, on television or in films.
He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1955 and knighted in 1959.
Michael Slater, master of ceremonies of the Catholic Stage Guild, said Guinness had been "extremely supportive" of the work of the guild, and had been its vice president for many years.
Guinness was reluctant to discuss his faith in public, but in his 1985 memoir, "Blessings in Disguise," he wrote about the events that led to what he described as his "reconciliation with the holy, Roman, catholic and apostolic church."
In 1954 he was filming in the Burgundy region of France, playing the part of Father Brown in the film of the G.K. Chesterton novels. The film was released in the United States as "The Detective."
Having finished filming one evening, Guinness, still dressed as a priest, decided to walk back to his hotel. A young boy of 7 or 8 approached him and held his hand, calling him "Mon Pere" ("Father"). The boy, chattering away, accompanied Guinness all the way back to the village.
"I reflected," Guinness wrote, "that a church which could inspire such confidence in a child, making its priests, even when unknown, so easily approachable, could not be as scheming and creepy as so often made out. I began to shake off my long-taught, long-absorbed prejudices."
When his son Matthew, then 11, contracted polio, Guinness said he made a "negative bargain" with God - if his son recovered, he prayed, he would not stand in the way of his becoming a Catholic. Matthew did recover, and after being educated at a Jesuit-run boarding school just outside London, became a Catholic at the age of 15.
Guinness was received into the church himself in 1956, after being instructed by Father Henry Clarke, parish priest of St. Lawrence's Church, near the family's home in Petersfield.
"In some ways I was troubled at how easily everything fell into place. All was so natural, apart from indulgences and papal infallibility," he wrote. After his confirmation by Bishop Henry King of Portsmouth later that year, Guinness said that he was "as happy as a fool."
"There have been moments when I have wished to tug away from Roman Catholicism," he wrote later, "but they have been moments of personal dejection and acedia, and soon dispensed of."
In addition to "Blessings in Disguise," Guinness published two books of diaries, "My Name Escapes Me: The Diary of a Retiring Actor" (1996) and "A Positively Final Appearance" (1999). All three books contain reminiscences of pilgrimages to Rome and meetings with a succession of popes.
In 1945 he met Pius XII and said later: "I felt for the first time in my life that I had met a saint." Later, in 1958, just days before Pius' death, Guinness and his wife, also a convert, joined a group of plastic surgeons for a private audience. He also met John XXIII and Paul VI.
In 1994 he was among the pilgrims in St. Peter's Square for the Easter morning Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II. "I decided that his voice is the most beautiful and dignified speaking voice I have ever heard," he said.
Alec Guinness was born April 2, 1914. He was illegitimate and never knew the identity of his father. His mother was variously described as a "part-time barmaid" and "prostitute" in obituaries and biographies.
"This was another aspect of his greatness," said Michael Slater. "He came from such humble beginnings - when he started out he had just four pence in his pocket. And he achieved so much."
