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Start giftingJohn Gielgud In His Own Words
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreSir John Gielgud was one of his generation's leading actors, who won an Academy Award. In this collection we hear - in his own words - about his family and childhood, deciding to be an actor and his first confident performance. He discusses understudying Noël Coward and failing as Romeo, playing Hamlet for the first time and working with other actors. He also talks about bringing Shakespeare back to the West End, directing plays himself, film vs theatre acting, making mistakes and writing his autobiographies.
Interviews include: BBC radio archive interview (first broadcast 1 January 1941) Great Acting, BBC TV (first broadcast 12 February 1966); Parkinson, BBC 1 (first broadcast 7 October 1972); An Actor In His Time, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 15 October 1978); Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 30 January 1980); Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 16 May 1981); Sir John Gielgud Looks Back, BBC World Service (first broadcast 19 February 1995).
Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary.
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Sir John Gielgud had an astonishing 80-year career as a thespian, and performed a huge variety of roles on stage and screen. Along with Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson, he was acclaimed as one of the 'great trinity' of theatre actors, and was particularly renowned for his Shakespearean roles, which included Hamlet, Romeo, King Lear, Richard II and Prospero. Among his other notable stage appearances were in The Importance of Being Ernest, The Seagull, Forty Years On and Home. His films included Chimes at Midnight, Providence, Chariots of Fire, Gandhi and Arthur, in which he played Hobson the butler. The role won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, as well as several other awards. On television, he was seen in Brideshead Revisited, The Far Pavilions, War and Remembrance and Summer's Lease. He was made a Knight Bachelor in 1953, and was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1960, the Companion of Honour in 1977 and the Order of Merit in 1996. John Gielgud died in 2000, aged 96.
Sir John Gielgud had an astonishing 80-year career as a thespian, and performed a huge variety of roles on stage and screen. Along with Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson, he was acclaimed as one of the 'great trinity' of theatre actors, and was particularly renowned for his Shakespearean roles, which included Hamlet, Romeo, King Lear, Richard II and Prospero. Among his other notable stage appearances were in The Importance of Being Ernest, The Seagull, Forty Years On and Home. His films included Chimes at Midnight, Providence, Chariots of Fire, Gandhi and Arthur, in which he played Hobson the butler. The role won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, as well as several other awards. On television, he was seen in Brideshead Revisited, The Far Pavilions, War and Remembrance and Summer's Lease. He was made a Knight Bachelor in 1953, and was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1960, the Companion of Honour in 1977 and the Order of Merit in 1996. John Gielgud died in 2000, aged 96.