John Gielgud

ActorWriterDirector Apr 14 (died age 96) London, England 1924–2024 (100 year career)

6.4 avg rating

Biography

Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH, was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937. He was known for his beautiful speaking of verse and particularly for his warm and expressive voice, which his colleague Sir Alec Guinness likened to a silver trumpet muffled in silk. Gielgud is one of the few entertainers who have…

Known For

Film

The Elephant Man

Carr Gomm

Film

Gandhi

Lord Irwin

Film

Elizabeth

The Pope

Film

Murder on the Orient Express

Mr. Beddoes

Film

DragonHeart

King Arthur (voice) (uncredited)

Film

Shine

Cecil Parkes

Film

Chariots of Fire

Master of Trinity

Film

Quest for Camelot

Merlin (voice)

Filmography

Acting (179)

Movies (142)

Caligula: The Ultimate Cut

2024

8.0

Caligula: The Ultimate Cut

2023

as Nerva

Nothing Like a Dame

2018

as Self (archive footage)

6.8

Play On! Shakespeare in Silent Film

2016

as Self

5.8

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films

2014

as Hogarth (archive footage) (uncredited)

7.2

Discovering Hamlet

2011

as King Hamlet's Ghost (archive footage)

7.0

Behind The Scenes of Caligula

2009

Revisiting Brideshead

2005

as Self (archive footage)

Catastrophe

2001

as The Protagonist

6.0

The Tichborne Claimant

as Cockburn

Quest for Camelot

as Merlin (voice)

Elizabeth

as The Pope

Rachmaninoff: The Harvest of Sorrow

David

as Stimme Gottes

DragonHeart

as King Arthur (voice) (uncredited)

Hamlet

as Priam

Shine

as Cecil Parkes

Looking for Richard

as Self - Interviewee

6.8

The Leopard Son

1996

as Narrator

The Portrait of a Lady

as Mr. Touchett

First Knight

as Oswald

Haunted

as Dr Henry Doyle

The Thomas The Tank Engine Man

1995

as Self (Voice)

0.5

A Summer Day's Dream

1994

A Walk Through Prospero's Library

1992

as Prospero

Shining Through

as Sunflower

The Power of One

as St. John

Swan Song

as Svetlovidov

The Strauss Dynasty

as Drechsler

The Best of Friends

as Sydney Cockerell

Prospero's Books

as Prospero

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker

1991

as Self (archive footage)

7.7

A TV Dante (Cantos 9 to 14)

1991

as Virgil (voice)

5.5

Rabbit Ears - The Emperor's New Clothes

1990

as Narrator (voice)

Strike It Rich

as Herbert Dreuther

A TV Dante

as Virgil

Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond

as Self

Getting It Right

as Sir Gordon Munday

Barbablù, Barbablù

as Barbablù

Appointment with Death

1988

as Colonel Carbury

6.1

Arthur 2: On the Rocks

1988

as Hobson

5.4

A Man for All Seasons

1988

as Cardinal Wolsey

6.8

In from the Cold? A Portrait of Richard Burton

1988

as Self

6.0

Funny, You Don't Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville

1987

as British Lord

Quartermaine's Terms

1987

as Eddie Loomis

The Canterville Ghost

1986

as Sir Simon de Canterville

6.7

The Whistle Blower

1986

as Sir Adrian Chappie

5.8

Theban Plays: Oedipus the King

1986

as Tieresias

2.0

Time After Time

1986

as Jasper Swift

Theban Plays: Antigone

1986

as Tiresias

To Be Hamlet

1985

as Self

Leave All Fair

1985

as John Middleton Murry

7.0

The Shooting Party

1985

as Cornelius Cardew

6.5

Romance on the Orient Express

1985

as Theodore Woodward

5.0

Plenty

1985

as Sir Leonard Darwin

Scandalous

as Uncle Willie

Camille

as Duke de Charles

Frankenstein

as De Lacey

The Master of Ballantrae

1984

as Lord Durrisdeer

6.0

James Mason: The Star They Loved to Hate

1984

as Self - on the set of 'The Shooting Party' (uncredited)

Invitation to the Wedding

1983

The Wicked Lady

1983

as Hogarth

4.8

The Scarlet and the Black

as Pope Pius XII

Gandhi

as Lord Irwin

Laurence Olivier: a life

1982

as Self

10.0

The Critic

1982

as Lord Burleigh

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

as Charmolue

Sphinx

as Abdu-Hamdi

Chariots of Fire

as Master of Trinity

Arthur

as Hobson

Lion of the Desert

as Sharif El Gariani

Priest of Love

as Herbert G. Muskett

4.8

Agatha Christie's Seven Dials Mystery

1981

as Marquis of Caterhan

6.9

The Elephant Man

1980

as Carr Gomm

8.0

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

as Reverend Jones

The Conductor

as John Lasocki

The Formula

as Dr. Abraham Esau

Caligula

as Nerva

Murder by Decree

as Prime Minister

The Human Factor

as Brigadier Tomlinson

Les Misérables

as Gillenormand

No Man's Land

as Spooner

Romeo and Juliet

as Chorus

Richard II

as John of Gaunt

Providence

as Clive Langham

Joseph Andrews

as The Doctor

The Grand Inquisitor

as Inquisitor

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

1977

as The Preacher

5.9

Heartbreak House

1977

as Captain Shotover

The Picture of Dorian Gray

as Lord Henry Wotton

Peter Pan

as Narrator

Aces High

as Headmaster

Galileo

as The Old Cardinal

Murder on the Orient Express

as Mr. Beddoes

Gold

as Farrell

11 Harrowhouse

as Meecham

Frankenstein: The True Story

as Chief Constable

Lost Horizon

as Chang

William: The Life, Works and Times of William Shakespeare

1973

as Various

Probe

1972

as Harold L. Streeter

Eagle in a Cage

as Lord Sissal

Home

as Harry

Julius Caesar

as Julius Caesar

Hamlet

as The Ghost

Oh! What a Lovely War

1969

as Count Leopold Von Berchtold

6.7

From Chekhov with Love

1968

as Anton Chekhov

The Shoes of the Fisherman

1968

as The Elder Pope

6.7

Sebastian

1968

as Head of Intelligence

6.1

The Charge of the Light Brigade

as Lord Raglan

Assignment to Kill

as Curt Valayan

The Love Song of Barney Kempinski

1968

as Rich Man

Romeo and Juliet

1967

as Chorus

October Revolution

1967

as Narrator (voice)

The Mayfly and the Frog

1966

as Gabriel Quantara

Ages of Man

Alice in Wonderland

as Mock Turtle

Ivanov

as Nikolai ivanov

The Loved One

1965

as Sir Francis Hinsley

Chimes at Midnight

as Henry IV

Becket

as King Louis VII of France

7.1

Hamlet from the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre

1964

as Ghost (voice)

6.5

To Die in Madrid

1963

as Narrator (English version) (voice)

The Cherry Orchard

as Gaev

The Immortal Land

Saint Joan

as Earl of Warwick

The Barretts of Wimpole Street

1957

as Edward Moulton-Barrett

6.2

Around the World in 80 Days

1956

as Foster

6.6

Richard III

1955

as George, Duke of Clarence

7.2

ITV Opening Night at the Guildhall

1955

as John Worthing, JP

Romeo and Juliet

1954

as Chorus

5.2

Hamlet: The Actor's View

1954

as Self

Julius Caesar

1953

as Cassius

7.1

Ariel’s Song / Full Fathom Five

1953

as Narrator

A Diary for Timothy

1945

as Hamlet

6.6

An Airman's Letter to His Mother

as Narrator

The Prime Minister

as Disraeli

Heredity in Man

as Self

Secret Agent

1936

as Richard Ashenden / Edgar Brodie

The Good Companions

as Inigo Jollifant

Insult

as Henri Dubois

The Clue of the New Pin

1929

as Rex Trasmere

Who Is the Man?

1924

as Daniel

Television (37)

Merlin

1998

as King Constant

6.9

A Dance to the Music of Time

1997

as St. John Clarke

4.3

Gulliver's Travels

1996

as Professor of Light

7.1

Stick with Me, Kid

1995

as Grandpa

Scarlett

1994

as Pierre Robillard

6.5

Hollywood U.K.: British Cinema in the Sixties

1993

as Self

Performance

1991

as Stephen Dawlish

6.0

The Strauss Dynasty

1991

as Drechsler

Summer's Lease

as Haverford Downs

War and Remembrance

as Aaron Jastrow

Inspector Morse

as Lord Hinksey

Lovejoy

as Lord Wakering

Screen Two

Six Centuries of Verse

as Self - Presenter

The Far Pavilions

as Cavagnari

Wagner

as Pfistermeister

Marco Polo

as Doge di Venezia

Inside the Third Reich

1982

as Albert Speer Sr.

Brideshead Revisited

1981

as Edward 'Ned' Ryder

7.9

Tales of the Unexpected

1979

as Jelks

6.7

Second City Television

as Self

QB VII

as Clinton-Meek

Frankenstein: The True Story

1973

as Chief Constable

8.5

ABC Afterschool Special

as Various Roles

Great Performances

as Self

Play for Today

as Harry

Menace

The Dick Cavett Show

as Self - Guest

Omnibus

as Self

ABC Stage 67

as Rich Man

BBC Play of the Month

as Chorus

The Wednesday Play

as Gabriel Quantara

The Bell Telephone Hour

1959

as Self

7.3

The Big Party

1959

as Self

Tonight Starring Jack Paar

1957

as Self

7.0

Hallmark Hall of Fame

as The Ghost

The Ed Sullivan Show

as Self

Crew (5)

Movies (5)

Trouser Bar

2016

Writer

3.9

Boys On Film 15: Time & Tied

2016

Writer

7.4

Ivanov

1966

Director

Hamlet from the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre

Director

The Cherry Orchard

Writer