Born in London, England, John Gielgud trained at Lady Benson's Acting School and RADA, London. Best known for his Shakespearean roles in the theater, he first played Hamlet at the age of 26. He worked under the tutelage of Lilian Bayliss with friend and fellow performer Laurence Olivier and other contemporaries of the National Theatre at the "Old Vic", London. He made his screen debut in 1924. Academy Award Best Supporting Actor, 1981, for Arthur , Academy Award Nomination, 1964, for Becket.


Has been called arguably the century's greatest "Hamlet". Great nephew of celebrated stage actress Ellen Terry. In 1936, he and Leslie Howard appeared on Broadway in "rival" productions of "Hamlet". Gielgud's was the more successful of the two. As of June 2006, he is one of only nine people ever to win an Oscar, a Grammy, an Emmy and a Tony. Uncle of dancer Maina Gielgud . 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 The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France (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). Three-time Tony winner, Gielgud graced the Broadway boards as a live performer 15 times between 1928 and 1976, 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. 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 Quest for Camelot (1998). Died the same day as Barbara Cartland. 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. Sir John received PETA's Humanitarian of the Year Award twice, in 1994 and 1999. Actor 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/I)) 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. Along with Malcolm McDowell, he is one of only two actors to play both King Arthur and Merlin. He provided the voice of the former in DragonHeart (1996) and of the latter in Quest for Camelot (1998).