John Gielgud Net Worth
John Gielgud Net Worth is
$1.5 Million
John Gielgud Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH (/ˈɡiːlɡʊd/; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000), was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family theatrical dynasty, he gained his first paid acting work as a junior member of his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terry's company in 1922. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art he worked in repertory theatre and in the West End before establishing himself at the Old Vic as an exponent of Shakespeare in 1929–31.During the 1930s Gielgud was a stage star in the West End and on Broadway, appearing in new works and classics. He began a parallel career as a director, and set up his own company at the Queen's Theatre, London. He was regarded by many as the finest Hamlet of his era, and was also known for high comedy roles such as John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest. In the 1950s Gielgud feared that his career was threatened when he was convicted and fined for a homosexual offence, but his colleagues and the public supported him loyally. When avant-garde plays began to supersede traditional West End productions in the later 1950s he found no new suitable stage roles, and for several years he was best known in the theatre for his one-man Shakespeare show, The Ages of Man. From the late 1960s he found new plays that suited him, by authors including Alan Bennett, David Storey and Harold Pinter.During the first half of his career Gielgud did not take the cinema seriously. Though he made his first film in 1924, and had successes with The Good Companions (1933) and Julius Caesar (1953), he did not begin a regular film career until his sixties. Between Becket in 1964, for which he received an Oscar nomination, and Elizabeth in 1998 he appeared in more than sixty films. As the acid-tongued Hobson in Arthur (1981) he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.Although largely indifferent to awards, Gielgud had the rare distinction of winning an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony. He was famous from the start of his career for his voice and his mastery of Shakespearean verse. He broadcast more than a hundred radio and television dramas, between 1929 and 1994, and made commercial recordings of many plays, including ten of Shakespeare's. Among his honours, he was knighted in 1953 and the Gielgud Theatre was named after him. From 1977 to 1989, he was president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. | Date Of Birth | April 14, 1904, London, United Kingdom |
| Died | May 21, 2000, Wotton House, United Kingdom |
| Place Of Birth | South Kensington, London, England, UK |
| Height | 5' 11" (1.8 m) |
| Profession | Actor, Director, Writer |
| Awards | Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role |
| TV Shows | Brideshead Revisited, War and Remembrance |
| Star Sign | Aries |
| # | Trademark |
|---|---|
| 1 | His prominent hooked nose, which gave him a distinctive profile |
| 2 | Rich baritone voice |
| # | Quote |
|---|---|
| 1 | [on being cast by Alfred Hitchcock in 'The Secret Agent', 1936] Hitch said he was offering me Hamlet in modern dress. But when we came to make it, all the psychological interest was dissipated. |
| 2 | [directing Linda Marsh as Ophelia in "Hamlet", 1964]: You went slinking about the stage doing a number of interesting movements. They were adequately serpentine, but not altogether gorgeous. |
| 3 | [on theatre actor, designer, director and theoretician, Gordon Craig] He enjoyed becoming a legend, but he was too suspicious to let anybody manage him or help him carry out his ideas. When I knew him, he was a very old man but still in wonderful spirits. He had no teeth but ate enormous meals and chattered away, looking picturesquely sly and coy and nodding, like an old raven, with his head on one side. |
| 4 | [on Edith Evans as Millimant in William Congreve's 'The Way of the World'] She purred and challenged, mocked and melted, showing her changing moods by subtly shifting the angles of her head, neck and shoulders. Poised and cool, like a porcelain figure in a vitrine, she used her fan - which she never opened - as an instrument for attack or defense, now coquettishly pointing it upwards beneath her chin, now resting It languidly on her cheek. |
| 5 | [on Trevor Howard] An enormously versatile and powerful actor. He was a star who had no pretensions, something rare in an actor. It was a shame that despite his stage success, Howard had chosen to concentrate on film work in later years. He was torn between the two mediums. He was a generous man and he had beautiful manners. He was also Bohemian and wild, which was fun. |
| 6 | [on Richard Burton:] I have never known such a gifted actor who was so lacking in confidence. |
| 7 | I was very hesitant of making this program because one's bound to reveal one's self and one is not very proud of it. Although in a way acting depends on your scraping away the details of your personality and using all of your qualities to some extent, but I was also so ashamed of them being so lacking. I never had interest in politics or sport, two great wars have sort of passed me by in a way. I was sort of in them but not of them. I've been so lucky and had so many wonderful people to work with. I've been occupied and had fun, and made many wonderful friends. One has nothing to repress one's self in that way, but I'm ashamed that I haven't got more to offer, really, than just being an actor. |
| 8 | [on Claude Rains] He was a great influence on me. I don't know what happened to him. I think he failed and went to America. |
| 9 | Acting is half shame, half glory. Shame at exhibiting yourself, glory when you can forget yourself. |
| 10 | The joke is that people think of me as an intellectual actor. Yet I have always trusted almost entirely to observation, emotion and instinct. |
| 11 | [on James Mason] He was a punctilious man, beautifully mannered, quiet, generous and amusing. I never heard him say a vicious or bitter thing about anything or anyone. |
| 12 | [on Peggy Ashcroft] I'm absolutely devoted to her. People can't behave badly when she's around. She has such integrity. |
| 13 | [on Ralph Richardson] Ralph is a remarkable man, shrewd, observant, warm and generous-hearted, once you get to know him. He is also reserved and cautious, never making a swift decision about anything. |
| 14 | If one watches television enough, one begins to perceive the texture with which it's contrived. |
| 15 | The only thing I liked about films was looking at the back of my head, which otherwise I could only see at the tailor's. |
| 16 | [During an interview on US television the interviewer asked who had inspired him] It was during my time at RADA, there was a man who inspired us all. Claude Rains. I don't know what happened to him, I think he failed and went to America. |
| 17 | [on reading bad reviews] It's wonderful when it isn't you. |
| 18 | [to Richard Burton on seeing Burton's first "Hamlet"] I'll come back and see it when you're better. |
| 19 | Like all professions, acting has terrible drawbacks. It can be fearfully boring, fearfully unglamorous . . . but what is fun about the theatre is that we get our prizes while we are alive to enjoy them. We have the pleasure of the audience's reaction, we have the applause, we have the publicity, we have the tribute and the honors and whatever it may be. Much more than we probably deserve. |
| 20 | [At age 84] When you're my age, you just never risk being ill - because then everyone says, "Oh, he's done for". |
| # | Fact |
|---|---|
| 1 | Son of Frank Henry Gielgud (1860-1949) and Mabel Terry-Gielgud, née Terry-Lewis (1868-1958). |
| 2 | Is one of 13 actors who have received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a real-life king. The others in chronological order are Charles Laughton for The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933), Robert Morley for Marie Antoinette (1938), Basil Rathbone for If I Were King (1938), Laurence Olivier for Henry V (1944) and Richard III (1955), José Ferrer for Joan of Arc (1948), Yul Brynner for The King and I (1956), Peter O'Toole for Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968), Robert Shaw for A Man for All Seasons (1966), Richard Burton for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), Kenneth Branagh for Henry V (1989), Nigel Hawthorne for The Madness of King George (1994), and Colin Firth for The King's Speech (2010). |
| 3 | He appeared in two different adaptations of William Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar": Julius Caesar (1953) and Julius Caesar (1970). He played Cassius in the former and the title character in the latter. |
| 4 | He was the only actor to appear in a Shakespearean film directed by Laurence Olivier (Richard III (1955)) and one directed by Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet (1996)). |
| 5 | He appeared in three Best Picture Academy Award winners, the last two of which were in consecutive years: Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), Chariots of Fire (1981) and Gandhi (1982). Trevor Howard and John Mills also appeared in both Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) and Gandhi (1982) while Ian Charleson and Richard Griffiths also appeared in both Chariots of Fire (1981) and Gandhi (1982). |
| 6 | He was considered for the roles of Dr. Hans Fallada and Sir Percy Heseltine in Lifeforce (1985). |
| 7 | He was considered for the cameo role of Sir Michael Hughes in Meteor (1979). Trevor Howard was eventually cast. |
| 8 | John's paternal grandparents, Adam Jerzy Konstanty Gielgud and Leontyna Aniela Aszperger, were Polish (Adam also had distant Lithuanian ancestry, with the family surname having originally been "Gelgaudas"). Leontyna's mother, Aniela (Wasinskiej) Aszperger, was a prominent Polish stage actress. John's maternal grandparents, Arthur James Lewis and Kate Terry, were English, and Kate was also a well-known actress. |
| 9 | At the time of his death, he was considering three film offers. |
| 10 | He played three Popes, all of whom were named Pius: the fictional Pope Pius XIII in The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Pope Pius XII in The Scarlet and the Black (1983) and Pope Pius V in Elizabeth (1998). |
| 11 | He had minor roles in two consecutive films which won the Academy Award for Best Picture: Chariots of Fire (1981) and Gandhi (1982). |
| 12 | He played Benjamin Disraeli in both The Prime Minister (1941) and Edward the King (1975). |
| 13 | He was succeeded by Helen Mirren in two roles after the characters' gender was changed: (1) Gielgud played Prospero in a 1957 production of "The Tempest" in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane while Mirren played Prospera in The Tempest (2010) (2) Gielgud played Hobson in Arthur (1981) and Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988) while Mirren played Lillian Hobson in Arthur (2011). |
| 14 | His 1953 arrest for "soliciting homosexual acts" in a public lavatory was dramatized in 2008 as the play Plague Over England by Nicholas de Jongh. |
| 15 | Was J.K. Rowling's original inspiration for the character of Albus Dumbledore. |
| 16 | He has two roles in common with both Malcolm McDowell and Michael York: (1) McDowell played King Arthur in Arthur the King (1985), York played him in The Wonderful World of Disney: A Knight in Camelot (1998) and Gielgud played him in DragonHeart (1996) and (2) McDowell played Merlin in Kids of the Round Table (1995), York played him in A Young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1995) and Gielgud played him in Quest for Camelot (1998). |
| 17 | Archive footage of Gielgud as Hamlet appears briefly on the computer screen of Ethan Hawke as Hamlet (2000) in the year 2000 version of Shakespeare's play. The role is considered the summit for a tragedian, and Gielgud was the most celebrated Hamlet of the 20th century, surpassing even John Barrymore, Laurence Olivier and Richard Burton in acclaim for his stage portrayal of the melancholy Dane. |
| 18 | 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)) 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. |
| 19 | Laurence Olivier, acknowledging Gielgud's mastery of Shakespeare's verse (though he criticized him for making it too much like song), said that Gielgud was possessed of a voice "that wooed the world". |
| 20 | 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. |
| 21 | Great-uncle of dancer and movie choreographer Piers Gielgud. |
| 22 | Died the same day as Barbara Cartland. |
| 23 | His career spanned 76 years. |
| 24 | 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). |
| 25 | All his Oscar and Emmy nominations were received during the latter part of his career, after he had turned sixty. |
| 26 | 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. |
| 27 | Appeared with Laurence Olivier in a 1935 production of "Romeo and Juliet" in which he and Olivier alternated the roles of Romeo and Mercutio. Gielgud got the better reviews in the lead as Romeo, which spurred Olivier on to become a better actor. |
| 28 | Gielgud stated in his autobiography that he wanted desperately to be cast as The Chorus in Laurence Olivier's film Henry V (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). |
| 29 | He once playfully quipped, "Ingrid Bergman is fluent in five languages. And she can't act in any of them." |
| 30 | He was awarded the 1982 London Evening Theatre Award's Special Award for lifetime achievement to the theatre. |
| 31 | He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Special Award in 1986 (1985 season) for lifetime achievement to theatre. |
| 32 | Uncle of dancer Maina Gielgud. |
| 33 | Won a Tony in 1961 for Best Director of a Play for "Big Fish, Little Fish". |
| 34 | As of June 2006, he is one of only nine people ever to win an Oscar, a Grammy, an Emmy and a Tony. |
| 35 | Knighted in the Coronation Honours List of 1953 and appointed a Companion of Honour in the 1977 Queen's Birthday Honours List. |
| 36 | In 1936, he and Leslie Howard appeared on Broadway in "rival" productions of "Hamlet". Gielgud's was the more successful of the two. |
| 37 | Longtime lover Martin Hensler, 30 years younger, died. [December 1998] |
| 38 | Great nephew of celebrated stage actress Ellen Terry. |
| 39 | Made member of 'Order of Merit' by Queen Elizabeth II for exceptional contributions to arts. [December 1996] |
| 40 | Has been called arguably the century's greatest "Hamlet". |
Actor
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catastrophe | 2000 | Short | The Protagonist |
| Elizabeth | 1998 | The Pope | |
| The Tichborne Claimant | 1998 | Cockburn | |
| Quest for Camelot | 1998 | Merlin (voice, as Sir John Gielgud) | |
| Merlin | 1998 | TV Mini-Series | King Constant |
| A Dance to the Music of Time | 1997 | TV Mini-Series | St. John Clarke |
| David | 1997 | TV Movie | God (voice, uncredited) |
| Hamlet | 1996 | Priam | |
| The Portrait of a Lady | 1996 | Mr. Touchett | |
| DragonHeart | 1996 | King Arthur (voice, uncredited) | |
| Gulliver's Travels | 1996 | TV Mini-Series | Professor of Sunlight |
| Shine | 1996 | Cecil Parkes | |
| Haunted | 1995 | Doctor Doyle | |
| First Knight | 1995 | Oswald | |
| Stick with Me, Kid | 1995 | TV Series | Grandpa |
| Performance | 1994 | TV Series | Stephen Dawlish |
| Scarlett | 1994 | TV Mini-Series | Pierre Robillard |
| Alleyn Mysteries | 1994 | TV Series | Percival Pyke Period |
| Under the Hammer | 1994 | TV Series | Hugo Lunt |
| Lovejoy | 1993 | TV Series | Lord Wakering |
| Inspector Morse | 1993 | TV Series | Lord Hinksey |
| The Power of One | 1992 | St. John | |
| Shining Through | 1992 | Sunflower | |
| Swan Song | 1992 | Short | Svetlovidov |
| The Best of Friends | 1991 | TV Movie | Sydney Cockerell |
| Prospero's Books | 1991 | Prospero | |
| A TV Dante | 1991 | TV Mini-Series | Virgil |
| Strauss Dynasty | 1991 | TV Mini-Series | Drechsler |
| Strike It Rich | 1990 | Herbert Dreuther | |
| Summer's Lease | 1989 | TV Mini-Series | Haverford Downs |
| War and Remembrance | 1988-1989 | TV Mini-Series | Aaron Jastrow |
| Getting It Right | 1989 | Sir Gordon Munday | |
| A Man for All Seasons | 1988 | TV Movie | Cardinal Wolsey (as Sir John Gielgud) |
| Arthur 2: On the Rocks | 1988 | Hobson | |
| Appointment with Death | 1988 | Colonel Carbury | |
| Barbablù, Barbablù | 1987 | Barbablù | |
| Screen Two | 1986-1987 | TV Series | Eddie / Jasper Swift |
| The Whistle Blower | 1986 | Sir Adrian Chapple | |
| The Theban Plays by Sophocles | 1986 | TV Series | Teiresias |
| The Canterville Ghost | 1986 | TV Movie | Sir Simon de Canterville |
| Leave All Fair | 1985 | John Middleton Murry | |
| Plenty | 1985 | Sir Leonard Darwin | |
| Romance on the Orient Express | 1985 | TV Movie | Theodore Woodward |
| The Shooting Party | 1985 | Cornelius Cardew | |
| Frankenstein | 1984 | TV Movie | De Lacey |
| Camille | 1984 | TV Movie | Duke de Charles |
| The Master of Ballantrae | 1984 | TV Movie | Lord Durrisdeer |
| Scandalous | 1984 | Uncle Willie | |
| The Far Pavilions | 1984 | TV Mini-Series | Cavagnari |
| Wagner | 1981-1983 | TV Series | Pfistermeister |
| The Wicked Lady | 1983 | Hogarth | |
| The Scarlet and the Black | 1983 | TV Movie | Pope Pius XII (as Sir John Gielgud) |
| Invitation to the Wedding | 1983 | Reverend Clyde Ormiston | |
| Marco Polo | 1982 | TV Mini-Series | Doge of Venice |
| Gandhi | 1982 | Lord Irwin | |
| BBC Play of the Month | 1967-1982 | TV Series | Lord Burleigh Captain Shotover Lord Henry Wotton ... |
| Inside the Third Reich | 1982 | TV Movie | Albert Speer Sr. |
| The Hunchback of Notre Dame | 1982 | TV Movie | Charmolue |
| Brideshead Revisited | 1981 | TV Mini-Series | Edward Ryder |
| Priest of Love | 1981 | Herbert G. Muskett | |
| Arthur | 1981 | Hobson | |
| Chariots of Fire | 1981 | Master of Trinity (as Sir John Gielgud) | |
| Seven Dials Mystery | 1981 | TV Movie | Marquis of Caterhan |
| Sphinx | 1981 | Abdu-Hamdi (as Sir John Gielgud) | |
| Lion of the Desert | 1980 | Sharif El Gariani | |
| The Formula | 1980 | Dr. Abraham Esau, Director Reich Energy | |
| Tales of the Unexpected | 1979-1980 | TV Series | Cyril Boggis / Jelks |
| The Elephant Man | 1980 | Carr Gomm | |
| Why Didn't They Ask Evans? | 1980 | TV Movie | Reverend Jones |
| The Conductor | 1980 | John Lasocki | |
| The Human Factor | 1979 | Brigadier Tomlinson | |
| Caligula | 1979 | Nerva | |
| Murder by Decree | 1979 | Prime Minister Lord Salisbury | |
| Les Miserables | 1978 | TV Movie | Gillenormand |
| Richard II | 1978 | TV Movie | John of Gaunt |
| Romeo & Juliet | 1978 | TV Movie | Chorus |
| No Man's Land | 1978 | TV Movie | Spooner |
| A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | 1977 | The Preacher | |
| Joseph Andrews | 1977 | The Doctor | |
| Providence | 1977 | Clive Langham | |
| Aces High | 1976 | Headmaster | |
| Peter Pan | 1976 | TV Movie | Narrator |
| Shades of Greene | 1975 | TV Series | Mr. Ferraro |
| Edward the King | 1975 | TV Series | Benjamin Disraeli |
| Galileo | 1975 | The Old Cardinal | |
| Murder on the Orient Express | 1974 | Beddoes | |
| Gold | 1974 | Farrell | |
| 11 Harrowhouse | 1974 | Meecham | |
| QB VII | 1974 | TV Mini-Series | Clinton-Meek |
| Frankenstein: The True Story | 1973 | TV Movie | Chief Constable |
| Menace | 1973 | TV Series | Frederick William Densham |
| Lost Horizon | 1973 | Chang | |
| ABC Afterschool Specials | 1973 | TV Series | Various Roles |
| Probe | 1972 | TV Movie | Harold L. Streeter (as Sir John Gielgud) |
| Eagle in a Cage | 1972 | Lord Sissal | |
| Play for Today | 1972 | TV Series | Harry |
| Hassan | 1971 | TV Movie | Haroun al Raschid |
| ITV Saturday Night Theatre | 1970 | TV Series | The Ghost |
| Julius Caesar | 1970 | Julius Caesar (as Sir John Gielgud) | |
| Thirty-Minute Theatre | 1969 | TV Series | The Writer |
| Oh! What a Lovely War | 1969 | Count Leopold von Berchtold | |
| The Shoes of the Fisherman | 1968/I | The Elder Pope (as Sir John Gielgud) | |
| Assignment to Kill | 1968 | Curt Valayan | |
| The Charge of the Light Brigade | 1968 | Lord Raglan | |
| From Chekhov with Love | 1968 | TV Movie | Anton Chekhov |
| NET Playhouse | 1968 | TV Series | Harry |
| Sebastian | 1968 | Head of Intelligence | |
| Alice in Wonderland | 1966 | TV Movie | Mock Turtle (as Sir John Gielgud) |
| The Wednesday Play | 1966 | TV Series | Gabriel Quantara |
| ABC Stage 67 | 1966 | TV Series | Rich Man |
| Treasure Island | 1965 | Short | Squire Trelawney |
| Chimes at Midnight | 1965 | Henry IV | |
| The Loved One | 1965 | Sir Francis Hinsley | |
| Hamlet | 1964/I | Ghost (voice) | |
| Becket | 1964 | King Louis of France / King Louis VII of France | |
| ITV Play of the Week | 1959-1963 | TV Series | The Count / Julian Anson |
| The Cherry Orchard | 1962 | TV Movie | Leonid Andreyevich Gaev, Lyubov's brother |
| The DuPont Show of the Month | 1959 | TV Series | Andrew Crocker-Harris |
| Saint Joan | 1957 | Earl of Warwick | |
| The Barretts of Wimpole Street | 1957 | Edward Moulton-Barrett | |
| Nude with Violin | 1956 | TV Movie | Sebastien |
| Around the World in 80 Days | 1956 | Foster - Fogg's Ex-Valet (as Sir John Gielgud) | |
| Richard III | 1955 | George, Duke of Clarence | |
| Romeo and Juliet | 1954 | Chorus | |
| Julius Caesar | 1953 | Cassius | |
| An Airman's Letter to His Mother | 1941 | Short | Narrator |
| The Prime Minister | 1941 | Benjamin Disraeli | |
| Full Fathom Five | 1937 | Short voice | |
| Secret Agent | 1936 | Richard Ashenden / Brodie | |
| The Good Companions | 1933 | Inigo Jollifant | |
| Insult | 1932 | Henri Dubois | |
| The Clue of the New Pin | 1929 | Rex Trasmere | |
| Who Is the Man? | 1924 | Daniel |
Writer
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boys on Film 15: Time & Tied | 2016 | segment "Trouser Bar" | |
| Trouser Bar | 2016 | Short screenplay | |
| ITV Play of the Week | 1966 | TV Series adaptation - 1 episode | |
| The Cherry Orchard | 1962 | TV Movie version |
Director
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamlet | 1964/I | ||
| Nude with Violin | 1956 | TV Movie | |
| Spring Meeting | 1938 | TV Movie |
Soundtrack
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knight of Cups | 2015 | performer: "The Pilgrim's Progress" - as Sir John Gielgud | |
| Tales of the Unexpected | 1980 | TV Series performer - 1 episode | |
| The Good Companions | 1933 | performer: "Lucky for Me" - uncredited |
Miscellaneous
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamlet | 1964/I | stage director | |
| A Diary for Timothy | 1945 | Short documentary cooperation and support |
Thanks
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survival T.V. The Movie! | 2016 | thanks for inspiration |
Self
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film | 2003 | Video documentary | Himself, from "Catastrophe" |
| Biography | 2000 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Arena: The Sir Noel Coward Trilogy | 1998 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| The Harvest of Sorrow | 1998 | TV Movie documentary | Sergei Rachmaninoff (voice) |
| Dennis Pennis R.I.P. | 1997 | Video | Himself |
| The Making of 'Dragonheart' | 1997 | Video documentary | King Arthur (voice) |
| To Be on Camera: A History with Hamlet | 1997 | Video documentary short | Himself |
| The Leopard Son | 1996 | Documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| Looking for Richard | 1996 | Documentary | Himself (Interview) |
| Westminster Abbey | 1995 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood | 1995 | TV Mini-Series documentary | Himself |
| Words from Jerusalem | 1995 | TV Series | Himself - Host / Himself - Narrator |
| Hollywood U.K. | 1993 | TV Series documentary | Himself - Contributor |
| The South Bank Show | 1990-1992 | TV Series documentary | Himself / Narrator |
| A Walk Through Prospero's Library | 1991 | TV Short documentary | Prospero |
| Victims of Indulgence | 1991 | Documentary short | Narrator |
| Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond | 1990 | TV Movie documentary | Himself (as Sir John Gielgud) |
| War and Remembrance: A Living History | 1988 | Video documentary short | Himself |
| Omnibus | 1969-1988 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Great Performances | 1983-1988 | TV Series | Himself George, Duke of Clarence Cassius ... |
| An Evening with Kiri Te Kanawa | 1987 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Funny, You Don't Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville | 1987 | TV Movie documentary | British Lord (as Sir John Gielgud) |
| This Is Your Life | 1960-1985 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Six Centuries of Verse | 1984 | TV Series | Himself - Presenter |
| Ingrid | 1984 | Documentary | Himself / Narrator |
| The Great Hamlets | 1983 | TV Mini-Series documentary | Himself |
| Film '72 | 1979-1983 | TV Series | Himself |
| Voyage to the End of the Earth | 1981 | TV Movie documentary | Narrator |
| The British Greats | 1980 | TV Series | Himself |
| Every Night Something Atrocious | 1980 | TV Movie documentary | Interviewee |
| Fall In, the Stars | 1977 | TV Movie | Himself |
| Night of 100 Stars | 1977 | TV Special | Himself |
| SCTV | 1976 | TV Series | Himself |
| Parkinson | 1972 | TV Series | Himself |
| Stars on Sunday | 1969-1972 | TV Series | Himself |
| The David Frost Show | 1970 | TV Series | Himself - Guest |
| A Birthday Gala Tribute Noel Coward | 1970 | TV Movie | Himself - Performer |
| Camera Three | 1970 | TV Series | Himself |
| Carol Channing's Mad English Tea Party | 1970 | TV Special | Himself |
| NBC Experiment in Television | 1970 | TV Series | Himself |
| Hamlet Revisited: Approaches to Hamlet | 1970 | TV Movie documentary | Himself - Narrator / Host |
| Conflict | 1966-1969 | TV Series | Himself - Host |
| The Shoes of the Fisherman | 1968/II | Documentary short | Himself (uncredited) |
| Révolution d'octobre | 1967 | Documentary | Narrator (English version, voice) |
| Ages of Man | 1966 | TV Movie | Himself |
| Farewell to the Vic | 1963 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Mourir à Madrid | 1963 | Documentary | Narrator (English version) (voice) |
| The Bell Telephone Hour | 1961 | TV Series | Himself |
| The Big Party | 1959 | TV Series | Himself |
| The Jack Paar Tonight Show | 1959 | TV Series | Himself |
| The Ed Sullivan Show | 1951-1959 | TV Series | Shakespearean Reader / Himself |
| The Immortal Land | 1958 | Documentary short | Narrator (voice) |
| Salute to Show Business | 1957 | TV Movie | Himself |
| En direct de... | 1956 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Sunshine in Soho | 1956 | Documentary short | Himself |
| The Faye Emerson Show | 1951 | TV Series | Himself - Guest |
| This Is Show Business | 1951 | TV Series | Himself |
| A Diary for Timothy | 1945 | Short documentary | Hamlet |
| Niedokonczona podróz | 1943 | Documentary short | Narrator (English version, voice) |
Archive Footage
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drawing the Audience In: Making the Music for Shine With David Hirschfelder | 2015 | Video documentary short | Cecil Parkes |
| Sculpting the Movie: the Experience of Directing Shine With Scott Hicks | 2015 | Video documentary short | Cecil Parkes |
| Scultping the Movie: the Experience of Directing Shine With Scott Hicks | 2015 | Video documentary short | Cecil Parkes |
| Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films | 2014 | Documentary | Hogarth (uncredited) |
| Shakespeare Uncovered | 2012 | TV Mini-Series documentary | John of Gaunt |
| Alice in Wonderland Stills Gallery | 2010 | Video short | Himself / Mock Turtle (uncredited) |
| Agatha Christie: A Woman of Mystery | 2007 | Video documentary | Beddoes (in 'Murder on the Orient Express') |
| Never Apologize | 2007 | Documentary | Himself |
| Brando | 2007 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| There's Something About... Morse | 2007 | TV Movie documentary | Lord Hinksey (uncredited) |
| Plenty: Days of Plenty - A Conversation with Director Fred Schepisi | 2002 | Video short | Sir Leonard Darwin |
| Heroes of Comedy | 1995-2002 | TV Series documentary | |
| The 73rd Annual Academy Awards | 2001 | TV Special | Himself (Memorial Tribute) |
| Shine: The Phenomenon | 1997 | Video documentary short | Cecil Parkes |
| Omnibus | 1994 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker | 1991 | Documentary | Himself |
| Hollywood: The Gift of Laughter | 1982 | TV Movie documentary | Actor - 'Arthur' (uncredited) |
| The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | 1981 | TV Series | Himself |
| Clapper Board | 1980 | TV Series |
Won Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Special Achievement Award | London Critics Circle Film Awards | ||
| 1992 | Academy Fellowship | BAFTA Awards | ||
| 1989 | Golden Globe | Golden Globes, USA | Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV | War and Remembrance (1988) |
| 1988 | ACE | CableACE Awards | Actor in a Movie or Miniseries | Screen Two (1985) |
| 1986 | NSFC Award | National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA | Best Supporting Actor | Plenty (1985) |
| 1985 | LAFCA Award | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Plenty (1985) |
| 1982 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Arthur (1981) |
| 1982 | Golden Globe | Golden Globes, USA | Best Motion Picture Actor in a Supporting Role | Arthur (1981) |
| 1982 | Marquee | American Movie Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Arthur (1981) |
| 1981 | LAFCA Award | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Arthur (1981) |
| 1981 | NYFCC Award | New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Arthur (1981) |
| 1980 | Grammy | Grammy Awards | Best Spoken Word Album | For the Album "Ages of Man : Reading from Shakespeare" |
| 1977 | NYFCC Award | New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actor | Providence (1977) |
| 1975 | BAFTA Film Award | BAFTA Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Murder on the Orient Express (1974) |
| 1954 | BAFTA Film Award | BAFTA Awards | Best British Actor | Julius Caesar (1953) |
Nominated Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | BAFTA Film Award | BAFTA Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role | Shine (1996) |
| 1997 | Actor | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Cast | Shine (1996) |
| 1990 | Golden Globe | Golden Globes, USA | Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV | War and Remembrance (1988) |
| 1989 | Primetime Emmy | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special | War and Remembrance (1988) |
| 1989 | ACE | CableACE Awards | Actor in a Dramatic or Theatrical Special | The Theban Plays by Sophocles (1986) |
| 1989 | Grammy | Grammy Awards | Best Spoken Word Album | For the Album "A Christmas Carol" |
| 1988 | Grammy | Grammy Awards | Best Spoken Word Album | For the Album "Sir John Gielgud Reads Alice in Wonderland" |
| 1987 | Grammy | Grammy Awards | Best Spoken Word Album | For the Album "Gulliver" |
| 1986 | BAFTA Film Award | BAFTA Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Plenty (1985) |
| 1985 | Primetime Emmy | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special | Romance on the Orient Express (1985) |
| 1984 | Primetime Emmy | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special | The Master of Ballantrae (1984) |
| 1984 | Grammy | Grammy Awards | Best Spoken Word Album | |
| 1982 | Primetime Emmy | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special | Brideshead Revisited (1981) |
| 1982 | BAFTA Film Award | BAFTA Awards | Best Supporting Artist | Arthur (1981) |
| 1982 | BAFTA TV Award | BAFTA Awards | Best Actor | Brideshead Revisited (1981) |
| 1965 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Becket (1964) |
| 1965 | Grammy | Grammy Awards | Best Spoken Word Album | |
| 1961 | Grammy | Grammy Awards | Best Spoken Word Album | For the Album "Ages of Man: Vol. 2 |
| 1961 | Grammy | Grammy Awards | Best Spoken Word Album | For the Album "Hamlet" |
| 1959 | Grammy | Grammy Awards | Best Spoken Word Album | For the Album "Ages of Man" |
2nd Place Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | NYFCC Award | New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Plenty (1985) |
| 1977 | NSFC Award | National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA | Best Actor | Providence (1977) |
| 1953 | NYFCC Award | New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actor | Julius Caesar (1953) |
Known for movies
Gandhi (1982)
as Lord Irwin
The Elephant Man (1980)
as Carr Gomm
Elizabeth (1998)
as The Pope
Chariots of Fire (1981)
as Master of Trinity