London – Sir John Gielgud died last Sunday at his home near Aylesbury in
Buckinghamshire, west of London, his family said. He was 96.
Sir John Gielgud, was the last of the great trinity of British actors who
dominated the theatrical world for much of the 20th century.
With a voice that Sir Alec Guinness, one of the actor’s few
surviving
contemporaries, once called “a silver trumpet muffled in silk,” Guilgud was
a versatile actor. He was as facile in tragedy as he was in comedy. Gielgud
held his place alongside Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson as Britain’s
leading actors. His Hamlet was regarded as the finest of the age.
Active well into his 90s, Gielgud appeared in Jane
Campion’s “The Portrait of a Lady” in 1996 as well as Scott Hick’s “Shine.” In
1998, he was the voice character of Merlin in the nominated “The Quest for
Camelot.” His last film role was believed to be Pope Paul IV that same year
in “Elizabeth.” His death brings the end of an era.
He leaves no immediate survivors. Many theaters in
London dimmed their lights in homage to Gielgud Monday night including the
theater named after the great actor where Kathleen Turner is appearing as Mrs.
Robinson in a stage adaptation of “The
Graduate.”
