John Gielgud - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography (Read)

John Gielgud - biography, date of birth, place of birth, filmography, clips, Actor, Writer, Director.
April 14, 1904, London - May 21, 2000, Wotton Underwood - English actor, theater director
Gielgud attended Lady Benson Theater School for one year and Gower Street Academy of Theater Arts for a year. He made his debut in 1921 at the Old Vic Theater in London as Herald "Henry V" by W. Shakespeare. Over the next half century (until 1977), Gielgud played all the major roles in Shakespeare's repertoire. Among his best roles are Richard II and Hamlet, whom Gielgud played for the first time at the Old Vic in 1929 and later, for fifteen years, played in various London theaters, as well as Prospero in The Tempest and King Lear, played them at Old Vic and at the Shakespeare Memorial Theater in Stratford-upon-Avon.
With great success, John Gielgud performed in the plays of A.P. Chekhov: in 1924, on the stage of the Oxford Playhouse, he played Petya Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard, in 1936, in New Tietr, - Treplev in The Seagull and in 1938 - Vershinin in Three Sisters on the stage of the Royal Theater.
As a director, Gielgud made his debut in 1932 at Oxford, staging Romeo and Juliet with Peggy Ashcroft as Juliet at the university theater. In 1935, Gielgud directed Romeo and Juliet himself. In this sensational production, he performed several roles at once, alternating with the novice Laurence Olivier, who later became his main rival in the struggle for the main roles in the plays of Shakespeare's repertoire. In the postwar years, Gielgud increasingly acted as a director; among the performances he staged - "The Cherry Orchard" in 1954 at the "Theater of the Lyric" and the staging of the novel by FM Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment" in "New Tietr" in 1946, in which he played the role of Raskolnikov.
On the occasion of the coronation of Elizabeth II, he was knighted. Also in 1953, Gielgud was given a suspended sentence for "systematic indecent behavior in public restrooms." Aware of his homosexuality, at the next performance, the audience rose from their seats and gave him a standing ovation. In 1968 he played Oedipus the king in a play directed by Peter Brook; toured the USSR with this performance.

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Author: Jane Watson