109 Facts About John Gielgud

1.

John Gielgud began a parallel career as a director, and set up his own company at the Queen's Theatre, London.

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2.

John Gielgud was regarded by many as the finest Hamlet of his era, and was known for high comedy roles such as John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest.

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3.

John Gielgud appeared in more than sixty films between Becket, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination for playing Louis VII of France, and Elizabeth (1998).

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4.

John Gielgud was famous from the start of his career for his voice and his mastery of Shakespearean verse.

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5.

In 1912, aged eight, John Gielgud went to Hillside preparatory school in Surrey as his elder brothers had done.

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6.

John Gielgud was sent as a day boy to Westminster School where, as he later said, he had access to the West End "in time to touch the fringe of the great century of the theatre".

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7.

John Gielgud saw Sarah Bernhardt act, Adeline Genee dance and Albert Chevalier, Vesta Tilley and Marie Lloyd perform in the music halls.

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8.

John Gielgud showed talent at sketching, and for a while thought of scenic design as a possible career.

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9.

Young John Gielgud's father took him to concerts, which he liked, and galleries and museums, "which bored me rigid".

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10.

Val Gielgud recalled, "Our parents looked distinctly sideways at the Stage as a means of livelihood, and when John showed some talent for drawing his father spoke crisply of the advantages of an architect's office.

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11.

John Gielgud was kept on for the rest of the season in walk-on parts in King Lear, Wat Tyler and Peer Gynt, with no lines.

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12.

John Gielgud was awarded a scholarship to the academy and trained there throughout 1923 under Kenneth Barnes, Helen Haye and Claude Rains.

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13.

John Gielgud later said that he made a poor impression in the part: "I am surprised that the audience did not throw things at me.

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14.

John Gielgud was in the Oxford company in January and February 1924, from October 1924 to the end of January 1925, and in August 1925.

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15.

John Gielgud played a wide range of parts in classics and modern plays, greatly increasing his technical abilities in the process.

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16.

John Gielgud's distinctive speaking voice attracted attention and led to work for BBC Radio, which his biographer Sheridan Morley calls "a medium he made his own for seventy years".

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17.

John Gielgud found it tiring to play because he had not yet learned how to pace himself, but he thought it "a thrilling engagement because it led to so many great things afterwards".

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18.

The production received enthusiastic reviews, and John Gielgud's highly praised performance enhanced his reputation as a potential star.

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19.

John Gielgud had an enforceable contractual claim to the role, but Dean, a notorious bully, was a powerful force in British theatre.

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20.

Intimidated, John Gielgud accepted the position of understudy, with a guarantee that he would take over the lead from Coward when the latter, who disliked playing in long runs, left.

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21.

John Gielgud had his first serious romantic relationship, living with John Perry, an unsuccessful actor, later a writer, who remained a lifelong friend after their affair ended.

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22.

In 1928 John Gielgud made his Broadway debut as the Grand Duke Alexander in Alfred Neumann's The Patriot.

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23.

The play was a failure, closing after a week, but John Gielgud liked New York and received favourable reviews from critics including Alexander Woollcott and Brooks Atkinson.

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24.

This, billed as "the first British full-length talkie", was an adaptation of an Edgar Wallace mystery story; John Gielgud played a young scoundrel who commits two murders and very nearly a third before he himself is killed.

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25.

John Gielgud's paid her performers very modest wages, but the theatre was known for its unrivalled repertory of classics, mostly Shakespeare, and Gielgud was not the first West End star to take a large pay cut to work there.

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26.

John Gielgud's Romeo was not well reviewed, but as Richard II Gielgud was recognised by critics as a Shakespearean actor of undoubted authority.

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27.

John Gielgud was uncertain of the suitability of the most prominent new recruit, Ralph Richardson, but Williams was sure that after this season John Gielgud would move on; he saw Richardson as a potential replacement.

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28.

John Gielgud was the New Young Man of his time and I didn't like him.

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29.

Richardson's notices, and the relationship of the two leading men, improved markedly when John Gielgud, who was playing Prospero in The Tempest, helped Richardson with his performance as Caliban:.

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30.

John Gielgud gave me about two hundred ideas, as he usually does, twenty-five of which I eagerly seized on, and when I went away I thought, "This chap, you know, I don't like him very much but by God he knows something about this here play.

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31.

The Times commented, "It is a mountain of a part, and at the end of the evening the peak remains unscaled"; in The Manchester Guardian, however, Brown wrote that John Gielgud "is a match for the thunder, and at length takes the Dover road with a broken tranquillity that allowed every word of the King's agony to be clear as well as poignant".

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32.

The production ran from May 1931 for 331 performances, and John Gielgud described it as his first real taste of commercial success.

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33.

John Gielgud played Inigo Jollifant, a young schoolmaster who abandons teaching to join a travelling theatre troupe.

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34.

At the invitation of George Devine, the president of the Oxford University Dramatic Society, John Gielgud took charge of a production of Romeo and Juliet by the society, featuring two guest stars: Peggy Ashcroft as Juliet and Edith Evans as the Nurse.

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35.

The experience was satisfactory to John Gielgud: he enjoyed the attentions of the undergraduates, had a brief affair with one of them, James Lees-Milne, and was widely praised for his inspiring direction and his proteges' success with the play.

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36.

Between seasons of Richard, in 1934 John Gielgud returned to Hamlet in London and on tour, directing and playing the title role.

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37.

John Gielgud had spotted Olivier's potential and gave him a major step up in his career.

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38.

In May 1936 John Gielgud played Trigorin in The Seagull, with Evans as Arkadina and Ashcroft as Nina.

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39.

From September 1936 to February 1937 John Gielgud played Hamlet in North America, opening in Toronto before moving to New York and Boston.

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40.

John Gielgud was nervous about starring on Broadway for the first time, particularly as it became known that the popular actor Leslie Howard was to appear there in a rival production of the play.

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41.

John Gielgud decided that he must form his own company to play Shakespeare and other classic plays in the West End.

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42.

John Gielgud invested £5, 000, most of his earnings from the American Hamlet; Perry, who had family money, put in the same sum.

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43.

From September 1937 to April 1938 John Gielgud was the tenant of the Queen's Theatre, where he presented a season consisting of Richard II, The School for Scandal, Three Sisters, and The Merchant of Venice.

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44.

John Gielgud's company included Harry Andrews, Peggy Ashcroft, Glen Byam Shaw, George Devine, Michael Redgrave and Harcourt Williams, with Angela Baddeley and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as guests.

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45.

Venture did not make much money, and in July 1938 John Gielgud turned to more conventional West End enterprises, in unconventional circumstances.

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46.

John Gielgud directed Spring Meeting, a farce by Perry and Molly Keane, presented by Binkie Beaumont, for whom Perry had just left Gielgud.

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47.

At the start of the Second World War John Gielgud volunteered for active service, but was told that men of his age, thirty-five, would not be wanted for at least six months.

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48.

John Gielgud directed Michael Redgrave in a 1940 London production of The Beggar's Opera for the Glyndebourne Festival.

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49.

John Gielgud felt that something serious or even solemn was necessary for wartime London, where most entertainment was light-hearted.

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50.

John Gielgud's King Lear divided the critics, but his Prospero was a considerable success.

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51.

John Gielgud gave recitals of prose and poetry, and acted in a triple bill of short plays, including two from Coward's Tonight at 8.

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52.

John Gielgud returned to filming in 1940, as Disraeli in Thorold Dickinson's The Prime Minister.

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53.

John Gielgud made no more films for the next ten years; he turned down the role of Julius Caesar in the 1945 film of Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra with Vivien Leigh.

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54.

John Gielgud declined: "It would be a disaster, you would have to spend your whole time as referee between Larry and me.

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55.

Agate wrote, "Mr John Gielgud is completely and authoritatively master of this tremendous part.

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56.

In late 1945 and early 1946 John Gielgud toured for ENSA in the Middle and Far East with Hamlet and Coward's Blithe Spirit.

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57.

John Gielgud was Raskolnikoff in a stage version of Crime and Punishment, in the West End in 1946 and on Broadway the following year.

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58.

Between these two engagements John Gielgud toured North America in The Importance of Being Earnest and Love for Love.

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59.

At the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, John Gielgud did much to reclaim his position as a leading Shakespearean.

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60.

John Gielgud followed this with three other Shakespeare productions with Brook, which were well received.

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61.

In 1953 Gielgud made his first Hollywood film, the sole classical actor in Joseph L Mankiewicz's Julius Caesar, playing Cassius.

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62.

John Gielgud enjoyed his four-month stay in California, not least, as Morley comments, for the relaxed attitude there to homosexuality.

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63.

John Gielgud was fined; when the press reported the story, he thought his disgrace would end his career.

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64.

John Gielgud's grabbed him and whispered fiercely, "Come on, John darling, they won't boo me, and led him firmly on to the stage.

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65.

John Gielgud's career was safe, but the episode briefly affected Gielgud's health; he suffered a nervous breakdown some months afterwards.

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66.

John Gielgud never spoke publicly about the incident, and it was quickly sidelined by the press and politely ignored by writers during his lifetime.

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67.

Between December 1953 and June 1955 John Gielgud concentrated on directing and did not appear on stage.

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68.

John Gielgud's productions ranged from a revival of Charley's Aunt with John Mills to The Cherry Orchard with Ffrangcon-Davies, and Twelfth Night with Olivier.

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69.

In 1955 John Gielgud made his second appearance in a film of Shakespeare, portraying Clarence in Olivier's Richard III.

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70.

John Gielgud remained in demand as a Shakespearean, but there were few new plays suitable for him.

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71.

John Gielgud directed and played the lead in Coward's Nude with Violin in 1956, which was dismissed by the critics as old-fashioned, though it ran for more than a year.

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72.

John Gielgud made two film appearances, playing a cameo comedy scene with Coward as a prospective manservant in Michael Anderson's Around the World in 80 Days, and as the father of Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Sidney Franklin's 1957 remake of The Barretts of Wimpole Street.

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73.

John Gielgud did not consider his performance as the tyrannical father convincing, and confessed that he undertook it only for the large fee and to keep him before the public in America, where he had not performed for over four years.

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74.

John Gielgud first appeared in this in 1956 and revived it every year until 1967.

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75.

John Gielgud performed it all over Britain, mainland Europe, Australasia and the US, including a performance at the White House in 1965.

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76.

John Gielgud found there were advantages to performing solo: "You've no idea how much easier it is without a Juliet.

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77.

John Gielgud made many other recordings, both before and after this, including ten Shakespeare plays.

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78.

John Gielgud continued to try, without much success, to find new plays that suited him as an actor, but his direction of Peter Shaffer's first play, Five Finger Exercise, received acclaim.

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79.

John Gielgud appeared in more than fifty more plays on television over the next four decades.

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80.

John Gielgud directed the first London performance of Britten's opera A Midsummer Night's Dream at Covent Garden and Hugh Wheeler's Big Fish, Little Fish on Broadway, the latter winning him a Tony for Best Direction of a Play in 1961.

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81.

The following year John Gielgud directed Richardson in The School for Scandal, first at the Haymarket and then on a North American tour, which he joined as, in his words, "the oldest Joseph Surface in the business".

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82.

In 1962 John Gielgud met Martin Hensler, an interior designer exiled from Hungary.

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83.

Under his influence John Gielgud moved his main residence from central London to the South Pavilion of Wotton House at Wotton Underwood in Buckinghamshire.

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84.

John Gielgud received an Oscar nomination for his performance as King Louis VII of France in Becket, with Richard Burton in the title role.

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85.

John Gielgud finally began to take the cinema seriously, for financial and sometimes artistic reasons.

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86.

John Gielgud told his agent to accept any reasonable film offers.

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87.

In 1970 John Gielgud played another modern role in which he had great success; he joined Ralph Richardson at the Royal Court in Chelsea in David Storey's Home.

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88.

John Gielgud continued his long stage association with Richardson in Harold Pinter's No Man's Land, directed by Hall at the National.

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89.

In Julian Mitchell's Half-Life at the National, John Gielgud was warmly praised by reviewers; he reprised the role at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End in 1978 and on tour the following year.

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90.

John Gielgud thought it "by far the most exciting film I have ever made".

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91.

John Gielgud made cameo appearances in films of little merit, lending distinction while not damaging his own reputation.

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92.

John Gielgud turned the part down twice before finally accepting it, nervous, after the Caligula debacle, of the strong language used by the acerbic Hobson.

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93.

John Gielgud won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor and other awards for the performance.

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94.

John Gielgud placed little value on awards, and avoided presentation ceremonies whenever he could: "I really detest all the mutual congratulation baloney and the invidious comparisons which they evoke.

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95.

Television John Gielgud played nineteen roles during the 1980s; they included Edward Ryder in an eleven-part adaptation of Waugh's Brideshead Revisited.

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96.

John Gielgud played Sir Sydney Cockerell, director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, in a representation of a friendship between Cockerell, Bernard Shaw and Laurentia McLachlan, a Benedictine nun.

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97.

John Gielgud had some trouble learning his lines; at one performance he almost forgot them, momentarily distracted by seeing in a 1938 copy of The Times, read by his character, a review of his own portrayal of Vershinin in Three Sisters fifty years earlier.

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98.

In 1990 John Gielgud made his last film appearance in a leading role, playing Prospero in Prospero's Books, Peter Greenaway's adaptation of The Tempest.

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99.

John Gielgud continued to work on radio, as he had done throughout his career; Croall lists more than fifty BBC radio productions of plays starring Gielgud between 1929 and 1994.

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100.

John Gielgud has appeared on television until 1994; his last role in the medium was in a BBC production that year of J B Priestley's rarely-revived Summer Day's Dream.

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101.

John Gielgud was awarded honorary degrees by St Andrews, Oxford and Brandeis universities.

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102.

From 1977 to 1989 John Gielgud was president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art – a symbolic position – and was the academy's first honorary fellow.

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103.

John Gielgud had not acted on stage for eight years, and felt out of touch with the West End: he commented on the renaming of the theatre, "At last there is a name in lights on the Avenue which I actually recognise, even if it is my own.

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104.

The critic Nicholas de Jongh wrote that John Gielgud's personality was "such infinite, mischievous fun", and Coward's biographer Cole Lesley recalled the pleasure of John Gielgud's company, "the words tumbling out of his mouth in an avalanche, frequently having to wipe away his own tears of laughter at the funniness of the disasters he recounted, disasters always against himself".

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105.

Together with Richardson and Olivier, John Gielgud was internationally recognised as one of the "great trinity of theatrical knights" who dominated the British stage for more than fifty years during the middle and later decades of the 20th century.

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106.

John Gielgud is the lone survivor of those great actors whose careers laid the foundation stones of modern theatre.

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107.

John Gielgud is acclaimed as the greatest speaker of Shakespearean verse this century.

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108.

John Gielgud is indelibly linked with the roles of Prospero and King Lear – regarded as pinnacles of theatrical achievement – yet he is widely remembered for his wonderful comic touch as Jack Worthing in Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

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109.

John Gielgud was a pioneer in establishing the first permanent companies in the West End.

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