When was john gielgud knighted

The pinnacle of his movie career was his best supporting actor Academy Award for his memorable appearance as the butler in Arthur As he entered old age, he began to find it difficult to memorise lengthy dialogue and retired from the stage in , but he continued to appear in films, notably Shine and his final appearance, in Elizabeth In , he was devastated by the death of his partner of nearly forty years, Martin Hensler.

A few months later, in May , Sir John Gielgud passed away quietly at home. He was 96 years old. After it was broadcast, he did not receive any more acting offers.

Clearly, he had not inherited his family's acting genius. For a long time, I had felt exasperated with Sherry for what appeared to be his self-importance and, occasionally, delusions of grandeur. Then one day in , we met for the first time in many years and sat down to have a drink together. He had suffered a stroke and looked ill and tired. He told me what I had never known or suspected: he was prey to devastating depression and had suffered a number of breakdowns that required hospitalisation and psychiatric treatment.

We shook hands, dismissed the past and the last words we spoke to each other were friendly. Two days later, I received a letter from him giving me permission to quote from Sir Noel Coward's letters, diaries and plays for a project on which I was working. Some months later, Sheridan Morley died at the age of It is greatly to the credit of his loyal and loving wife, Ruth Leon, that she has allowed the negative, as well as the positive, aspects of her husband's life to be released for public inspection in these archives.

He was a man who bravely battled his private demons, but who never quite escaped from the long shadows cast by his famous family. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Argos AO. Headlines U.

Privacy Policy Feedback. Gielgud the predator: He was one of our most flamboyant actors but Sir John had an altogether darker side Famed: Sir John in a scene from Julius Caesar made in A critical life: Sheridan Morley and his devoted wife Ruth Leon. Share or comment on this article: Gielgud the predator: He was one of our most flamboyant actors but Sir John had an altogether darker side Comments 32 Share what you think.

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Should they commiserate with Gielgud? Or, pretend nothing had happened? Thankfully, the grande dame Sybil Thorndike knew exactly what to do. Giving Gielgud a an all-embracing hug and a peck on each cheek she said:.

Rehearsals were finished and the play taken on the road. The first performance was in Liverpool. Terrified as to how the audience might react, Gielgud froze in the wings and missed his cue.

Realizing what had happened, Thorndike once more came to his rescue, as Richard Huggett recounted in his biography of Binkie Beaumont:.

They cheered, they applauded, they shouted. The message was quite clear. It was a moment never to be forgotten by those who witnessed it. After the tour finished, Gielgud suffered a nervous breakdown and never talked about his arrest again.

However, the idea that a knight of the realm could be arrested for cottaging led some to think that homosexuality should no longer be considered a criminal act. This in turn led to the Wolfenden Report of which in turn led to the Sexual Offences Act of which decriminalized homosexual acts between consenting adults in England and Wales.

This was later followed in Scotland in Email Address. John Gielgud.