John Gielgud

John Gielgud came from the Terry family of actors; his great-aunt was the famous actress Ellen Terry. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and became a star in the 1930s. Many considered his Hamlet the finest of his era, and his voice and command of Shakespeare’s verse became legendary. With Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Michael Redgrave he dominated the British stage for decades.

In 1953, only months after being knighted, Gielgud was arrested in a public toilet in Chelsea by a plain-clothes policeman and fined for “persistently importuning”. At the time, the police were systematically hunting gay men. Gielgud feared his career was over. But when he next appeared on stage, in Liverpool, the audience rose and applauded. He suffered a breakdown months later and for years avoided travelling to the United States. Cases like his helped prompt the Wolfenden Report of 1957, which recommended decriminalising homosexuality.

Only in his sixties did Gielgud begin a regular film career, appearing in more than sixty films. For his role as the sardonic butler Hobson in “Arthur” (1981) he won an Oscar. He is one of the few people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.

For almost forty years he lived with his partner Martin Hensler. Gielgud died at his home in Buckinghamshire in 2000, aged 96. A London theatre bears his name.