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Sir Alec Guinness is one of the most recognizable actors of the 20th century. While he appeared in lots of films over the years and won many awards, he is best known as having played Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. What many people don’t know about him, though, is that at the age of 42 he converted to Catholicism – in part because of a miracle. Guinness was born in 1914 in London to a broken family. He never knew his father and grew up in poverty. Though he was confirmed in the Anglican faith at 16, he was unsure...

Today marks the centenary of the birth of Sir Alec Guinness and to commemorate this, several of his finest films are being reissued on DVD and shown at the cinema. Such fuss would probably have caused the intensely private star acute embarrassment. After all, his good friend John Le Carré once noted how much Guinness "loathes the world's flattery and mistrusts its praise".

It's a tough time for President Obama. He's worked long and hard at cultivating a nuanced, thinking-man's presidency, and now he's getting praise for shooting a terrorist in the head? What a guttural, simplistic thing to receive acclaim for; it's the sort of thing a NASCAR fan would cheer on. It's like how Sir Alec Guinness received more attention for a few lines he spat out in some B-movie schlock instead of for his more substantial acting rolls. Obama worked long and hard on the millions of jobs he saved and created -- special jobs that only people with advanced...

The cloak is expected to fetch more than £40,000 The cloak worn by Sir Alec Guinness in Star Wars is among a collection of iconic film and television costumes set to go under the hammer.Sean Connery's dinner jacket from the Bond movie Thunderball and costumes from Harry Potter are also among the 350 lots to be auctioned at Bonhams. They are being sold by London-based costume maker Angels. Auctioneers expect the plain, brown robe of Guinness's character, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to fetch at least £40,000. But Guinness, who died in 2000, was not the only one to have worn the...

This year, Italy's first taste of the summer film frenzy was the last installment of the Star Wars saga, "The Revenge of the Sith." The die-hard Star Wars fans of Rome dutifully went and came away with the same dissatisfaction produced by the other two new films. While certainly better than the last two, even this final episode seems to lack something. Discussing the movie with colleagues later, we agreed that one of the key elements missing was Alec Guinness as Obi Wan Kenobi. Speculating further, the question arose of whether Guinness' firm Catholic faith played a part in the...