John Gielgud

1 portrait of John Gielgud

© William Hustler and Georgina Hustler / National Portrait Gallery, London

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John Gielgud

by Dorothy Wilding
chlorobromide print on card mount, early 1950s
18 1/4 in. x 12 3/8 in. (462 mm x 313 mm) image size
Given by the photographer's sister, Susan Morton, 1976
Photographs Collection
NPG x30466

Sitterback to top

  • Sir John Gielgud (1904-2000), Actor and theatre director. Sitter in 123 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Dorothy Wilding (1893-1976), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 2179 portraits, Sitter in 30 portraits.

This portraitback to top

In 1950 Gielgud had starred in a run of Shakespeare plays at Stratford and had for the first time worked with Peter Brook. The following year he again collaborated with Brook, playing Leontes in a Festival of Britain production of A Winter's Tale.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Pepper, Terence, In Pursuit of Perfection: The Photographs of Dorothy Wilding, 1991 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 July 1991 - 29 September 1991), p. 105

Placesback to top

Events of 1950back to top

Current affairs

Princess Anne is born at Clarence house, the only daughter of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

Art and science

C.S. Lewis publishes The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Lewis was an Oxford Don, specialising in Medieval Literature and its use of allegory. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is often seen as an allegory of the Christian struggle between good and evil.

International

Following the Soviet and American withdrawal from the occupation of North and South Korea respectively, the Korean War breaks out as each side seeks to unify Korea under its own political system. While the U.S.A., U.K and other UN nations came to the defence of South Korea, North Korea had support from the Soviet Union and China. The war continued until 1953.

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