22-11-2022
Curiosity
The awakening of a sleeping spirituality: Alec Guinness’ case
Playing a spiritual role can lead to great changes in an actor's life. Alec Guinness, a well-known Star Wars actor, represents a good example of conversion after filming Father Brown.
In some cases it may happened that playing the role of a priest can awaken a sleeping spirituality, leading to subsequent conversion. This is what happened recently to Shia LaBeouf, the actor who played the role of St. Francis in the latest film regarding the saint’s life.
Before him, however, there were several cases of conversion of other well-known actors. First of all, there was Jim Caviezel who, playing the role of Jesus in the film The Passion of the Christ, slowly came closer to the Christian faith. He also went to Medjugorje.
No less important is also the story of Alec Guinness, a well-known actor in the Star Wars saga. After playing in 1955 the role of Father Brown, a famous priest-detective, Alec Guinness started a long journey of conversion. After filming a scene, still wearing his cassock, Guinness was greeted with a formal reverence by a child who mistook him for a priest. That episode, however, did not provoke the actor's immediate conversion, but it did awaken in him a particular interest in the catholic world. What brought Guinness closer to Christianity was polio and the subsequent recovery of his son. On that occasion, the English actor started to get closer and to believe in Lord, so as he definitively converted together with his wife.
So, as far as we could read, there are many cases where playing a particular “spiritual” role may determined life choices of actors. The case of Alec Guinness, more than any other, is a vivid testimony of how a man through a series of episodes could start his path of conversion, getting closer and closer to God and His word. (Sir Alec Guinness)
Before him, however, there were several cases of conversion of other well-known actors. First of all, there was Jim Caviezel who, playing the role of Jesus in the film The Passion of the Christ, slowly came closer to the Christian faith. He also went to Medjugorje.
No less important is also the story of Alec Guinness, a well-known actor in the Star Wars saga. After playing in 1955 the role of Father Brown, a famous priest-detective, Alec Guinness started a long journey of conversion. After filming a scene, still wearing his cassock, Guinness was greeted with a formal reverence by a child who mistook him for a priest. That episode, however, did not provoke the actor's immediate conversion, but it did awaken in him a particular interest in the catholic world. What brought Guinness closer to Christianity was polio and the subsequent recovery of his son. On that occasion, the English actor started to get closer and to believe in Lord, so as he definitively converted together with his wife.
So, as far as we could read, there are many cases where playing a particular “spiritual” role may determined life choices of actors. The case of Alec Guinness, more than any other, is a vivid testimony of how a man through a series of episodes could start his path of conversion, getting closer and closer to God and His word. (Sir Alec Guinness)