Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness was an actor. In 1957, he was attached to a sequel to the 1955 film The Ladykillers, directed by Alexander Mackendrick and produced by Ealing Studios. Guinness was to play Reverend Marcus, the leader of a gang of conmen who targeted Mrs Wilberforce after she purchased a grander house with the money she had received in the first film.

The location shoot at the London mansion Wester Drumlins, however, was plagued with difficulties. A softly spoken man approached Guinness and Mackendrick and urged them to either abandon the project or film elsewhere, citing "killer statues" as the reason for the difficulties. Mackendrick was spooked enough to end the production, which was cancelled by the end of the year. Peter Sellers, another cast member on the film, later recounted the incident in a Parkinson interview in 1974. (PROSE: The Very Real Mystery of Wester Drumlins)

Behind the scenes

In real life, Guinness also played a gang leader named Marcus, with the title of professor, in The Ladykillers.