Mr. Guinness, who was 86, started his career in the same time and place that produced other major British actors: Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, John Gielgud, Anthony Quayle and Ralph Richardson. Mr. Guinness was part of Gielgud' s Queens Theatre company in London in the late 1930s , along with Peggy Ashcroft and Redgrave. Gielgud died earlier this year.