AUDIENCE OF 2,000 AT LINCOLN CENTER : TRIBUTE JUST ANOTHER TRIUMPH FOR SIR ALEC

Alec Guinness was hailed here by friends and colleagues Monday night as being an actor, rather than a star, who has remained “one of the brightest lights” of the acting profession for more than half a century.

“And the Force is still with us,” proclaimed Vincent Price, borrowing from Guinness’ signature line in “Star Wars” to assure a Lincoln Center audience of more than 2,000 that the knighted English actor and his film career live on.

The Alec Guinness tribute, sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, was modest by Hollywood standards, characterized by understated praise for Guinness from a mostly British, older generation of actors and directors who would hardly be household names to today’s movie audiences, but who have shared Guinness’ movie triumphs of the last 40 years.

From John Mills, who played young Pip to Guinness’ Pocket, in the actor’s first film, “Great Expectations,” to Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, of “Star Wars,” they recalled their experiences of working with Guinness and introduced clips from 18 of the famed character actor’s more than 50 films. Among those present to pay him homage were directors of two of Guinness’ most popular films, Alexander Mackendrick (“The Ladykillers”) and Ronald Neame (“The Horse’s Mouth”).

With Guinness, 73, seated serenely in a box above the stage, the succession of speakers reminded the audience that it is the actor’s modesty rather than his ego that has enabled him to successfully assume a range of disguises in films.

Mills recounted a chance meeting with Guinness last week on a New York street, and said he was beckoned by the actor not to attend Monday’s tribute: “He said, ‘Oh, please don’t go, it’s going to be desperately embarrassing and very, very boring--it’s all about me!’ ”

Hamill recalled being admonished by Guinness with three taps to the forehead--”twice softly and once hard”--for repeatedly addressing him as “Sir Alec” on the set of “Star Wars.” Hamill quoted Guinness as saying, “I want to be known by my name, not by my accolades.”

Said Peter Glenville, who directed Guinness in such films as “The Comedians”:

“Alec doesn’t behave like a star. He’s not temperamental; he has no behavioral excesses; he doesn’t court publicity. But he’s more than a star. It’s difficult to pay homage to one so modestly understated. And to try to analyze his work would be like trespassing on the heart of his mystery.”

Said actress Glynis Johns, who co-starred with Guinness in “The Promoters”:

“What he does is beyond acting. It’s being, and as far as I’m concerned this is the highest form of art.”

“His genius is his secret,” said actress Irene Worth.

Guinness, called to the stage to accept a standing ovation, compared the experience of seeing his 40-year film career pass before his eyes to that of a man drowning: “It’s left me in a rather breathless and puzzled condition.”

And he reported that “during the course of this evening I’ve calculated the combined ages of the speakers to be 700, which takes us all back before the invention of the cinema!

“I’ve been happy to trot alongside the British film industry, as an actor rather than a star,” he said in conclusion, “with some success, some failure--sometimes behind, sometimes caught up. And I’m very much aware of the debt to others that I can never repay.”