John Gielgud

Sir John Gielgud was a British actor widely considered one of the greatest of the 20th century, celebrated for Shakespearean roles across six decades and for late-career performances in films including Arthur (1981, Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor) and Prospero's Books (1991). He was knighted in June 1953, and just four months later, in October 1953, he was arrested for "persistent importuning" -- cruising -- in a public lavatory in Chelsea, a scandal that made front-page news, drew calls for him to be stripped of his knighthood, and nearly destroyed his career. He survived it, and his career flourished in the decades that followed. He lived with his partner Martin Hensler from 1968 until Hensler's death in 1999, dying himself just one year later.