long interest in  T.E. Lawrence (qv), and had played him in a production of  Terence Rattigan (qv)s play "Ross" on stage. Guinness wanted very  much to play Lawrence, but David Lean (I) (qv) and  Sam Spiegel (I) (qv) both told him he was too old.  Laurence Olivier (qv) was the original choice for Prince Feisal,  and Guinness was shifted to that role when Olivier turned it down.