"My wife and I've got problems, would you mind coming over and living with us for a few months?" Guinness said one of the letters read.

The actor also noted he'd only seen the movie once at that point, but the experience had a profound effect on him, which he noticed just after leaving the theater.

"There's a sort of wonderful freshness about it ... like a wonderful fresh air," he said. "When I came out of the cinema ... I thought, 'London's sort of gritty, and dirty and sort of rubbish, isn't it?' Because this had all been so invigorating."

Guinness would have turned 103 on Sunday. He died in August 2000 at the age of 86.

Watch more of the Parkinson interview below: