Home » Arts & Entertainment » Movies » Alec Guinness agreed to be in Star Wars (Obi-Wan Kenobi) only after his initial salary was doubled, and that he would receive 2.25% of all gross royalties paid to George Lucas, and never have to make a publicity appearance.

Alec Guinness agreed to be in Star Wars (Obi-Wan Kenobi) only after his initial salary was doubled, and that he would receive 2.25% of all gross royalties paid to George Lucas, and never have to make a publicity appearance.

Alec Guinness

Guinness’s role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy, beginning in 1977, brought him worldwide recognition to a new generation, as well as Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. In letters to his friends, Guinness described the film as “fairy tale rubbish” but the film’s sense of moral good – and the studio’s doubling of his initial salary offer – appealed to him and he agreed to take the part of Kenobi on the condition that he would not have to do any publicity to promote the film. He negotiated a deal for 2.25% of the gross royalties paid to the director, George Lucas, who received one-fifth of the box office takings. This made him very wealthy in his later life. Upon his first viewing of the film, Guinness wrote in his diary, “It’s a pretty staggering…
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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Guinness#Star_Wars