Alec Guinness Net Worth and Salary: Alec Guinness was an English actor who had a net worth of $100 million at the time of his death. He was knighted in 1959 and died in 2000 aged 86. While she began her career in theater, she appeared in several films throughout her life. He is probably best known for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy. His appearance in the 1977 film earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 50th Academy Awards. He was knighted in 1959.
Star Wars Paycheck : He may be dissing himself, Alec is best known today for playing Obi-Wan Kenobi in the “Star Wars” franchise. Sir Alec thought Star Wars was “fairy tale rubbish” but ended up negotiating a killer deal to appear in the films. First he asked the studio to double his standard salary. Second, he negotiated a small percentage of all Star Wars films in perpetuity. This meant that when the new films were released, Alec earned a small fee for no work. To date, Sir Alec’s estate has earned around $100 million from Star Wars, before tax.
Early life and stage career:Alec Guinness was born in Paddington, London, England on April 2, 1914. He first worked in advertising. His first theater job was at his 20th birthday as a student at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art in the play Libel, which opened at the Old King’s Theater in Hammersmith before transferring to the West End’s Playhouse . . Guinness quickly moved from a walk-on role to a two-verse understudy. At 22, he appeared at the Albery Theater as Osric in a successful production of Hamlet. He later signed with the Old Vic, where he was cast in a number of classic roles and worked with numerous actors who would become his next friends and future co-stars. In the late 1930s, Alec played several Shakespearean roles. In 1939,
Guinness served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in World War II, initially as a seaman in 1941, before gaining a commission as a temporary second lieutenant in 1942 and a promotion to temporary lieutenant the following year. During World War II, he was granted a short leave from the Royal Navy to appear in the Broadway production of Flare Path.
After the war, Guinness went on to a stellar stage career, winning several awards, including a Tony Award for his portrayal of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in “Dylan.” He returned to the Old Vic in 1946 and stayed until 1948, appearing in several productions such as ‘The Alchemist’, ‘King Lear’, ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ and many others. After leaving the Old Vic he played Eric Birling in ‘An Inspector Calls’ at the New Theater in October 1946. In 1950 Guinness played the role of ‘Uninvited Guest’ in the Broadway production of TS’s ‘The Cocktail Party’ . Eliot. Under his own direction, Guinness played Hamlet at the New Theater in the West End in 1951. Between April 1934 and May 1989, Guinness played 77 roles on stage.
Film work: Guinness successfully transitioned to film after its successful run on stage. Guinness was mainly associated with Ealing comedies and notably playing a new character in ‘King Hearts and Coronets’ in 1949. Other films from this period included ‘The Lavender Hill Mob’ (1951), ‘The Man in the White “. Suit’ (1951) and ‘The Ladykillers’ (1955), all three are ranked among the best British films. He portrayed 19th-century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in “The Mudlark,” which included the task of delivering a seven-minute uninterrupted speech in Parliament. In 1951, he was cast in his first leading romantic role opposite Petula Clark in “The Card.” At the same time, he was voted the most popular British star. Other notable film roles from this period included “The Swan” with Grace Kelly in her first film role, “The Horse’s Mouth” for writing and screenplay care and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1973, he starred in “Hitler: The Last Ten Days”, which you consider his best film work, although critics disagreed. Another role that is sometimes mentioned as one of his best and is also considered by many critics is that of Colonel Jock Sinclair in “Tunes of Glory”.
Guinness worked closely with director David Lean and won acclaim for his performances in films such as Great Expectations, The Bridge on the River Kwai (for which he won an Oscar) and Lawrence of Arabia. Guinness appeared in five Lean films that were ranked in the British Film Institute’s 50 Greatest British Films of the 20th Century: 3rd (“Lawrence of Arabia”), 5th (“Great Expectations”), 11th (“The Bridge on the River Kwai”) “), 27th (“Doctor Zhivago”) and 46th (“Oliver Twist”).
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He is most widely recognized today as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars trilogy. Its first appearance, opened in 1977, brought it worldwide recognition for a new generation, as well as Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. On his first viewing of the film, Guinness wrote in his diary: “It is quite a spectacularly stunning film and technically brilliant. Exciting, very loud and full of warmth. The fight scenes at the end are five minutes too long, I feel, and some of the dialogue is excruciating and a lot of it gets lost in the noise, but it’s still a vivid experience.”
Sir Alec thought Star Wars was “fairy tale rubbish” but ended up negotiating a killer deal to appear in the films. First he asked the studio to double his standard salary. Second, he negotiated a small percentage of each Star Wars film in perpetuity. This meant that when the new films were released, Alec earned a small fee for no work. To date, Sir Alec’s estate has earned around $100 million from Star Wars before tax. However, he soon became unhappy about being identified with the role and expressed his displeasure to rabid fandom after the trilogy attracted him.
In the original Star Wars DVD commentary, Lucas says that Guinness was not happy with the rewrite of the script where Obi-Wan is killed. Although Guinness disliked the fame that followed work he was not a personal fan of, Lucas and fellow cast members Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Kenny Baker, Carrie Fisher and others spoke highly of his courtesy and professionalism on set . and outside of it. . In 2003, Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness, was selected as the 37th greatest hero in film history by the American Film Institute. Digitally altered archival audio of Guinness’ voice was used in the films “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in 2015 and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” in 2019.
Personal life: Alec was married to actress Merula Silvia Salaman from 1914 until her death in 2000. They had a son, Matthew Guinness, who later became an actor. Guinness died on 5 August 2000 in West Sussex. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer six months earlier and had been diagnosed with liver cancer two days before he died, while his wife also suffered from liver cancer. She died two months later.
