Re: Alec Guiness's Thoughts on Appearing in STAR WARS

On 2025-03-19 8:20 PM, Your Name wrote:

On 2025-03-19 22:59:10 +0000, Blueshirt said:

BTR1701 wrote:

>
Prior to accepting the role of Obi-wan (Ben) Kenobi, Sir Alec
Guinness wrote the following to a friend:
>
[Snip]
>
"I shrivel up every time someone mentions
STAR WARS to me."

>
I kind of do that whenever I hear they are going to make a new
"Star Wars" movie...

 That quote was made by Sir Alec Guinness *after* he had played the role in the original "Star Wars" movie. Obi-Wan was meant to in the following movies to train Luke, but Guinness hated the role and didn't want to do any more, so they killed off the character (he only briefly appeared as a Jedi ghost) and added Yoda instead. It was only in later years that he mellowed, a little, towards what has arguably become his most famous role.
 

I certainly think HE would argue that it was far from his *best* role, although he might admit more people saw him in Star Wars than in anything else.
Mind you, Bridge on the River Kwai got seen by a lot of people in its day and is *still* appreciated as a quality film whereas Star Wars probably only merits being called a *popular* film.
--
Rhino