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

On 2025-03-20 00:39:45 +0000, shawn said:

On Wed, 19 Mar 2025 20:34:19 -0400, Rhino
<no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

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.

 All true, but at least with STAR WARS you have a film that is popular
with people of all ages. I don't think the same is true with BRIDGE
OVER THE RIVER KWAI.

That was part of the reason he disliked his Star Wars role - he thought the Star Wars movie's success overshadowed his previous work. He also thought the it was a silly movie and that George Lucas wasn't any good as a writer.
Of course, thanks to his negotiations in the contract, Alec Guinness' estate still earns money from his role in Star Wars via royalties.