Sir Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an Academy Aw… Read Full Bio ↴Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an Academy Award-winning English actor.
Known for many acting roles, most notably Star Wars as Star Wars portraying the jedi master Ben Obi Wan Kenobi
Guinness' role as Obi Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy, beginning in 1977, brought him worldwide recognition by a new generation. Guinness agreed to take the part on the condition that he would not have to do publicity to promote the film. He was also one of the few cast members who believed that the film would be a box office hit and negotiated a deal for two percent of the gross, which made him very wealthy in later life. His role would also result in a Golden Globe Nomination and Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Despite this, Guinness was never happy with being identified with the part, and expressed dismay at the fan following that the Star Wars trilogy attracted. In the DVD commentary of Star Wars: A New Hope, director George Lucas says that Guinness was not happy with the script re-write in which Obi Wan Kenobi is killed. However, Guinness stated in a 1999 interview that it was actually his idea to kill off Obi Wan, persuading Lucas that it would make him a stronger character. Lucas agreed to the idea, but Guinness confided in the interview, "What I didn't tell Lucas was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo." He continued by saying that he "shrivelled up" every time Star Wars was mentioned to him. Despite his dislike, fellow cast members Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, and Carrie Fisher (as well as Lucas) have spoken highly of his courtesy and professionalism on and off the set, wherein he did not let his distaste for the material show to his co-stars. Lucas credited him with inspiring fellow cast and crew to work harder, saying he was instrumental in helping to complete filming of the movies.
Guinness was quoted as saying that the royalties he obtained from working on the films gave him "no complaints; let me leave it by saying I can live for the rest of my life in the reasonably modest way I am now used to, that I have no debts and I can afford to refuse work that doesn't appeal to me". In his autobiography, Blessings In Disguise, Guinness tells an imaginary interviewer "Blessed be Star Wars!", while in the final volume of the book A Positively Final Appearance (1997), he recounts grudgingly giving an autograph to a young fan who claimed to have watched Star Wars over 100 times, on the condition that the fan promised to stop watching the film, because as Guinness put it "this is going to be an ill effect on your life". The fan was stunned at first, but later thanked him. Guinness grew so tired of modern audiences seeming to remember him only for his role of Obi Wan Kenobi that he would throw away the fan mail he received from Star Wars fans without reading it.
Death
Guinness died on August 5, 2000, from liver cancer, at Midhurst in West Sussex. He had been receiving hospital treatment for glaucoma, and had recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was interred in Petersfield, Hampshire, England. Merula Sylvia Guinness died of cancer in Petersfield in October 2000, aged 86 and was interred alongside her husband of 62 years.
Known for many acting roles, most notably Star Wars as Star Wars portraying the jedi master Ben Obi Wan Kenobi
Guinness' role as Obi Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy, beginning in 1977, brought him worldwide recognition by a new generation. Guinness agreed to take the part on the condition that he would not have to do publicity to promote the film. He was also one of the few cast members who believed that the film would be a box office hit and negotiated a deal for two percent of the gross, which made him very wealthy in later life. His role would also result in a Golden Globe Nomination and Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Despite this, Guinness was never happy with being identified with the part, and expressed dismay at the fan following that the Star Wars trilogy attracted. In the DVD commentary of Star Wars: A New Hope, director George Lucas says that Guinness was not happy with the script re-write in which Obi Wan Kenobi is killed. However, Guinness stated in a 1999 interview that it was actually his idea to kill off Obi Wan, persuading Lucas that it would make him a stronger character. Lucas agreed to the idea, but Guinness confided in the interview, "What I didn't tell Lucas was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo." He continued by saying that he "shrivelled up" every time Star Wars was mentioned to him. Despite his dislike, fellow cast members Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, and Carrie Fisher (as well as Lucas) have spoken highly of his courtesy and professionalism on and off the set, wherein he did not let his distaste for the material show to his co-stars. Lucas credited him with inspiring fellow cast and crew to work harder, saying he was instrumental in helping to complete filming of the movies.
Guinness was quoted as saying that the royalties he obtained from working on the films gave him "no complaints; let me leave it by saying I can live for the rest of my life in the reasonably modest way I am now used to, that I have no debts and I can afford to refuse work that doesn't appeal to me". In his autobiography, Blessings In Disguise, Guinness tells an imaginary interviewer "Blessed be Star Wars!", while in the final volume of the book A Positively Final Appearance (1997), he recounts grudgingly giving an autograph to a young fan who claimed to have watched Star Wars over 100 times, on the condition that the fan promised to stop watching the film, because as Guinness put it "this is going to be an ill effect on your life". The fan was stunned at first, but later thanked him. Guinness grew so tired of modern audiences seeming to remember him only for his role of Obi Wan Kenobi that he would throw away the fan mail he received from Star Wars fans without reading it.
Death
Guinness died on August 5, 2000, from liver cancer, at Midhurst in West Sussex. He had been receiving hospital treatment for glaucoma, and had recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was interred in Petersfield, Hampshire, England. Merula Sylvia Guinness died of cancer in Petersfield in October 2000, aged 86 and was interred alongside her husband of 62 years.
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01Is This a Dagger Which I See Before Me, the Handle Toward My Hand? - from MacbethSir Alec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness
02If It Were Done When 'Tis Done, Then 'Twere Well It Were Done Quickly - from MacbethSir Alec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness
04If It Were Done When 'Tis Done, Then 'Twere Well It Were Done Quickly (from Macbeth)Sir Alec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness
05Is This a Dagger Which I See Before Me, the Handle Toward My Hand (from Macbeth)Sir Alec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness
06Is This a Dagger Which I See Before Me, the Handle Toward My Hand? (from Macbeth)Sir Alec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness
10If It Were Done When 'Tis Done Then 'Twere Well It Were Done Quickly (from Macbeth)Sir Alec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness
11Is This a Dagger Which I See Before Me the Handle Toward My Hand (from Macbeth)Sir Alec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness
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