Happy Birthday: Alec Guinness (1914–2000)

Alec Guinness (1914–2000)

Born: April 2, 1914 in Marylebone, London, England, UK
Died: August 5, 2000 (age 86) in Midhurst, Sussex, England, UK

Married to: Merula Salaman (20 June 1938 – 5 August 2000) (his death) (1 child)

Reportedly hated working on Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) so much, Guinness claims that Obi-Wan’s death was his idea as a means to limit his involvement in the film. Guinness also claims to throw away all Star Wars related fan mail without even opening them.

[Asked if Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) had made him a fortune]: Yes, blessed be Star Wars. But two-thirds of that went to the Inland Revenue and a sizable sum on VAT. 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.

[on Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)]: When it came to me in script form, I was in Hollywood on the last day of another movie and I heard it was a script by George Lucas, well that meant something; you know, American Graffiti (1973), this is a new generation, lovely. And then I opened it and saw it was science fiction and groaned, I thought “oh no, they’ve got the wrong man.” I started to read it and I thought some of the dialogue was rather creaky, but I kept turning the pages, I wanted to know what happened next. Then I met George Lucas, fell for him, I thought he was a man of enormous integrity and bright and interesting, and I found myself involved and thank God I did.

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