Star Wars Made Alec Guinness Richer Than You Likely Think Thanks To A Unique Deal

Obi-Wan Kenobi's first appearance in the "Star Wars" franchise takes place in the 1977 original, then simply titled "Star Wars." Sir Alec Guinness brings the character to life in that film and its two sequels, guiding Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) as he goes from a humble farm boy from Tatooine to a full-on Jedi Knight. In doing so, Guinness turns in consistently strong performances throughout all three features, making himself and Kenobi sci-fi icons. Not to mention, he padded his pockets pretty well, thanks to the contract he signed to do the first movie.

During the negotiation period ahead of production on "Star Wars," Guinness drove a hard bargain and forced 20th Century Fox and director George Lucas to set him up financially. Not only did the studio double its original salary offer, but it tacked on an additional 2% of backend grosses. As if that wasn't enough, Lucas went ahead and tossed in an extra .25% once filming concluded. Thus, when "Star Wars" hit theaters and came to gross over $300 million across its initial run, Guinness earned a staggering $7 million right out of the gate. By the time of his death in 2000, the film earned him approximately $95 million (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Still, just because Guinness made a decent chunk of change off of the "Star Wars" franchise doesn't mean he was a fan of the galaxy far, far away.

Over the years, it hasn't been uncommon for "Star Wars" actors to share their love for the franchise publicly. However, Sir Alec Guinness was in another category entirely. Throughout his post-"Star Wars" life, he made it abundantly clear on multiple occasions that he wasn't a big fan, famously telling his friend Anne Kaufman about his uncertainty and frustration toward George Lucas' passion project. "Fairy-tale rubbish but could be interesting perhaps," he wrote of the original film in one letter (via Business Insider)

Once Guinness signed his lavish contract and filming on "Star Wars" began, he once again wrote to Kaufman to complain about the production. "New rubbish dialogue reaches me every other day on wadges of pink paper – and none of it makes my character clear or even bearable. I just think, thankfully, of the lovely bread, which will help me keep going until next April," he said. Still, Guinness' feelings on "Star Wars" weren't all bad. Even though he seemed to find making the film miserable, he commended the feature on the Parkinson talk show. "A marvelous healthy innocence. Great pace, wonderful to look at, full of guts, nothing unpleasant."

Regardless of his feelings about the franchise, the facts remain that Alec Guinness is a "Star Wars" legend, and his initial contract resulted in one of the most remarkable paydays in Hollywood history up to that point.