Alec Guinness Net Worth

What Was Alec Guinness' Net Worth and Salary?

Sir Alec Guinness was an English actor who had a net worth of $60 million at the time of his death. Alec Guinness was one of Britain's most distinguished actors, celebrated for his versatility across stage, film, and television. Trained at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art, Guinness began his career on the London stage in the 1930s before serving in the Royal Navy during World War II. After the war, he joined the Old Vic company, where he performed Shakespearean roles and built a reputation as a master of subtlety and transformation.

Guinness transitioned to film in the 1940s and quickly became a prominent figure in British cinema through his collaborations with Ealing Studios. He gained recognition for his ability to portray multiple characters in comedies such as "Kind Hearts and Coronets" (1949), where he played eight different roles. Throughout the 1950s, he became synonymous with Ealing's satirical spirit, appearing in classics like "The Lavender Hill Mob" and "The Man in the White Suit."

His career reached new heights with "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957), in which his portrayal of Colonel Nicholson won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Guinness became admired worldwide for his disciplined, understated style, capable of conveying both humor and tragedy. In subsequent years, he balanced character roles in films such as "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) and "Doctor Zhivago" (1965) with his continued work on stage.

In 1977, Guinness introduced himself to a new generation of audiences through his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas's "Star Wars." Although he was initially skeptical of the project, the role earned him global fame and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Over his long career, Guinness earned numerous honors, including a knighthood in 1959. Remembered for his range, subtlety, and ability to disappear into his characters, Alec Guinness remains one of the defining figures of twentieth-century acting.

Star Wars Paycheck

Although Alec Guinness had already enjoyed decades of acclaim as one of Britain's finest actors, with an Academy Award under his belt for "The Bridge on the River Kwai," he is most widely remembered today for playing Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas's 1977 sci-fi epic "Star Wars." The role, which Guinness himself initially dismissed as "fairy tale rubbish," ended up transforming not only his legacy but also his bank account in ways no one could have predicted.

When Lucas approached Guinness in early 1976, 20th Century Fox offered him $150,000 for the part — already respectable for what was expected to be a modest space adventure. Guinness balked. He insisted the studio double the offer, and more importantly, he cleverly negotiated for a share of the film's backend profits. Fox agreed to give him 2% of the box office gross, and Lucas personally added another 0.25% as a goodwill gesture. At the time, it seemed like a trivial concession. In hindsight, it was one of the most lucrative deals in Hollywood history.

"Star Wars" was released on May 25, 1977, and Guinness was astonished by its immediate impact. His diary entry on May 27 read, "Splendid news of reaction to Star Wars continues to come in." By June, he was writing that he was "pinning my hopes on Star Wars percentage, which could bring me £100,000 or more if it does Jaws business." The film didn't just match "Jaws" — it blew past it, grossing more than $300 million in its initial run. Guinness's share instantly translated into more than $7 million (around $33 million today) for less than 20 minutes of screen time.

The payout didn't stop there. Thanks to his perpetual percentage deal, Guinness continued to earn from re-releases, merchandise, and sequels long after his original work was done. By the time of his death in 2000, his estate was estimated to have collected roughly $100 million in "Star Wars" royalties.

Despite the fortune, Guinness had mixed feelings about the role. He was often irritated by fans who knew him only as Obi-Wan rather than for his decades of stage and film work. In his diary, he referred to returning for "The Empire Strikes Back" as "dull rubbishy stuff," though he felt indebted to Lucas and agreed to film a day's worth of scenes. His ambivalence did little to diminish the impact of his negotiation. For a man who once viewed the script as trivial, Obi-Wan Kenobi became both his most famous role and one of the savviest financial windfalls in film history.

Anthony Daniels, Alec Guinness, and Mark Hamill. (via Getty)

Early Life and Stage Career

Alec Guinness was born on April 2, 1914, in Paddington, London, England. He first worked on advertising copy. His first job in the theater was on his 20th birthday when he was a student at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art in the play "Libel," which opened at the Old King's Theater in Hammersmith before transferring to the West End's Playhouse. Guinness quickly moved from a walk-on role to an understudy with two lines. At age 22, he appeared at the Albery Theater in the role of Osric in a successful production of "Hamlet." He later signed on with the Old Vic, where he was cast in a series of classic roles and worked with numerous actors who would eventually become his friends and future co-stars. Throughout the late 1930s, Alec played several Shakespearean roles. In 1939, he adapted Charles Dickens's novel "Great Expectations" for the stage, which was a huge success.

Guinness served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in World War II, initially as a seaman in 1941 before getting a commission as a temporary sub-lieutenant in 1942 and a promotion to temporary lieutenant the following year. During the Second World War, he was granted a brief leave of absence from the Royal Navy to appear in "Flare Path" on Broadway.

After the war, Guinness went on to a stellar stage career, winning multiple awards, including a Tony Award for his portrayal of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in "Dylan." He returned to the Old Vic in 1946 and stayed until 1948, appearing in productions like "The Alchemist," "King Lear," and "Cyrano de Bergerac." After he left the Old Vic, he played Eric Birling in "An Inspector Calls" at the New Theatre in October 1946. In 1950, Alec played the Uninvited Guest in the Broadway production of T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party." Under his own direction, Guinness played Hamlet at the New Theatre in the West End in 1951. Between April 1934 and May 1989, Guinness played 77 parts on stage.

Getty Images

Film Work

Guinness successfully transitioned into film work after his successful run on stage. He was mainly associated with the Ealing Comedies and, in particular, for playing nine characters in "King's Hearts and Coronets" in 1949. Other films from this period included "The Lavender Hill Mob" (1951), "The Man in the White Suit" (1951), and "The Ladykillers" (1955), with all three ranked among the best British films. He portrayed 19th-century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in "The Mudlark," which included the task of delivering an uninterrupted seven-minute speech in Parliament. In 1951, he was cast in his first romantic lead role opposite Petula Clark in "The Card." The same year, he was voted the most popular British star. Other notable film roles of this period included "The Swan" with Grace Kelly in her first film role and "The Horse's Mouth," for which Alec also wrote the screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1973, he starred in "Hitler: The Last Ten Days," which he considered his best film work, although critics disagreed. Another role, which is sometimes referred to as one of his best and is also considered by many critics, is that of Colonel Jock Sinclair in "Tunes of Glory."

Guinness worked closely with director David Lean and won acclaim for his performances in such films as "Great Expectations," "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (for which he won an Oscar), and "Lawrence of Arabia." Alec starred in five of Lean's films that were included on the British Film Institute's list of the 50 greatest British films of the 20th century: "Lawrence of Arabia" (#3), "Great Expectations" (#5), "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (#11), "Doctor Zhivago" (#27), and "Oliver Twist" (#46).

Erich Auerbach Hulton Archive / Getty Images

"Star Wars"

Alec Guinness is most widely recognized today as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the "Star Wars" trilogy. His first appearance, beginning in 1977, brought him worldwide recognition to a new generation as well as Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Upon his first viewing of the film, Guinness wrote in his diary, "It's a pretty staggering film as spectacle and technically brilliant. Exciting, very noisy, and warm-hearted. The battle scenes at the end go on for five minutes too long, I feel, and some of the dialogue is excruciating and much of it is lost in noise, but it remains a vivid experience."

Sir Alec famously thought Star Wars was "fairy tale rubbish," but he ended up negotiating a killer deal to appear in the films. First, he demanded that the studio double his standard paycheck. Second, he negotiated a small percentage of every "Star Wars" movie in perpetuity. That meant when the new movies were released, Alec earned a nice little fee for no work at all. To date, Sir Alec's estate has earned an estimated $100 million from "Star Wars" before taxes. However, he soon became unhappy with being identified with the part and expressed dismay at the rabid fan following that the trilogy attracted.

In the DVD commentary of the original "Star Wars," Lucas says that Guinness was not happy with the script rewrite in which Obi-Wan is killed. Although Alec disliked the fame that followed the work he was not a personal fan of, Lucas and fellow cast members Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Kenny Baker, Carrie Fisher, and others have spoken highly of his courtesy and professionalism on and off the set. In 2003, Obi-Wan Kenobi, as portrayed by Alec Guinness, was selected as the 37th greatest hero in cinema history by the American Film Institute. Digitally altered archival audio of Guinness's voice was used in the films "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in 2015 and "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" in 2019.

Personal Life

Alec was married to actress Merula Silvia Salaman from 1938 until he died in 2000. They had a son, Matthew Guinness, who later became an actor. Guinness died on August 5, 2000, in West Sussex. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer six months earlier and had been diagnosed with liver cancer two days before he died, while his wife was also suffering from liver cancer. She passed away two months later.

Who's Richer?

Alec
Guinness

Compare!

Peter
Mayhew