Guest the13thJedi Posted August 7, 2000 Share Posted August 7, 2000 In light of his passing, I think it would be a good idea to set up a small tribute topic. Below, I've listed a link to where you can see a complete list of his works. Also, anyone who would like to add their thoughts or comments is encouraged to do so. The13thJedi This link takes you to his biography and film credits. Sir Alec Guiness 1914-2000 ------------------ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Darth Prime Posted August 11, 2000 Share Posted August 11, 2000 You wouldn't know how he did would you? My brother said they think it might have been liver cancer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest the13thJedi Posted August 11, 2000 Share Posted August 11, 2000 No official word. Rumor would just say that he died of old age. I tend to think that he may of had an illness. Something like Phuemonia, which tends to take older people fast when they get it. I haven't heard anything about liver cancer though. It really is too bad. This world has lost a fine man who shared his wonderful talent with all who experienced the intensity that he brought to each of his films. the13thJedi ------------------ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Darth Wart Posted August 12, 2000 Share Posted August 12, 2000 “Of all his characters, Obi-Wan Kenobi seemed the one most likely to benefit from a sprinkling of gravitas. Lucas had toyed with the idea of casting the Japanese star Toshiro Mifune, an ironic nod at Obi-Wan and Star Wars’ Samurai heritage. When he learned that Alec Guinness was in Hollywood finishing a movie, however, he saw intriguing new possibilities for the character. “Like Laurence Olivier, also passing through an uncomfortable Hollywood phase in the twilight of his career, Guinness was faced with the harsh, fiscal facts of life. For all his miraculous contributions to British cinema, perhaps the most gifted screen actor of his generation could not afford to resist the occasional fat payday in America….. “As he recalls, he was on the penultimate day of filming when a script arrived, unsolicited, on his dressing table accompanied by a letter from Lucas. Guinness showed little interest at first. “I thought, ‘Oh crumbs, science fiction, I can’t be bothered with that.’” He also disliked the idea of scripts arriving unheralded “over the transom.” Holed up in his dressing room, with little better to do, however, he began reading. Guinness found Lucas’s florid, breathless sci-fi babble embarrassing. Yet, he read on – and on. “I started reading it and although it was painful reading in lots of ways it made me turn the page,” he said. “And that is an indicator.” *** “…..Since their Los Angeles lunch, Guinness and Lucas had talked a lot. Guinness, disinterested in playing a crackpot but quietly impressed by the young director, had suggested making Obi-Wan Kenobi a less eccentric, nobler character. Lucas liked the idea, he thought it would deepen the divide between the goodness of Obi-Wan and the darkness of Vader. Guinness did not come cheaply. While Hamill, Ford, and Fisher accepted $1,000 dollar a week salaries, Guinness’s five-figure check was supplemented by a two and a quarter percent share in the film’s profits. It would turn out – by several light years – to be the biggest payday of his long and distinguished career. *** “Lucas described Obi-Wan as a thoughtful, intelligent man of noble bearing, kind and powerful – a cross between Gandalf the Wizard … and … Toshiro Mifune. Ben also was a sort of otherwordly Dr. Doolittle, able to talk to robots and Wookiees, capable of influencing thought and speech patterns, and willing to spout aphorisms at the flash of a lightsaber. Guinness had no intention of playing a dotty old goat hiding in the sand dunes. He wanted Ben to have dignity and insisted on toning down his metaphysical clichés. Guinness helped Lucas focus on the conflict between Ben and Darth Vader: they discussed ways to make the characters both symbolic and real. Ladd was finally able to give his board of directors a name. “Guinness didn’t sell tickets on his own, but it was nice that he was in the picture,” he recalls. *** “Of all the memorable sights she witnessed on Star Wars, none tickled Bunny Alsup as much as that when Sir Alec prepared for his first scene as Obi-Wan. Lucas, Kurtz, and the crew looked on in bemusement as the great knight of the stage lay down on the desert floor. “He laid down on the sand and rolled around to get his costume looking dusty and dirty.” *** “While Kurtz was scouting a Star Wars studio, Lucas was struggling with his screenplay, unable to resolve the fate of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Ben had nothing to do for the last half of the movie but was too important a character to fade into the metalwork. “The character stood around with his thumb in his ear,” Lucas says. Marcia [Lucas’s then wife] came up with a solution: Why not kill him off? Ben could continue to advise Luke in spirit, if not in body, by becoming part of the Force. “Returning to England, Lucas took Alec Guinness aside and broke the news that halfway through the picture he was to become a disembodied voice. It’s a shock to any actor to learn that his role is being eliminated; Lucas had convinced Guinness that he was the key to the film’s believability. Guinness was angry. He called his agent and threatened to walk off the picture. “I’m not going to do this movie,” he said to Lucas, barely suppressing his rage. *** “….Resigned to his character’s fate, Alec Guinness fine-tuned his performance, giving depth and dimension to Obi-Wan Kenobi. While the British crew openly mocked their young director, Guinness quietly supported George. He never lost faith in Star Wars, even when puzzled or unclear about how a scene would look on screen.” --compiled from Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas, and Empire Building: The Remarkable Real Life Story of Star Wars ------------------ Wart Get your free JPB guide at: http://jedipowerbattlesguide.homestead.com/JPB.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Darth Prime Posted August 13, 2000 Share Posted August 13, 2000 Honestly, I think they should make a site dedicated to Alec Guiness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jedi Kanigget Posted August 13, 2000 Share Posted August 13, 2000 There probably is one or at least one in the works. ------------------ New! The Council of Jedi is now operational! http://pub19.ezboard.com/bthecouncilofjedi JediKanigget.com, Star Wars news and media. http://jedikanigget.homestead.com/JediKanigget.html Darth Wart's strategy guide in an easy to use form. http://jedipowerbattlesguide.homestead.com/JPB.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest the13thJedi Posted August 13, 2000 Share Posted August 13, 2000 I stand corrected. It was officially announced Friday that the cause of death was indeed Liver Cancer. the13thJedi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave Maul Posted August 19, 2000 Share Posted August 19, 2000 Just thought I'd dig this topic up. If you're in Britain, tune in to BBC1 tomorrow at 2:10pm for The Bridge On The River Kwai. Great movie. ------------------ Dave Maul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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