By the time Alec Guinness was offered $150,000 in January 1976 ($762,000 today) to play Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars — a character revived by Ewan McGregor in subsequent films and now in the miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi, debuting May 27 on Disney+ — the 61-year-old actor already was a screen legend, having appeared in more than 50 films, including his Oscar-winning role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai. Obi-Wan, however, would send Guinness to another stratosphere entirely.

Director George Lucas pitched the Jedi master role to him as “a blend of the wizard Merlin and a Samurai warrior.” Guinness privately dismissed the script as “fairy tale rubbish” before accepting the part, only after negotiating 2.25% of the backend grosses.

The film opened May 25, 1977, and Guinness’ stunned response was captured in his diary: “Am pinning my hopes on Star Wars percentage which could bring me £100,000 or more if it does Jaws business, as predicted.” It did far more, grossing over $300M in its initial release and earning him an estimated $95M by his death in 2000.