Alec Guinness was offered $150,000 for a film he called “fairy-tale rubbish.” He walked away with about $95 million, more than anyone else in the cast. January 1976. George Lucas sends him the Star Wars script. Guinness is 62 and has an Oscar and a knighthood. He sees it’s science fiction and thinks it’s “simply not for me.” He calls the dialogue “pretty ropey.” But he can’t stop turning the pages. So he doesn’t say no. He asks for double the fee and 2% of the profits. Nobody expected the film to make money, so they agreed. The day before the premiere, Lucas phones him. To thank him for the script changes, he offers another half a percent. Guinness asks for it in writing. The paper says a quarter. He still got 2.25%. Star Wars made over $300 million in its first run. Guinness made about $7 million right away. By the time he died in 2000, it was close to $95 million. David Prowse played Darth Vader in the same film. He said he never saw a penny in residuals. The case for Guinness: he hated the material but believed in the math. The case against: he spent the next 20 years trying to get away from the role that paid for everything. Here’s the lesson: a phone call is a promise, but only the paper gets paid. In the video, he tells the whole story himself on Parkinson in 1977, smiling the whole time. Watch him, then decide. Smartest man on the set, or just the luckiest?