When the first Star Wars movie premiered in 1977, it had exactly one certified movie star, Alec Guinness (although a few people recognized Harrison Ford from American Graffiti). Guinness was reluctant to play Obi-Wan Kenobi in a space Western, but took the role for $150,000, which was twice the amount he was first offered. He also negotiated a 2% share of the box office. When filming wrapped, George Lucas was so grateful that he offered an extra .25%. No one knew how well Star Wars would perform, but by the time the first theatrical run was over, Guinness had netted $7 million. That share would snowball to $95 million by the time Guinness died in 2000.
Guinness downplayed the movie in some interviews. After all, he was a Shakespearean actor with lots of acclaimed films under his belt before he ever heard of Star Wars. But his 20 minutes of screen time in the film got him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in addition to that money. It also made him a household name among a younger generation. But his character was killed off, so Guinness didn't think he would ever need to consider that role again.
But then came The Empire Strikes Back. Lucas wanted Guinness to reprise his role as a Force ghost, but Guinness didn't want to. He agreed to appear only under the conditions that he would only put in a half-day's work and would be paid .25% of the movie's gross. The movie made more than $400 million worldwide in 1980, so that's another million dollars -for a half-day's work. Oh yeah, and plenty more money came in after 1980. It's no wonder that Guinness began to like Star Wars better as time went by. he even agreed to put in TWO day's work for Return of the Jedi. -via Boing Boing