Before He Took on the Galactic Empire, Obi Wan Kenobi Took on the Third Reich
Sir Alec Guinness (1914 – 2000), one of Britain’s greatest actors, began his career in the theater at age twenty, while still a drama student. He swiftly attracted attention as a Shakespearean actor. In subsequent decades, Guinness won an Oscar for his performance in 1957’s Bridge on the River Kwai. He also had notable performances in Great Expectations and Oliver Twist in the 1940s, and Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia in the 1960s. Today, Guinness is perhaps best known as Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars – which he, ironically, thought was tripe. Less known is that he was a British Royal Navy WWII veteran. In 1941, Guinness enlisted in the Royal Navy Reserves, and was commissioned a naval officer the following year. He was ordered to Boston in 1943 to take charge of his first command, a freshly built landing craft.
Guinness sailed his ship and new crew across the Atlantic to North Africa, where they trained for the Allied invasion of Sicily. On July 9th, 1943 he took 200 men to land on Passaro, Sicily, but due to a communications breakdown, was not informed that the landing had been postponed. So Guinness arrived on the beach alone, and disembarked his troops an hour early. After the invasion of Sicily, he landed troops on the island of Elba, and Normandy. He also ferried British agents and supplies to Tito’s partisans in Yugoslavia. During the war, Guinness was granted leave to appear onstage in the play Flare Path, about RAF Bomber Command. Guinness’ wartime experiences led him to contemplate becoming a priest. Fortunately for the stage and film and millions of fans, he decided to resume acting.
