23. Obi Wan Kennobi (Sir Alec Guinness) was a Royal Navy Veteran
One of Britain’s greatest stage and film actors, Sir Alec Guinness (1914 – 2000) began his career in the theater at age 20, while still a drama student, and by age 22, he had attracted attention as a Shakespearean actor. In subsequent decades, he had an Oscar winning performance in 1957’s Bridge on the River Kwai, as well as notable performances in Great Expectations and Oliver Twist in the 1940s, and Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia in the 1960s. He is perhaps best known today as Obi Wan Kenobi of the Star Wars trilogy – which he, ironically, thought was tripe. Less known is that he was a British Royal Navy WWII veteran.