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TIL that Alec Guinness was initially offered $150,000 to play Obi-Wanin Star Wars but only accepted when that amount was doubled and another 2% of the backend grosses was added to it. This earned him an estimated $95 million by the time of his death in 2000 at 86.

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via reddit.com

e0j0g TIL William Friedkin (Exorcist, French Connection) came upon the idea for the 'wrong-way chase scene' in To Live and Die in LA when he fell asleep at the wheel and woke up in the wrong lane with traffic heading straight for him. He spent the next 20 years wondering how he would use it in a film.
PYk5J TIL Edward Doisy received the Nobel in Medicine for discovery of vitamin K with Henrik Dam. He also competed with Adolf Butenandt in the discovery of estrone in 1930. They discovered the substance independently, but only Butenandt was awarded the Chemistry Nobel
WBlL TIL a talented violinist once stole a violin worth millions and was never caught, despite playing it in public frequently and being the main suspect of the crime.
4Xkro A painting that went for $60 in 1958 sold for a record $450 million at a Christie’s auction in November 2017, the highest price ever paid for a painting. That’s because the piece—known as Salvator Mundi, or “Savior of the World”—was identified as a work by Leonardo da Vinci in 2011. Painted around the same time as the Mona Lisa, it is one of fewer than 20 known paintings by the Renaissance master.
p8y8A TIL Americans spend on average $143 on Valentine's Day according to the National Retail Federation (NRF)