RIP: David Prowse

[thewayne]

He passed away after a short illness, at his age I would guess pneumonia. He made it to 85.

Famous for embodying Darth Vader, he was significant for many things in his life, including working with public safety programs in the UK. He also set three weight-lifting records.

He did not voice Darth because of his thick accent. He was also quite POd at Lucas when his helmet was taken off in Episode 6: The Return of the Jedi, and he was replaced with Mister Potato Head.

He auditioned for both Darth Vader and Chewbacca and was given the choice. He said 'Give me the baddie. People remember the baddie.' Well, in this case, both roles will not be forgotten.

Wikipedia lists some of his other acting roles as the Black Night in Jabberwocky, a minotaur in Doctor Who (I believe Tom Baker era), and Hotblack Desiato's bodyguard in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I assume the original TV series.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-prowse-idUSKBN2890DY

Comments

[elayna]

it is a sad loss, though at least 85 feels like a decent age.

The minotaur was in the 3rd Doctor's era, The Time Monster starring Jon Pertwee. And yes, the bodyguard was the original TV series.

[thewayne]

I did enjoy the Pertwee that I saw, he had excellent flamboyance. They just didn’t air much of it: Baker was all the rage when they started airing it in Phoenix and they never much went with the material before him.

[draconis]

Yeah, there were a LOT of fans upset about whose face was under the Vader mask, too.

[thewayne]

Oh, definitely!  Count us among them!  Dubbing his voice was one thing, James Earl Jones did a masterful job.  But he was a pretty handsome guy!  Much better than Mister Potato Head!  That was one of the big mistakes of the first trilogy, that and Ewoks. ;-)

[motodraconis]

It's my one Star Wars claim to fame that my dad did some architectural work for David Prowse, (he had some sort of dwelling in our local area.) Dad showed me his signature... on a cheque, which he then cashed!

And I did meet him the once, in all the Darth Vader getup.

[thewayne]

Well, that's pretty cool! My acting claim to fame was I went to school with the step-son of a local TV celeb, he created/wrote/starred in a children's TV show in Phoenix which ran for something like 35 years or so.  And it was genuinely fun to watch, did not talk down to kids, so if you liked cartoons, it was good for any age. I also shared some drinks and talked to the guy who did the voice for K-9 on Dr. Who!  He was a GoH at a convention in Scottsdale, Arizona that Peter Davison was headlining.  Nice guy, as I recall. Russet got to yell at her dad once.  They were on vacation in Maine, and when on vacation, her dad would play a daily round of golf.  Comes back one day and says that (who ever it is that sets up groups and such) asked him if someone else could play with him since his threesome or foursome didn't show.  Dad said sure. It was David MacCallum, from Man From UNCLE and NCIS, or whatever crime procedural it was. Russet was mad because dad didn't get an autograph.

[silveradept]

Gah, no. Yet another reason why the Special Editions need to be Despecialized and released properly, rather than having to Keep Circulating The Tapes of the original trilogy as it was intended.