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LONDON (AP) – Dave Prowse, the British weightlifter-turned-actor who was the body, but not the voice, of arch-villain Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, has passed away. He was 85 years old.
Prowse died of a short illness on Saturday, his agent Thomas Bowington said on Sunday.
Born in Bristol, South West England, in 1935, Prowse was a three-time British weightlifting champion and represented England in weightlifting at the 1962 Commonwealth Games before making films with roles that underscored his towering size, including Frankenstein’s Monster in a pair from Hammer Studios. horror films.
Director George Lucas saw Prowse in a small role in “A Clockwork Orange” and asked the 6-foot-6 (almost 2-meter) actor to audition for the villainous Vader or Wookie Chewbacca in “Star Wars” .
Prowse later told the BBC that he chose Darth Vader because “you always remember the bad guys”.
Physically, Prowse was perfect for the role. Yet his West Country English singing accent was considered less than ideal, and his lines were voiced by James Earl Jones.
Prowse donned Darth Vader’s black armor and helmet for “Star Wars” (1977), “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980) and “Return of the Jedi” (1983).
He regretted that, thanks to Vader’s mask, “I could walk around in complete anonymity.”
“All actors crave recognition and I would love to have it like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo,” he told The Associated Press in 1980. “Fortune tends to follow fame.”
Lucas said that Prowse “brought a physicality to Darth Vader that was essential to the character.”
“He blew Vader off the page and onto the big screen, with a towering stature and movement performance to match the intensity and undercurrent of Vader’s presence,” the director said in a statement. on the official “Star Wars” website.
“David was ready for anything and contributed to the success of what would become a memorable tragic figure. May he rest in peace.”
Prowse also worked as a trainer for other actors, helping Christopher Reeve prepare to be the Man of Steel in the 1978 hit film “Superman”.
Prowse was also known to a whole generation of British children as the Green Cross Code Man, a superhero in road safety advertisements in the 1970s and 1980s.
Prowse suffered from arthritis for many years and campaigned to raise funds for research into the disease. In 1999 he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his charitable and road safety services.
He was a regular at “Star Wars” fan events but was banned from official conventions by Lucas in 2010 after the couple broke up.
Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the “Star Wars” movies, tweeted that Prowse was “a nice man and more than Darth Vader”. Hamill said the actor “loved his fans as much as they loved him. #RIP”.
“Ant-Man” director Edgar Wright also paid tribute to Prowse on Twitter.
“As a kid Dave Prowse couldn’t be more famous to me; stalking down the halls like evil embodied in the role of Darth Vader and preventing a whole generation of kids from being broke on the streets as the code man of the Green Cross “wrote. “Rest in peace, the best of Bristol.”
Prowse is survived by his wife Norma and their three children.
Copyright © 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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