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David “Dave” Prowse, the actor best known for playing Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, has died at the age of 85, his agent said.
Agent Thomas Bowington said: “It is with great regret and heartbreaking sadness for us and millions of fans around the world to announce that our client Dave Prowse MBE passed away at the age of 85.”
Jason Joiner, an event producer who worked with Prowse, announced the death on a Facebook page dedicated to the actor, adding, “Dave was dedicated to getting to know fans for decades and the first guest of many fans they met was Dave at the First days of Comic Con and compiler events. Dave was larger than life and we will miss him so much. Our love and our thoughts are with his family. “
Prowse was a former bodybuilder who had a number of roles as monsters and villains before being invited by George Lucas to audition for the roles of Vader and Chewbacca. He chose Vader and when asked why, he replied, “Everyone remembers the villain.”
Born in Bristol in 1935, Prowse was, according to IMDB, raised by his mother and never knew his father. He developed a passion for bodybuilding and weight training in his teens and competed in Mr Universe competitions, where he became friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno. He also shredded phone books under the stage name Jack the Ripper.
He won the British Heavyweight Weightlifting Championship three times and was selected to represent England at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia.
Prowse’s first film was 1967’s Casino Royale, where he played Frankenstein’s monster. Although the casting was based on Prowse’s stature, he developed a keen interest in acting and decided to move on. His CV included roles in A Clockwork Orange and many Hammer Horror films, and he was the personal trainer who groomed Christopher Reeve for the role of Superman in 1978.
Prowse was in Vader’s suit for much of the Sith Lord’s screen time and allegedly even went so far as to say his lines on set, though his western country tones were dubbed with those of American actor James Earl Jones in post-production, and many of the Fight scenes featured British Olympic fencer Bob Anderson.
To add insult to injury, when Vader’s face was finally shown to the public as he lay dying in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, producer George Lucas cast British stage actor Sebastian Shaw.
Prowse and Lucas later got into a fight, leading to Prowse being kicked out of official Star Wars activities in 2010.
Despite the fame he gained as Vader, Prowse said he was very proud of his role as the Green Cross Man in a long-running British road safety campaign, for which he was awarded and MBE in 2000.
In a 2014 Guardian column, Prowse wrote: “A lot of people will know me as the ultimate screen villain, Darth Vader from Star Wars. But being a ‘good gift’ and leading the Green Cross Code campaign, helping save thousands of lives has always been the highest honor. “
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