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DARTH Vader actor Dave Prowse has died of coronavirus, his daughter said yesterday.
The 6-foot-6-inch former bodybuilder played the legendary villain in the original Star Wars movies.
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The Bristol-born star, also a road safety superhero The Green Cross Man, had been in a London hospital for two weeks with Covid. He was 85 years old.
Luke Skywalker star Mark Hamill, 69, tweeted: “Very sad to hear that David Prowse has passed away. He was a kind man and much more than Darth Vader.
Actor, husband, father, member of the Order of the British Empire, three-time British weightlifting champion and safety icon, the man with the code of the green cross.
“He loved his fans as much as they loved him.”
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Due to the stature of the father of three, he played a variety of bad guys and monsters.
But his daughter Rachel, 50, said: “It might have seemed quite scary, but as a person he was a sweet, kind and generous man.
“He really was a gentle giant. And for us he was our father. “
Rachel, from Croydon, South London, confirmed that Dave had previously been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
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She added: “It’s horrible that Covid’s restrictions meant we couldn’t see him and say goodbye.
“But when we went to pick up his things at the hospital, the nurse said he was a great guy.
“He was such a great character than life. He would have loved to see himself trending on Twitter. “
Dave began his career as a bodybuilder, weightlifter, and personal trainer.
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Among his clients was Christopher Reeve, whom he helped train for the role of Superman.
In the 1960s and 1970s, he starred in cult series such as The Saint, Department S, Space 1999, The Champions and Doctor Who, alongside Jon Pertwee.
His film debut was the 1967 James Bond parody of Casino Royale as Frankenstein’s Creature. He played the monster two more times in the Hammer horror movies.
On television he worked with the two Ronnies, Morecambe and Wise, Benny Hill and Frankie Howerd.
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He looked so funny, but he laughed last
By Garth Pearce, the only journalist in Star Wars set in 1976
I first met Dave Prowse at Elstree Studios on June 22, 1976.
He was dressed in what looked like black garbage bags, sewn together, and had a black helmet that appeared to be made of cardboard.
They told me it was the villain named Darth Vader who was going to intrigue and terrify audiences when the film was released in 1977.
Then he started acting. All he could hear was this strangled Somerset accent emerging from behind the black garb.
He had humor and honesty about himself and his abilities. “When I was a child I suspected I had tuberculosis and I was in the hospital for about a year,” he said. “I was on a leg plank for three years.
“At 17 I bought a course by Charles Atlas to strengthen my knees. I was very interested in the exercises. “
He lived in Bristol with his mother (his father died when he was five) until he was 28. “I couldn’t afford to move,” he said.
So what was the movie about Dave? “I haven’t,” he said in that warm, creamy accent, “the slightest idea.”
Audiences would giggle when they saw this incomprehensible movie with characters with strange names and even weirder costumes. More so when they saw and heard the great Dave trudging along.
But he didn’t accept any of that. “I’ve been to enough film sets to know that there is something special about this film,” he insisted. “I think it will be a great success.”
At the premiere the following year, Dave was surprised to hear that James Earl Jones had doubled his voice, and even more surprised that no one had bothered to tell him so.
But he was right all the time. The movie spawned a franchise that is one of the most popular in movie history.
Dave Prowse was the last to laugh after all.
But he was most proud of his role as the Green Cross Code Man, appearing in a television campaign and touring schools.
He received the MBE for helping reduce road deaths, before turning to the dark side as the legendary evil Sith Vader.
Star Wars director George Lucas offered him several options, Vader or Chewbacca. When asked why he chose the first one, he said, “Everyone remembers the villain.”
Princess Leia actress Carrie Fisher dubbed him “Darth Farmer” for his heavy West Country accent, and his lines were dubbed after James Earl Jones.
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Lucas is believed to have feared that Dave leaked plot details, which he denied, and the pair had not spoken since Return of the Jedi ended in 1983.
But last night Lucas said on the official Star Wars website: “David brought a physical look to Darth Vader that was essential to the character.
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“He had Vader leap off the page and onto the big screen, imposing stature and motion performance to match the intensity and undercurrent of Vader’s presence.
“David was up for anything and contributed to the success of what would become a tragic and memorable figure. May he rest in peace. “
Darth Vader became one of the most iconic characters in movie history and, until his retirement in 2016, Dave visited fan conventions around the world.
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