Dave Prowse, Actor Who Played Darth Vader, Dies at 85
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:
Dave Prowse, actor who played Darth Vader, dies at 85:
Dave Prowse, the British weightlifter-turned-actor who was the body, though not the voice, of arch-villain Darth Vader in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, has died. He was 85.
Prowse died Saturday after a short illness, his agent Thomas Bowington said Sunday.
Born in Bristol, southwest England, in 1935, Prowse was a three-time British weightlifting champion and represented England in weightlifting at the 1962 Commonwealth Games before breaking into movies with roles that emphasized his commanding size, including Frankenstein's monster in a pair of Hammer Studios horror films.
Director George Lucas saw Prowse in a small part in "A Clockwork Orange" and asked the 6-foot-6-inch (almost 2-meter) actor to audition for the villainous Vader or the Wookie Chewbacca in "Star Wars."
Prowse later told the BBC he chose Darth Vader because "you always remember the bad guys."
[...] Prowse is survived by his wife Norma and their three children.
David Prowse, Man Behind the Darth Vader Mask, Dies at 85:
David Prowse, the champion English weightlifter and bodybuilder who supplied his 6-foot-7 frame - but not the voice or the deep breathing - to portray Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, died early Saturday morning following a short illness. He was 85.
Prowse's death was confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by his agent Thomas Bowington. Bowington Management also shared the news on Twitter, announcing his passing with "great regret and heart-wrenching sadness for us and million of fans around the world."
[...] George Lucas had seen him in Clockwork Orange and offered him a part in the first Star Wars(1977).
"Lucas said to me, 'You've got a choice of two characters in the movie,'" Prowse recalled in a 2016 interview. "He said, 'There's a character called Chewbacca, which is like a huge teddy bear, or alternatively, there's the main villain in the piece.' Well, there's no choice, is there? Thank you very much, I'll have the villain's piece."
Prowse didn't realize that his head and face would be covered by that now-iconic Samurai-inspired helmet and mask or that his outfit, made of fiberglass and leather, would weigh 40 pounds and be extremely, uncomfortably hot.
Also at CNN,BBC,and Ars Technica.
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