National Post (National Edition)
Tributes roll in for Darth Vader actor
`He was a gentle soul with a heart as big as he was'
Fellow actors and Star Wars fans paid tribute on social media to David Prowse, the British actor who played Darth Vader in the original three Star Wars films.
Prowse, a champion bodybuilder turned actor, died on Saturday. He was 85.
“So sad to hear David Prowse has passed,” actor Mark Hamill tweeted. “He was a kind man & much more than Darth Vader. Actor-Husband-Father-Member of the Order of the British Empire, 3-time British Weightlifting Champion & Safety Icon the Green Cross Code Man. He loved his fans as much as they loved him. #RIP.”
The 6-foot-6 champion weightlifter also helped train other actors for their roles, including Christopher Reeve in Superman and Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride.
“I was fortunate enough to have #DaveProwse train me to get in shape for Princess Bride,” Elwes posted. “He was a gentle soul with a heart as big as he was. So grateful to have had him in my life. My condolences to his family. Rest in Power, Dave.”
“Incredibly sad to hear Dave Prowse has passed,” Billy Dee Williams posted. “It was a great gift to work with him and an honour to call him my friend.”
“As a kid Dave Prowse couldn't be more famous to me,” wrote British filmmaker Edgar Wright, “stalking along corridors as evil incarnate in the part of Darth Vader & stopping a whole generation of kiddies from being mowed down in street as the Green Cross Code man. Rest in Peace, Bristol's finest.”
Filmgoers never saw his face, but his imposing figure starred as the body — not the voice, though — of one of cinema's best-known villains.
Partly because the mask muffled Prowse's voice, director George Lucas opted to dub another voice — the rich basso of actor James Earl Jones — onto Prowse's portrayal of the towering, masked Darth Vader in Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Prowse knew nothing of the decision until the first film in the trilogy, A New Hope, hit cinemas. Later, his co-star Carrie Fisher claimed the actor's unthreatening Bristol burr had caused much amusement among the cast, who had nicknamed him “Darth Farmer.”
“I don't go around saying: `Orl roight, moi dears,'” Prowse protested in an interview. “I think they just wanted a big, black voice for a big, black character.”