May the Force be with him always
DARTH Vader is arguably the most famous arch-villain in film history but for Dave Prowse, the actor who played him, the role was a bittersweet experience.
While Prowse, who has died at the age of 85, will for ever be known as the man behind the mask, his voice was not used in the films and when the character’s helmet came off, it was another actor whose face appeared.
He once said: “Sometimes in the cinema, I want to yell out: ‘Hey, that’s me up there you’re all watching.’”
The 6ft 6in, 18st former bodybuilder was perfect for the role of Star Wars’ towering imperial villain but his West Country accent was judged not to be intimidating enough, with American James Earl Jones drafted in to provide the menacing Vader voice.
Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original trilogy of films, once quipped that they nicknamed him “Darth Farmer” because of his distinctive burr.
I much prefer it to Star Wars as I get a lot of enjoyment out of meeting the children
PROFITS
There was also a fall- out with director George Lucas, who accused Prowse of leaking to the press that Vader was going to die in 1983’s Return of the Jedi. “I didn’t even know my character was going to be killed off,” Prowse said in 2007.
The actor also lamented that he did not get a cut of the profits for any Vader merchandise after being paid £13,000 for his five months of work on the 1977 first instalment.
Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker alongside him, described him as “a kind man” who “loved his fans as much as they loved him”. Anthony Daniels, who portrayed the golden droid C- 3PO, said: “Dave’s iconic figure dominated the finished film in ’77 and has done so ever since. And will continue to do so.”
Prowse’s face may not have been seen by cinema audiences but it was wellknown in Britain, where he was the Green Cross Code Man in a famous road safety campaign.
Born in Bristol and raised by his mother after his father died when he was five, Prowse attended grammar school before juggling bodybuilding and working as a bouncer and lifeguard. He spent nine years training before entering the 1960 Mr Universe contest, before switching to weightlifting and winning three gold medals at the British weightlifting heavyweight championships.
He was also selected to represent England at the Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia, in 1962.
DAVE PROWSE ON HIS ROLE AS THE GREEN CROSS CODE MAN
Prowse moved into acting, with one of his first screen credits the role of Frankenstein’s monster in spy spoof Casino Royale in 1967. For the next decade he clocked up TV and film roles playing villains and monsters including in The Saint, A Clockwork Orange, Up Pompeii and Doctor Who.
He was the Green Cross Code Man from the mid-1970s until the 1990s.
“It’s the best thing I have ever done, I much prefer it to Star Wars,” he said of his safety role. “I get a lot of enjoyment out of meeting the kids, going round schools. I must have talked to at least half-a-million children.”
Prowse was also a personal trainer to celebrities including Christopher Reeve, who he helped to build up to play Superman after being turned down for the role himself.
But it was Prowse’s role as Vader in the Star Wars trilogy that resonated with the public the most and despite the subsequent fallout – he and Lucas did not speak again after the plotleaking row – he said that he was grateful for the “notoriety”.
In 1999, he was made an MBE for his charity work and contribution to child safety through the Green Cross
Code Man campaign. He said at the time: “I have had a wonderful career where I have been able to work with so many of the greats from both cinema and television.
“I’ve been able to tour the world helping to save children’s lives via my work with the Green Cross Code campaign, and also as Darth Vader – the role that I created in George Lucas’s Star Wars trilogy and which is now acknowledged as the ultimate screen villain of all time.
“Because of this fame – or notoriety – I am able to continue lending my name to raise funds for charitable causes worldwide. The MBE is the icing on a wonderful cake.” Later in life
the father-of-three ran a gym in South East London and put his energies into raising money for charitable causes, such as the Royal Marsden Hospital.
Prowse revealed during a radio interview in 2009 that he was being treated for prostate cancer at the London hospital.
Arthritic hip issues since the age of 50 also led him to support a national campaign to raise money for research into a cure for the disease in 1991.
He is survived by wife Norma, who he married in 1963, along with their children, Steve, James and Rachel.
tom.bryant@mirror.co.uk