The “element of humanity” inside R2-D2
Kenny Baker 1934-2016
The record-breaking success of the 1977 sci-fi blockbuster Star Wars transformed the lives of its cast – including the actors you never actually got to see, said The Guardian. One of these was the 3ft 8in actor Kenny Baker, who inhabited the suit of the cute, dustbin-shaped robot R2-D2. In fact Baker always said he hated playing the role: for one thing, the film was being shot in the North African desert, which meant it was unbearably hot inside the cramped robot costume. (The crew lowered him into it, he recalled, then “put the lid on me like a boiled egg”.) He also became embroiled in a distressing feud with his co-star Anthony Daniels, who played his fellow robot C-3PO, and whom Baker described as “the rudest man I ever met”.
Baker, who has died aged 81, was born in Birmingham, to parents of “normal height”, said The Times. When he was in his teens, his mother ran off with another man, and his father died soon after, leaving him to fend for himself. Young Kenny joined a circus and later embarked on a career in film and TV. Inevitably, his roles followed a certain pattern. As he put it: “I was a lead midget in Time Bandits, a magical midget in The Dark Crystal, a naughty midget in Labyrinth and an uncredited midget in Willow.” But his big break was, of course, R2-D2: although the robot had neither arms nor legs, and never spoke, it was a hit with children – far more so than C-3PO. (Some speculate that this sparked the animosity between the two.) Baker recalled how a female fan had once embraced him and burst into tears, explaining that her parents had divorced around the time of the first Star Wars film and that she took comfort by snuggling up in bed with her R2-D2.
Although Baker never enjoyed making the Star Wars movies, in later life he did enjoy attending Star Wars fan conventions. That was partly because Daniels rarely turned up, but mainly because he loved meeting up with his friend Peter Mayhew, the 7ft 3in actor who played the hairy Chewbacca. He also loved the appreciation that accompanied such events, particularly when it came from Star Wars director George Lucas, who in 1999 paid tribute to “the element of humanity” to R2-D2 that “comes from having Kenny Baker inside”. In 1970, Baker married Eileen, a woman only a few inches taller than himself who had got in touch after spotting him on a TV talent show. They went on to have normal-sized sons, Christopher and Kevin.