Darth vader actor david Prowse dead at age 85
David Prowse, an English actor and competitive weightlifter who used his towering height and broad shoulders to portray the bionic body of the evil Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, died Nov. 28 at a hospital in London. He was 85.
His agent, Thomas Bowington, confirmed the death but did not provide an immediate cause. He announced in 2014 that he had dementia, following an earlier bout of prostate cancer.
At 6- foot- 7 and weighing 275 pounds, he used his imposing physique to give shape and form to Darth Vader’s threatening presence on screen as the embodiment of the Evil Empire.
“The only way of presenting Darth Vader as the ultimate baddie was to show virtually everyone else either terrified or completely awestruck whenever he was around,” Prowse wrote in his 2011 autobiography, Straight From the Force’s Mouth.
Adding to the ominous presence of Darth Vader was his signature mechanical breathing, which was created by sound designer Ben Burtt recording himself inhaling and exhaling through an old Dacor scuba regulator. The dialogue delivered originally in Prowse’s West Country English accent was dubbed in post- production editing using the sonorous voice of American actor James Earl Jones.
Prowse met Star Wars creator George Lucas at 20th Century Fox’s offices in London in the summer of 1976. He was 40 and had appeared onscreen in minor roles as brutes and monsters.
Lucas offered Prowse a choice between playing the furry Chewbacca character or Darth Vader. The thought of spending London’s hot summer sweating in a hairy costume led Prowse to select Vader. As it turned out, the Vader outfit, weighing about 40 pounds, trapped so much body heat and provided so little ventilation that the mask’s eye lenses frequently fogged up, making it difficult for Prowse to hit his marks.
Prowse wrote that his worst filming experience came during the making of Return of the Jedi (1983). He said a Daily Mail reporter told him that Darth Vader was being killed off in the movie and that an actor was performing the death scene at a secret location. The subsequent article “was written in such a way that it looked as though all the information had come from me,” Prowse wrote in his book.
He said that he felt ostracized for the rest of the production of the film with his stuntman increasingly doubling in for him.
Prowse said he was later banned from official Lucasfilm Star Wars conventions, but he continued for years to travel around the world as a featured guest at other science fiction events.
He said the most satisfying period of his acting career was the years he spent playing the Green Cross Code Man, a cape- wearing superhero who warns children to follow safety rules when crossing streets.
Prowse is survived by his wife Norma, three children, a brother and grandchildren.