Darth Vader -- David Prowse -- has died.

[Roger E. Moore]

Changing of the Imperial Guard.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/29/enter...ntl/index.html

[bknight]

What a villan. RIP Anakin.

[publiusr]

He was also in A Clockwork Orange

[Solfe]

He was also in A Clockwork Orange

And Christopher Reeve's personal trainer to get him in shape for Superman.

[grant hutchison]

I wish I could remember who told this story about Prowse--it was some other actor who had had his voice replaced in a movie. Anyway, Prowse had a distinct West Country accent, familiar to those of us who knew him from the later Green Cross Code road safety commercials in the UK (he was dubbed in some of the earlier ones, I think, but you can hear his real voice in the YouTube video at the end of my link).
So, anyway, the person who told the story reported meeting Prowse one day and asking him if he knew why his voice had been replaced by James Earl Jones as Darth Vader. To which Prowse lilting replied, "Oi 'aven't the sloitest idea-ur!"

Grant Hutchison

[Spacedude]

I was wondering if at the end of Vader's life when he removed his helmet if that was Prowse's face, but saw a clip last night saying that was not him but rather another stand-in actor. It was also stated that Prowse was offered to play Chewy but he refused saying that villain is more often remembered than the hero.

[grant hutchison]

I was wondering if at the end of Vader's life when he removed his helmet if that was Prowse's face, but saw a clip last night saying that was not him but rather another stand-in actor.

A man called Sebastian Shaw, who was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, no less. When he arrived on the set of Return of the Jedi he ran into Ian McDiarmid (another RSC thesp, who played the emperor). McDiarmid asked Shaw what he was doing there, and Shaw famously replied (so legend has it), "I don't know, dear boy, I think it has something to do with science fiction."
Shaw's only other scene in the film (standing around as a smiling ghost at the end) fell victim to George Lucas's retcon editing, when he was digitally replaced with Hayden Christensen.

Prowse seems to have been steadily marginalized as time went by--first his voice went, then he was replaced by a stunt double for fight scenes, then another actor provided Vader's face, and finally he was banned from attending Star Wars conventions. Reputedly he leaked an important plot element of The Empire Strikes Back (though he maintained he had never seen a script at that time and was merely guessing to entertain fans). But a ban thirty years later which had a significant impact on Prowse's income in later life seems like a very long-lasting grudge from Lucas, or a longer history of conflict.

Grant Hutchison

[Trebuchet]

Stuff that bugs me: Prowse was 6'6". Christensen is, according to the internet, 6'0". But I never noticed Vader's prosthetic legs being disproportionately long.

[grant hutchison]

Stuff that bugs me: Prowse was 6'6". Christensen is, according to the internet, 6'0". But I never noticed Vader's prosthetic legs being disproportionately long.

Prosthetic lower body, too. It's why he wore those pull-on boots--he couldn't reach down to tie his shoelaces. True fact.

Grant Hutchison

[Gillianren]

I wish I could remember who told this story about Prowse--it was some other actor who had had his voice replaced in a movie. Anyway, Prowse had a distinct West Country accent, familiar to those of us who knew him from the later Green Cross Code road safety commercials in the UK (he was dubbed in some of the earlier ones, I think, but you can hear his real voice in the YouTube video at the end of my link).
So, anyway, the person who told the story reported meeting Prowse one day and asking him if he knew why his voice had been replaced by James Earl Jones as Darth Vader. To which Prowse lilting replied, "Oi 'aven't the sloitest idea-ur!"

So Phil from Time Team. An episode I watched yesterday had someone else with that accent, too, and an archaeological argument in that voice was delightful.

https://www.the-solute.com/everyone-...wse-1935-2020/

[grant hutchison]

So Phil from Time Team.

I had to look him up. Raised in Wiltshire, it says here, so that would indeed be right in the middle of the West Country, not far from Prowse's native Bristol.

Grant Hutchison

[KaiYeves]

I wish I could remember who told this story about Prowse--it was some other actor who had had his voice replaced in a movie. Anyway, Prowse had a distinct West Country accent, familiar to those of us who knew him from the later Green Cross Code road safety commercials in the UK (he was dubbed in some of the earlier ones, I think, but you can hear his real voice in the YouTube video at the end of my link).
So, anyway, the person who told the story reported meeting Prowse one day and asking him if he knew why his voice had been replaced by James Earl Jones as Darth Vader. To which Prowse lilting replied, "Oi 'aven't the sloitest idea-ur!"

Grant Hutchison

You can hear his original dialogue as Vader here.

[DonM435]

Circa 1990, Mr. Prowse made a personal appearance at a comic book shop in Melbourne, Florida, the town just south of where we lived. We took our young son there to see him.

Now, almost all of the kids there wanted to talk about Darth Vader, but my son was able to tell the man “My dad said you were the scariest Frankenstein Monster ever!”

“Oh,” Prowse laughed. “The Hammer films!” I explained that we’d watched Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell just recently.

Thanks for that moment, Dave. We’ll miss you.



(I'll stand by that assessment!)

[Gillianren]

I had to look him up. Raised in Wiltshire, it says here, so that would indeed be right in the middle of the West Country, not far from Prowse's native Bristol.

I ended up looking that up myself before writing my obituary, because that's a detail I would want right. I don't claim to be the expert with British accents that you are, but while Phil's is much broader, the clip I found made the similarities clear.

[Jim]

Most people talk about James Earl Jones and "that voice" when they discuss Vader, but when the character initially appears on screen he doesn't say a word at first. It's his presence, his carriage that makes him so ominous. The way he moves, the gestures, the hand twist as he silently chokes a subordinate all establish the true menace of Vader. And they are all Prowse.

(True story, our son was about 4 when we first let him see Star Wars. He was fine until Vader made his appearance. That freaked him out.)

[schlaugh]

Most people talk about James Earl Jones and "that voice" when they discuss Vader, but when the character initially appears on screen he doesn't say a word at first. It's his presence, his carriage that makes him so ominous. The way he moves, the gestures, the hand twist as he silently chokes a subordinate all establish the true menace of Vader. And they are all Prowse.

(True story, our son was about 4 when we first let him see Star Wars. He was fine until Vader made his appearance. That freaked him out.)

Now that you mention it, until now I never really thought about the heavy breathing of Darth Vader and whether it was done by Prowse, Jones or a Foley artist. Turns out it was a sound effect by a friend of George Lucas using SCUBA gear.