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Star Wars

David Prowse, Darth Vader actor, dies at 85 (news).

More sad news arrives – actor David Prowse has passed away at 85 after recently being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

David played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy (although the character’s voice was of course done by James Earl Jones – David himself had a broad Somerset accent which anyone outside of the UK struggled to follow).

David’s daughter Rachel, commented, ‘He might have looked quite scary but as a person he was a sweet, kind and generous man. He really was a gentle giant. And to us he was our dad. It’s horrible that Covid restrictions meant we did not get to see him and say goodbye. But when we went to collect his stuff from the hospital the nurse said what a cool guy he was. He was such a larger-than-life character. He would have loved to see himself trending on Twitter.’

He also appeared as the first Green Cross Code Man, a superhero character used in road safety ads by the UK government, and David played Frank Alexander’s bodyguard, Julian, in the chilling dark SF movie a Clockwork Orange, as well as Frankenstein’s monster in three of the films. TV appearances included Benny HillCallanDoctor WhoSpace 1999, and The Saint.

Prowse was brought up on the Southmead housing estate in Bristol and he went on to win the British heavyweight weightlifting championship in 1962, 1963, and 1964. He felt he was treated rather badly by LucasFilm, claiming he was chiseled out of his royalties promised in his contract by Hollywood accounting, and when he called them on this, was banned from ever attending any officially sanctioned Star Wars event again. 

There have been lots of Twitter tributes to the man.

ColonelFrog

Colonel Frog is a long time science fiction and fantasy fan. He loves reading novels in the field, and he also enjoys watching movies (as well as reading lots of other genre books).

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