Dave Prowse dies aged 85

[LadyTevar]

Dave Prowse: Darth Vader actor dies aged 85

Dave Prowse, the Bristolian former bodybuilder best known for playing Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, has died aged 85.

Prowse was cast as Vader for his imposing physique, even though the role was voiced by James Earl Jones.

But the weightlifter-turned-actor was most proud of playing the Green Cross Code Man. The role, promoting road safety in the UK, earned him an MBE.

"May the force be with him, always!" said his agent Thomas Bowington.

"Though famous for playing many monsters - for myself, and all who knew Dave and worked with him, he was a hero in our lives."

Mr Bowington called the actor's death, after a short illness, "a truly and deeply heart-wrenching loss for us and millions of fans all over the world".

Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies, said he was "so sad" to hear the news.

"He was a kind man and much more than Darth Vader," Hamill said on Twitter. "He loved his fans as much as they loved him."

Star Wars co-star - and fellow Briton - Anthony Daniels, who has played C-3PO in 11 of the 12 Star Wars instalments, paid tribute to Prowse's contribution to the epic series.

"Dave's iconic figure dominated the finished film in '77 and has done so ever since," he wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

The family of the late actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca alongside Prowse's Vader, posted a picture of the pair with R2-D2 actor Kenny Baker, who died in 2016: "I hope you're up there sharing a pint and a story with the boys," said the tweet posted by the Peter Mayhew Foundation.

Doctor Who star John Barrowman recalled how Prowse "got me into shape" for a stage role in the musical Matador.

"Dave was a huge part of our #confamily - his smile will be missed," he added, referring to the star's popular presence at fan conventions.

Meanwhile, Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees hailed Prowse's Bristol roots and his legacy: "A Bristol man and along with #WhyDon'tYou and #GrangeHill, part of our 70s and 80s childhoods," he wrote.

Prowse's career as an actor spanned 50 years, but it was his role as the Sith Lord in Star Wars that brought him international fame.

Unfortunately, his West Country accent was not deemed suitable for the part of a menacing Hollywood villain and his lines were dubbed.

However, Prowse was a definitive presence in all three of the early films, thanks to his hulking 6ft 6in (1.98 m) frame, honed by the weightlifting skills which saw him represent England at the Commonwealth Games in the early 1960s.

During this period, he reportedly became close friends with rival bodybuilding competitors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno (later better known as TV's Incredible Hulk) - long before their on-screen fame.

Even before he began acting, Prowse found success in Hollywood circles, preparing the late Christopher Reeve for the physical demands of his role as Superman, as the actor's personal trainer.

Prowse made his film debut in 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale playing Frankenstein's Creature, a part he was asked to play again in two films from the iconic Hammer film series, 1970's Horror Of Frankenstein and 1974's Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell.

He also regularly featured on cult series such as The Saint, Space 1999 and Doctor Who, in which he was cast as a minotaur in the 1972 episode The Time Monster, opposite Jon Pertwee.

Spotted by director George Lucas in the 1971 film Clockwork Orange, in which he played a bodyguard, Prowse was invited to audition for the roles of Darth Vader and Chewbacca in 1977's Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.

He later told the BBC's Tanya Beckett, he chose Vader over Chewbacca because "you always remember the bad guys".

With the success of Star Wars, Prowse became a regular on the fan circuit and attended conventions around the world for almost 40 years, but he was rumoured to have later fallen out with director Lucas and was banned from official events in 2010.

Despite the enduring clamour for Star Wars, the actor always maintained that playing the Green Cross Code Man, which he first portrayed in 1975, was the "best job I ever had".

Dressed in a distinctive green and white superhero suit, he became the face of British road safety for more than a decade, known for his catchphrase "Stop, look and listen".

Brought up in Bristol, he spent his later years living in Croydon "a loving husband, father and grandfather".

His autobiography Straight from the Force's Mouth was published in 2011.

[Borgholio]

2020 can kiss my ass. RIP, Lord Vader.

[Jub]

It sucks that a big part of a franchise that shaped my younger years has passed away but 85 for a guy his size is a damned good run. I hope his passing was peaceful and that he felt his life was well lived.

[Ace Pace]

It sucks that a big part of a franchise that shaped my younger years has passed away but 85 for a guy his size is a damned good run. I hope his passing was peaceful and that he felt his life was well lived.

Is there a correlation?

[Darth Yan]

RIP. Still I read the the was having health problems so it's not as big a surprise.

[Bedlam]

There does seem to be, the taller you are the more likely you are to die of cancer for a start.

Of course people at the extreme are often there due to some identifiable condition which usually results in some other developmental issues leading to skeletal and muscular problems.

[Jub]

It sucks that a big part of a franchise that shaped my younger years has passed away but 85 for a guy his size is a damned good run. I hope his passing was peaceful and that he felt his life was well lived.

Is there a correlation?

As I understand it there is, though that is most often for those diagnosed with some form of gigantism.

My original comment was a bit off the cuff, but since you asked here's a study I pulled up on height and life expectancy.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1600586 ... 182.9%20cm.

The abstract at the top does seem to suggest that both height and weight play a factor in lifespan and that smaller people seem to live longer than larger ones.

[Elfdart]

It sucks that a big part of a franchise that shaped my younger years has passed away but 85 for a guy his size is a damned good run. I hope his passing was peaceful and that he felt his life was well lived.

Getting old sucks, doesn't it? It beats the alternative, though.

I make it a point not to dwell on the fact that so many performers I enjoyed in my youth are gone. It makes watching old movies (or in the case of musicians and singers, old songs) difficult to enjoy.

[Jub]

It sucks that a big part of a franchise that shaped my younger years has passed away but 85 for a guy his size is a damned good run. I hope his passing was peaceful and that he felt his life was well lived.

Getting old sucks, doesn't it? It beats the alternative, though.

I make it a point not to dwell on the fact that so many performers I enjoyed in my youth are gone. It makes watching old movies (or in the case of musicians and singers, old songs) difficult to enjoy.

I'd rather enjoy the work of somebody who's since passed than the work of those still living who keep turning out to be bastards. Rarely are the dead subject to the shocking revelations that those still with us too often encourage.

[Darth Yan]

It sucks that a big part of a franchise that shaped my younger years has passed away but 85 for a guy his size is a damned good run. I hope his passing was peaceful and that he felt his life was well lived.

Getting old sucks, doesn't it? It beats the alternative, though.

I make it a point not to dwell on the fact that so many performers I enjoyed in my youth are gone. It makes watching old movies (or in the case of musicians and singers, old songs) difficult to enjoy.

I'd rather enjoy the work of somebody who's since passed than the work of those still living who keep turning out to be bastards. Rarely are the dead subject to the shocking revelations that those still with us too often encourage.

I'm sure even they had some skeletons that were ultimately buried and never uncovered.

[Broomstick]

It sucks that a big part of a franchise that shaped my younger years has passed away but 85 for a guy his size is a damned good run. I hope his passing was peaceful and that he felt his life was well lived.

Is there a correlation?

Somewhat.

Humans evolved to be within a certain size range and individuals who exceed that range tend to have issues that can contribute to health problems - people with untreated pituitary gigantism tend to not live past 45-50 . On the other hand, good health and nutrition can lead to an individual maxing out their size potential. So.... there's a group of people who are taller than average because of 1) genes and 2) better than average health. There's another group that are taller than average to MUCH taller than average for reasons that reduce longevity.

Off the cuff, there seems to be an overlap in the two groups between 6 and 6-1/2 feet, but as you approach and then pass 7 feet in height the problems seem to increase.

Even so - larger individuals tend to be more likely to get certain cancers (we also see this in large breeds of dogs - Great Danes, for example, having a higher rate of bone cancers in the limbs than, say, chihuahuas), have back problems (because humans backs are less than ideal), and so forth.

Given that Prowse made it to 85, seemed pretty healthy, and was 6 foot 6 I'm guessing he was probably in the "tall genes and healthier than average" category. As opposed to Andre the Giant, who owed his height to pituitary problems and died in his 40's.

[Lord Revan]

It sucks that a big part of a franchise that shaped my younger years has passed away but 85 for a guy his size is a damned good run. I hope his passing was peaceful and that he felt his life was well lived.

Is there a correlation?

Somewhat.

Humans evolved to be within a certain size range and individuals who exceed that range tend to have issues that can contribute to health problems - people with untreated pituitary gigantism tend to not live past 45-50 . On the other hand, good health and nutrition can lead to an individual maxing out their size potential. So.... there's a group of people who are taller than average because of 1) genes and 2) better than average health. There's another group that are taller than average to MUCH taller than average for reasons that reduce longevity.

Off the cuff, there seems to be an overlap in the two groups between 6 and 6-1/2 feet, but as you approach and then pass 7 feet in height the problems seem to increase.

Even so - larger individuals tend to be more likely to get certain cancers (we also see this in large breeds of dogs - Great Danes, for example, having a higher rate of bone cancers in the limbs than, say, chihuahuas), have back problems (because humans backs are less than ideal), and so forth.

Given that Prowse made it to 85, seemed pretty healthy, and was 6 foot 6 I'm guessing he was probably in the "tall genes and healthier than average" category. As opposed to Andre the Giant, who owed his height to pituitary problems and died in his 40's.

Still from what I've heard Prowse did some health problems due to his height.

Also it's not just back it's all your joints that tends to suffer when you get tall enough, I'm 192 cm and about 150 kg (yes I'm overweight so that isn't helping either) and I got knee and ankle problems due to my size (and some genetic contribution to the poor(ish) condition of my joints) and obviously back pains (and I'm "just" 38 years old)

[LadyTevar]

His daughter is saying he had Covid-19 and died of complications

[Darth Yan]

Ah. I'd read he had memory problems so I thought a brain injury or something would be what did him in.

Covid strikes again.

[Isolder74]

2020 can kiss my ass. RIP, Lord Vader.

Don't give 2020 any more good ideas!


One more of the greats is gone now. May the Force Be With you, Always...

[Lord Revan]

Ah. I'd read he had memory problems so I thought a brain injury or something would be what did him in.

Covid strikes again.

Honestly at his age memory issues wouldn't be that odd, he wasn't a young man by any rational standard.