Original Darth Vader Actor, Dave Prowse, Dies At 85

Dave Prowse, the British actor known for playing Darth Vador in the original Star Wars trilogy, has died at 85-years-old.

“It’s with great regret and heart-wrenching sadness for us and millions of fans around the world, to announce that our client Dave Prowse MBE has passed away at the age of 85,” Bowington Management, his management company, announced on Twitter, Sunday.

Prowse was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018.

While Prowse performed as Vader in the iconic black suit, it was actor James Earl Jones who provided a voice for the character.

“So sad to hear David Prowse has passed,” Mark Hamil, who played Prowse’s on-screen son, in Luke Skywalker, said. “He was a kind man & much more than Darth Vader. Actor-Husband-Father-Member of the Order of the British Empire-3 time British Weightlifting Champion & Safety Icon the Green Cross Code Man. He loved his fans as much as they loved him.”

Prowse also performed as the monster in The Horror of Frankenstein in 1970 and as a bodyguard in Stanley Kubrick’s legendary film A Clockwork Orange in 1971.

“May the force be with him, always!” his former agent, Thomas Bowington, said to BBC. “Though famous for playing many monsters — for myself, and all who knew Dave and worked with him, he was a hero in our lives.”

[Via]