R.I.P. David Prowse

[Drago]

By all accounts one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet. Best known these days for the menacing physical presence and body language he brought to the role of Darth Vader, but us old gits know him best for A Clockwork Orange and as the Green Cross Code Man.

Hes now clangin' and bangin' at the big gym in the sky. R.I.P. feller.

 

[raleighnut]

How big will the Coffin be

 

[Illaveago]

It was sad to hear the news of his death this morning .
I think I might have seen him wearing his Darth Vader costume when Hamleys opened in Bath. He was a giant !

 

[accountantpete]

His voice didn't quite cut it though did it.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSm9DDxQv8E

 

[winjim]

His voice didn't quite cut it though did it.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSm9DDxQv8E

Did he not do the voice? I never knew that.

 

[PeteXXX]

Did he not do the voice? I never knew that.

A West Country accent, lovely as it is, didn't quite sound menacing enough!

 

[winjim]

A West Country accent, lovely as it is, didn't quite sound menacing enough!

Have you never heard of pirates?

 

[Profpointy]

A West Country accent, lovely as it is, didn't quite sound menacing enough!

I don't know. I think it could have worked. A "friendly" accent from a menacing character can be very sinister indeed

 

[Chris S]

A West Country accent, lovely as it is, didn't quite sound menacing enough!

"I bees your father ..."

 

[PeteXXX]

And to Luke Skywalker, at Christmas, "Oi carn feel ur presents....."

 

[captain nemo1701]

Back in 1999 I managed to wangle going to a sci-fi con just outside Brussels with a mate who won awards for his CGI animation & was guest speaker... fun freebie!.

I got to meet Michael Sheard (Grange Hill, killed by Vader in Empire strikes Back), Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker (fab bloke) & David Prowse. David was pleasant, chatty but preferred to go to his hotel room instead of getting lathered in the hotel bar. I spent a few hours boozing with Messrs Sheard, Baker & Mayhew (he bought me drinks)...what great night that was!!. Kenny was huge fun & had tons of stories not only about SW, but his long career in showbiz. Pity he never wrote memoirs, would have been several volumes. Michael, on the other hand, did write his & I have a copy signed.

My 13 year-old self who loved Star Wars in 1978 could ever have envisaged that 21 years later I'd be rubbing shoulders with Darth Vader & getting blotto with Chewie & R2D2 in a hotel bar. Sadly...all of them gone now.

RIP David, one of Bristol's finest sons.