Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Ex-villain Prowse still Darth-bound

What: Starstruck in Las Vegas celebrity autograph signing.

When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Athena Room at the Alexis Park Resort, 375 E. Harmon Ave.

Tickets: $15.

Information: starstruckinlas vegas.com.

Dave Prowse says he's ready to return to the role that made him famous, Darth Vader, in the final "Star Wars" film.

He's just waiting for the call.

Perhaps he shouldn't hold his breath.

After all, the actor hasn't spoken to George Lucas since the wrap party for "Return of the Jedi" more than 20 years ago.

"I gave him a copy of a book I'd written on safety for kids because I thought it might be nice for his own children. And that was the last time I've ever spoken to him," the 67-year-old Prowse said in a recent interview from his home in Creighton, England.

"I would really love to reprise the Darth Vader role. I meet up with various people from Lucasfilm on the rounds of the conventions. They're sort of what I call reasonably friendly' to me. They keep their eye on me and watch what I'm doing."

Prowse, along with many stars of the screen from the '40s, '50s and '60s including Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Mickey Rooney, Ann Robinson and Tippi Hedren will be in town for the Starstruck in Las Vegas fan convention Saturday and Sunday at Alexis Park.

The tight reins of Lucas most likely stems from a misunderstanding during the early days of filming "Jedi" in 1982.

Prowse was asked to be interviewed by a London newspaper reporter, but only consented to the request on the condition there would be no queries about the upcoming movie.

"I said, 'Please, please, please don't ask me any questions about the new film because I've only just started it and I don't know anything about it and I haven't got a copy of the script,' " he said. " 'And also, the Lucasfilm people obviously don't want any of the actors to divulge anything that's going on.' I said, 'On those provisions you can come and talk with me.' "

The reporter agreed. But toward the end of the interview, he surprised Prowse by asking the actor if he was aware that Lucas planned the demise of Darth Vader in the new film.

"I said, 'Don't be daft, they wouldn't kill Darth Vader,' " Prowse said. " 'He's the goose that laid the golden egg. He's the cult figure of the movie.' "

The reporter, however, insisted that Vader died in the film and that a 78-year-old stage actor, Sebastian Shaw, had been hired to play the role of the unmasked villain.

Prowse checked his call sheet and saw that, just as the reporter said, in a studio several miles away from where he would be filming his scenes as Vader, Shaw would be filming scenes as Anakin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader.

"I said, 'I can't confirm or deny (that). I don't know what's going on,' " he said. " 'But I tell you what I will do. I'll have it out with George Lucas and ("Return of the Jedi" director) Richard Marquand and the producers when I go into the studio for the next shoot.' "

By then it was too late.

The morning after the interview the page three headline in the Daily Mail read: "Darth Vader to be killed off in next movie ... in an exclusive interview with Dave Prowse."

Two days later Prowse went into the studio to film his scenes as Darth Vader. Lucas and the producers were not pleased with the actor revealing a major plot point in the film.

"They all wanted to know what I had been saying. I said I hadn't said a word, but nobody would believe me," Prowse said. "I virtually got ostracized from the movie. I still did a little work on it, but not very much. Nothing like the amount of work I should have done on the movie.

"I've got nothing against Lucas, but I cannot understand why they did all of this without telling me. They only had to sort of confide in me: 'What we're doing is that we want to unmask a much older character than yourself.' If they'd explained everything, I probably would have been all right and got everything settled.

"Unfortunately, the thing has festered and festered and festered over the years and now I tend to be treated as the bad boy of the movies, which I'm not."

But being the "bad boy" is what attracted Prowse to the role to begin with.

When meeting Lucas for the first time in Los Angeles while "Star Wars" was still in the pre-production stages, the then-little-known director offered Prowse one of two parts: Chewbacca or Darth Vader.

"I said, 'What's Chewbacca?' And he said, 'Well, it's like a hairy gorilla that goes through the film on the side of the goodies.' And I thought, 'Oh, no. All I could think of was three months in a gorilla skin,' " he said.

So Prowse declined the role of Chewbacca.

"I said, 'What's the other one?' He said, 'The other one is the big villain of the film, the character called Darth Vader.' And I said, 'George, don't say anymore. I'll have the villain's part.' "

When Lucas asked Prowse why he wanted the role of Darth Vader, his reason was simple.

"I said, 'If you think back on all the movies you've ever seen where there are goodies and baddies, you always remember the baddie, you don't necessarily remember the goodie.' And he said, 'Dave, I think you have made a very wise decision, because nobody will ever forget Darth Vader.' "

And no one has. In fact, the American Film Institute recently named the character as the third-best villain of all time, behind cinematic serial killers Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates.

Despite the honor, Prowse was a bit disappointed Darth Vader wasn't selected No. 1.

"I still think Vader is the greatest screen villain ever ... and not because of the fact that I played him," he said. "You've only got to look at the entrance of Darth Vader in 'Star Wars' and you know immediately as soon as the guy walks into the spaceship and the smoke is cleared and with one turn of the head, this guy is really evil."

A champion bodybuilder and weightlifter in the early '60s, Prowse was handpicked by director Stanley Kubrick for a small role in "A Clockwork Orange" as Julian, the hulking bodyguard for paraplegic writer Frank Alexander.

At that point, Prowse was 6-foot-7-inches tall and weighed close to 280 pounds.

And that's why Lucas first noticed Prowse.

"He said, 'I saw you in "Clockwork Orange." If you're good enough for Stanley Kubrick, you're good enough for me,' " Prowse recalled.

While filming "Star Wars," Prowse spoke Darth Vader's lines through the helmet, which often made the dialogue difficult to hear. He was told by Lucas that at the end of filming the lines would all be dubbed in from a studio.

Prowse always assumed it would be his voice used for the dubbing work. But when the film was released in May 1977 and the actor had never been notified of further voice sessions, he knew Lucas had opted for someone else.

While James Earl Jones ultimately provided the voice of Darth Vader, Prowse harbors no resentment.

"I think he made a great job of it. But on the other hand, what you hear is not specifically James Earl Jones," he said. "They doctored the whole thing around, dropped it a tone, put that special heavy breathing on it and 'metalicized' the voice.

"Although it is James Earl Jones, I still think I could have done equally as well."

While Prowse insists he's ready to don the famous black suit and helmet one more time, in the past he's been plagued by health problems.

He's battled arthritis for years, has had two hip-replacement surgeries and one leg is now two inches shorter than the other as a result of bone grafting for one of the hip operations.

And in February 2001 he developed a blood disease that left him partially paralyzed in the upper body and in many of his joints. After blood transfusions and a long course of antibiotics, he fully recovered.

"I'm basically at the stage where I'm getting over all that and walking very reasonably well again," he said. "I'm back at the gym training as well.

"You hear lots of rumors that Hayden (Christensen) is going to be Darth Vader. But Hayden must be about 5-foot-10 and quite slim and slight. Whereas when I did 'Star Wars' I was 6-foot-7 and weighed nearly 280. So how they're going to get him to go from his size to Darth Vader size, I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do at this stage."

In the meantime, he's just waiting for the call.

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