British bodybuilder David Prowse, the man who physically inhabited the Darth Vader suit in the original Star Wars trilogy, has died. He was 85, taken down by complications related to COVID-19. Prowse was miffed when he found out, back in the 1970s, that his voice was going to be overdubbed by that of James Earl Jones. I think Jones was the right choice, just as Prowse, who was an impressive hulk back in the day (he also had a role in Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange"), was the right choice to be the man in the iconic suit.
As a kid in the 70s, I gobbled up whatever Star Wars-related material I could get my hands on. Finding out the names of the actors playing these wonderful sci-fi characters was a top priority, so the name David Prowse was burned into my brain from a very early age. That said, I don't think I ever actually saw a picture of Prowse until many, many years later, and I didn't know about the voice-dubbing flap until several years after that.
Prowse was an icon in England for his public-service work as the first Green Cross Code Man, representing the UK's National Road Safety Committee by appearing in ads geared toward children. Prowse has also done his share of acting, even appearing in an old episode of "Dr. Who" in the role of a minotaur.
But the man will always be Darth Vader to me, and it's sad to know he has followed Peter Mayhew into the great beyond. RIP, David Prowse.
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