R.I.P. David Prowse: How The British Bodybuilder Got To Play Darth Vader

David Prowse, the towering presence behind Darth Vader, has died aged 85 after a two-week battle with coronavirus. At 6ft 6in (1.98 m), Prowse was physically perfect to wear Vader’s suit in the original Star Wars trilogy. But his English West County accent, which earned him the nickname Darth Farmer, wasn’t imposing enough to voice the character. That honor went to James Earl Jones, with his deep sonorous voice. Prowse wasn’t involved in the light saber duels either. Stunt performer and former English
Olympic fencer, Bob Anderson drew swords with Mark Hamill and Sir Alec Guinness instead. Together, all three combined to create one of Hollywood’s most memorable villains. 

At the same time as Star Wars, Prowse was the face of Road Safety in Britain. Playing the role of the Green Cross Code Man, the Bristolian bodybuilder visited thousands of schools.

“When the Star Wars film came out, I almost got the sack from the government,” Prowse said in a 1980 interview, “because they thought that my image as Darth Vader would have a detrimental effect on my image as the Green Cross Code Man.”

Before becoming a actor he was a professional bodybuilder, representing England in the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Australia. He used his physique to get into Hollywood, following a similar path to fellow bodybuilders and friends, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno (who later became TV’s Incredible Hulk).  He made his film debut in Casino Royale, a 1967 James Bond spoof starring Woody Allen, as Frankenstein’s monster, a role he played another two times in Hammer Horror’s, Horror Of Frankenstein (1970) and Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell (1974). From there he had a succession of small roles in The Saint, Space 1999, Doctor Who, and Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange, among others.

George Lucas spotted the actor in Clockwork Orange, in which he played a bodyguard, and invited the actor to audition for Star Wars. During the casting phase, Prowse and Peter Mayhew, both tall guys, were in the running to play Vader. In an interview at 2016’s Awesome Con, Prowse said:

“I think Lucas said to me, ‘You know you’ve got a choice of two characters in the movie.’ So I said, ‘What are they?’ And he said, ‘Well there’s this character called Chewbacca, which is like a huge teddy bear, or alternatively there is the main villain of the piece.’ I said, ‘Well there’s no choice is there? So thank you very much I’ll have the villain piece.'”

Mayhew, of course, went on to play the “Teddy bear”, Chewbacca.

Prowse acted out the lines throughout all three films. During production of Star Wars: A New Hope, Prowse believed his voice would make it into the final film. 

“I kept on saying to Lucas, ‘You know, what are we going to do about the voice, because everything I’m saying is coming from inside the mask. And it’s obviously no good for reproduction.’ And he said, ‘Oh no, don’t worry, don’t worry. We’re going to the sound studios and re-record all your dialogue in the sound studios properly.’ So I thought, Well that’s lovely, thanks. And anyway what happened is they got to the end of the movie, chased back to America immediately, because the films are all shot in England. And they chased back to America and when they were in America they suddenly realized that I hadn’t done the overdubbing yet, you see? And then of course it was too expensive to get me to fly out to Hollywood just to do an hour’s work, as it were. And they started to look around and got James Earl Jones…I believe I could have done equally as well given the right opportunity.”

In this interview, he is rather diplomatic about Lucas. But in 2011, Prowse released the book, Straight From The Force’s Mouth, which describes the stomry relationship he had with Lucas since discovering his lines had been dubbed by Earl Jones. He was upset on The Empire Strikes Back, after Lucas gave him false dialogue to perform for the “I am your father” reveal, which he didn’t find out until the movie premiere. He was also miffed because the fighting was handled by Bob Anderson, and for Vader’s most dramatic moment, when his mask is removed at the end of Return of the Jedi, he was replaced by Sebastian Shaw.

The relationship between Lucas and Prowse soured completely after Prowse appeared in the documentary, The People versus George Lucas, which is a pretty one-sided look at the Lucas’ tinkering with the Star Wars Special Editions. Prowse talks about Lucas in an unfavorable light, and as a result he was banned from attending any official Star Wars events.

Of Lucas’ treatment, Prowse said, ““The thing that hurt was it was all done without telling me. It was all done in a very underhand way. I didn’t like it one little bit.”

Prowse did later soften his rhetoric, and pointed out his gratitude for being involved in the trilogy, which allowed him to travel around the world to movie conventions.

“To play the part of Vader, who is now regarded as the ultimate screen villain, is a lovely accolade.”