RIP, the stoic hammer of Hammer. He was part of the epic of bit players in Brit pop movies who went from small to really big in a flash. Those were the days of wine, thorns and roses, I guess.
I used to attend his gym in Borough, London. One of my mates knew him well. Prowse was also big buddies with Arnie, from their mr universe days, who we all met when he came to england. Dave would often be heard to say, with tongue in cheek i think, in his wurzels accent "Oi nevah understoood woi they nevah used moi voise for thaart Darf Vayder" Bless him.
Not just Darth Vader, he had parts in all the tv series like department S and The Champions and was still recognisable as the monster in The Horror of Frankenstein and Frankenstein and the monster from Hell.
Originally from Bristol, he had overcome prostate cancer in 2010. I see in one obit he once told an interviewer "I get these occasional letters from Lucasfilm saying that we regret to inform you that as Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) has never gone into profit, we've got nothing to send you."
I met him when he was a guest at the Scandinavian Sci-Fi, Game and Film Convention here in Sweden several times through the years. My best memory was when he attended this Sci-Fi con at the same weekend the first trailer to Force Awakens was released. My friend Jan was the one who showed him this trailer. I was standing right next to him while watching him watching the Force Awakens trailer for the very first time. That was something I will never forget.
I remember him in the Green Cross Code adverts, though I was only 6 years old when they came out.
I saw his name in the credits of Star Wars, and knew who he was from the Green Cross Code adverts. I didn't know of his body builder days at all back then.
Obviously I know him as Darth Vader. His performance probably never got the credit it deserved because JEJ's voice work was so iconic. Think about it though, his body language went a long way in making Darth Vader unnerving and threatening. Just look how off and awful Darth Vader was in Rogue One. The stature and performance was so off. RIP.
I remember those Green Cross Code https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRUBMBi_lp4 'public information films' - that's what the dear old BBC used to call such things... just in case you thought they were ads!! And yes, I know these particular PIFs weren't on the Beeb.
Green Cross Code Man Darth Vader Superman's trainer Frankenstein's Creatures. Not one but two of course. And let's not forget the Minotaur in Doctor Who:The Time Monster...
I think it's definitely worth mentioning his bit in "A Clockwork Orange". (If for no other reason than how he absolutely rocked those short-shorts for a moment! Who would dare poke fun?)
I think it's definitely worth mentioning his bit in "A Clockwork Orange". (If for no other reason than how he absolutely rocked those short-shorts for a moment! Who would dare poke fun?)
RIP.
Back in the day a friend and I wrote a skit in which Luke Skywalker tracks down a print of A Clockwork Orange so he could see what "Darth Vader" looked like sans costume.
Could never understand why they didn't use Prowse in Star Wars 1, 2, 3 after he was so successful in 4, 5 and 6.
Well, the Vader character didn't come into being until the very last scenes in Episode 3 so that would be a good reason.
If you're referring to him playing a different character in the prequels, well, who knows?
If I recall correctly, he and Lucas didn't get along very well. Prowse didn't realize that all of his lines were going to be dubbed by another actor, which irritated him. He also told the fans at a convention that Vader was Luke's father... before the screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back had even come close to being finalized. He was just saying it for a reaction, but it turned out to be the case years later. Lucas wasn't happy. (Wouldn't it be funny if it turned out that that's where George got the idea?)
I'm sure there were other factors, but those are the two specific issues I know.
Regardless of their relationship, Prowse was Vader in my opinion, at least in terms of the physicality. Other actors have donned the costume, but it never looked quite right to me without him in the Vader suit. Well, the corridor sequence in Rogue One works, but I know that's heresy to some.
My mate said he was a top bloke. He only used Prowse's gym in Borough for a few years but Prowse religiously sent a card every xmas for 20 odd years after. So my mate tells it, originally was offered 7k for his part in SW - A lot of money mid-70s - but chose pertentage of profits instead. He chose the right deal!
Both Prowse and Arnold Schwarzenegger were bodybuilders that had early film cameos as muscular bodyguards in films by auteurs - Prowse in Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and Schwarzenegger in Robert Altman's THE LONG GOODBYE. But except for Darth Vader, their careers and success went in very different directions.
