David Prowse, the original Darth Vader, is dead at 85

David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the first three Star Wars films, has died at the age of 85. Prowse’s agent confirmed the news to the Hollywood Reporter on Saturday evening.

Prowse was a body builder who stood six feet, seven inches tall when he won the Vader role for the original 1977 Star Wars. Prowse also played Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

In a 2016 interview, Prowse said that George Lucas offered him a choice between playing Darth Vader or Chewbacca. Prowse chose Vader, and the Chewbacca role went to Peter Mayhew, who died last year.

But while Prowse supplied Vader’s body, George Lucas decided not to use the Brit’s voice. He dubbed in lines by the baritone James Earl Jones instead.

When Darth Vader next appeared in a Star Wars feature film, in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, he was played by Hayden Christensen, the actor who played Annakin Skywalker in the prequels.

The Hollywood Reporter described Prowse’s early life:

Born on July 1, 1935, in Bristol, England, Prowse was misdiagnosed with tuberculosis of the knee and forced to wear a leg splint for four years as a youngster (it turned out he actually had osteoarthritis). Yet he went on to compete for the Mr. Universe bodybuilding title in 1960 before capturing the British weightlifting championship three straight years running, from 1962-64. (At age 50, he was still able to dead-lift 700 pounds.)

Prowse played a bodyguard in the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. He also appeared in a number of lesser-known films. He played Frankenstein’s Monster in three different films in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Around the same time, he became known in the UK for playing “Green Cross Code Man” in traffic safety commercials.

Prowse’s agent told CNN that he died after a short illness. Prowse had previously been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

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