00:00Sad news from the weekend in the world of Star Wars.
00:06David Prowse, the British weightlifter turned actor who played the man in the costume, Darth Vader, in the original Star Wars trilogy.
00:15Has passed away, he was 85 years old.
00:18I was familiar with David Prowse before Star Wars because I'd seen him in movies like Clockwork Orange.
00:24He appeared in a number of Hammer horror films, you know, where he was either a large hulking creature or whatever, but he was well-known.
00:32And then when Star Wars hit, it was obviously the biggest thing he was ever attached to.
00:37He died Saturday after a short illness, his agent said.
00:40He was born in Bristol in southwest England in 1935, and director George Lucas saw Prowse in a small part in A Clockwork Orange, as you understand, Steve.
00:49And asked a six-foot-six-inch actor to audition for the villainous Vader or to be Chewbacca in Star Wars.
00:58He also read for Princess Leia.
01:00Oh, my goodness.
01:00Which was...
01:01His versatility was unmatched.
01:04He trained Christopher Reeve for his role as Superman.
01:08No kidding.
01:08Yes, he was the one who weighed, trained him, and got him up to shape, put about 20 pounds of muscle on him.
01:12And Prowse later told the BBC that he chose Darth Vader because, quote, you always remembered the bad guys.
01:19He was right.
01:20We do have a clip, Preston, that compares...
01:23Now, he had read the lines in the movie, and they didn't know what they were going to do at the point where they were actually filming.
01:30Right.
01:30And then later, it was a bit of a shock to him, though, to be realistic, he wasn't a good actor.
01:36All right, we have two here.
01:37One says original Star Wars dialogue.
01:39Do you go with that one first?
01:40Yeah.
01:41All right, here we go.
01:41I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic...
01:44You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor.
01:47Take her away.
01:49I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you.
01:52I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.
01:55You are part of a Rebel Alliance and a traitor.
01:58Take her away.
01:59Yeah, no comparison.
02:00Right, right.
02:01Obviously, they were processing James Earl Jones, but still, it's James Earl freaking Jones.
02:06Yeah, he's got a much more resonant voice.
02:09A better actor.
02:10Physically, he was perfect for the part, but like in this article says, his lilting English
02:15West County accent or country accent was considered less ideal.
02:19And of course, James Earl Jones took...
02:21What's all this here?
02:23What's you got?
02:23You got the secret plans to the Death Star?
02:25Prowse was also known to a generation of British children as the Green Cross Codeman, a superhero
02:33in a series of road safety advertisements.
02:36Huh.
02:36Yeah.
02:37I don't know if I'm going to get this 100% right, but I think when he did the dialogue
02:40in Empire Strikes Back, and this is a spoiler alert for a movie that came out 40 years ago,
02:44but that he recorded the line, no, Obi-Wan killed your father, and then they overdubbed it
02:50so that James Earl Jones had the classic line of, no, I killed your father.
02:55Okay.
02:55No, I am your father.
02:56I am your father.
02:56Oh, stupid.
02:58Obi-Wan killed your father.
03:00And Luke's reaction was to the horror of Obi-Wan actually killing his dad.
03:04Oh, interesting.
03:05Yeah.
03:06So, but I'm not 100% sure I'm getting that right, but I remember that being a part of
03:09Star Wars lore.
03:09Oh.
03:10But Prowse said, Obi-Wan killed your father.
03:12Well, you're kind of...
03:13Obi-Wan killed your father.
03:15What was that?
03:16I said, Obi-Wan killed your father.
03:18I can't understand you.
03:19I said, Obi-Wan killed your father.
03:22It's so windy in here.
03:24I said, Obi-Wan killed your father.
03:26Oh, God.
03:27That's right.
03:29It was a very windy sea.
03:30Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:30Right.
03:31And then he just, he just turns the knob a little bit.
03:34It goes completely away.
03:35Yeah.
03:36So, sad news.
03:37He shouldn't have survived that fall, by the way.
03:39He lived a hell of a...
03:40I agree.
03:40Yeah.
03:41How he conveniently got sucked into...
03:43Or did he use the force somehow?
03:45Did the force kind of take him?
03:47We're led to believe.
03:47But was he that good at that point?
03:49Remember, he was just partially trained by Yoda.
03:51Yeah.
03:51Maybe Yoda...
03:52Maybe he took the fall class first.
03:55So, 80...
03:56In case you fall down tunnel.
03:5885 years old, David Prowse.
03:59Ha, ha, ha, ha.
04:00Ha, ha, ha.
04:01Ha, ha, ha, ha.
04:01Ha, ha, ha, ha.
04:02Ha, ha, ha, ha.
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