David Prowse

David Prowse was a British actor.

Prowse is best known for being the man behind Darth Vader’s mask in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983).

A former bodybuilder, Prowse won the British weightlifting championship in 1962 and represented England in the weightlifting category at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane the same year.

Prowse played Frankenstein’s monster in Casino Royale (1967), and again in The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974).

He played a bodyguard in A Clockwork Orange (1971), which is where Star Wars creator George Lucas discovered him. He auditioned for both Darth Vader and Chewbacca and eventually landed the part of the former. His accent was deemed unsuitable for the part, and his lines were dubbed by actor James Earl Jones.

Prowse was also known to a generation of British children as the Green Cross Code Man, a superhero in a series of road safety commercials.

Prowse appeared in episodes of The Edge of Night and The Beverly Hillbillies, as well as a number of shows produced in the UK that were widely seen in syndication in the United States, including The Saint, Doctor Who, The Two Ronnies, and The Benny Hill Show.

Prowse died November 28, 2020, in London, England. He was 85.