David Prowse

David Prowse (born July 1, 1935) is a former bodybuilder and weightlifter who reconverted as an actor. He was selected to play Darth Vader in the original trilogy and The Star Wars Holiday Special due to his height and girth (He literally dwarfs any other actor in the original trilogy). He would speak the lines from within the suit during filming in his Bristol accent. However, as this ultimately clashed with George Lucas's idea about Vader, James Earl Jones was dubbed over as Vader's voice&mdash;a fact that was unknown to Prowse at the time of filming. Prowse reprised his role as Vader for the needs of the games Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game and Star Wars Monopoly.

David Prowse complained that he never got any publicity as Darth Vader. He originally chose to be Vader because, according to him, the villain was most remembered. His favorite role, however, was as the Green Cross Code Man, a character used in public service announcements in the United Kingdom to teach children road safety.

Prowse still comes to fan conventions and to this day signs his autographs "David Prowse IS Darth Vader."

In 2005 Dave joined Jeremy Bulloch, Michael Sheard and Orli Shoshan in the final two parts of UK fanfilm trilogy, Order of the Sith. Dave played a rebel officer in charge of the main character Fuser Marucs. The films were made in aid of Save the Children.

It is a common misunderstanding on the part of the media that during the production of Rebel Assault II, Prowse was hired once more to reprise his role as Vader in the game's full motion videos. However, in reality, Vader was portrayed by C. Andrew Nelson.

Earlier in his career David Prowse was in a film called Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell produced by the English Horror Film Company, Hammer Studios. In the film Prowse plays the role of the Frankenstein Monster. In the same film, Peter Cushing who would later play Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, plays Dr. Frankenstein.

He is also best known to sci-fi fans for playing a Minotaur in the Doctor Who story The Time Monster (1972) under the name Dave Prowse.