thetomhagen
42428
1006
10
Darth Vader Original Trilogy Actors
Feb 5, 2025 4:51 AM
thetomhagen
42428
1006
10
klean9
David Prowse was also the bodyguard, Julian, in Clockwork Orange.
mv68
4 actors to portray 1 character. Very inefficient; Elon would have fired everyone
chaoticgamerdude
gonzar09
wildwestpb
The Poster: @thetomhagen
tarquinious
Hoiloidl
Look up Bob Anderson, he's so much more than Vader's stunts.
He choreographed some of the best swordfights in movies and trained actors for ages to become proper swordsmen for their scenes.
ajhorselady84
Princess Bride and Lord of the Rings come to mind. Bob was a legend.
Hoiloidl
Highlander, Pirates of the Carribean, the new Zorro movies, and lots more.
Cary Elwes goes into details about how hard he and Mandy Patinkin got drilled for Princess Bride in his book As You Wish; absolutely no-nonsense training.
Merky600
Prowse In Hitchhiker’s GTTG as a “bodyguard”. Speaking role. Still a GD huge guy. https://youtu.be/PQjgMF_20dE?si=NIHyx3FCYmxUqLsz&t=1m26s.
Agatsu74
o7
KongoOtto
What about that guy? https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/34ji6p/richard_marquand_with_the_actorcrew_member_who/
Bytencoder
Any of them had the high ground?
SwissScars
which was Luke's daddy, or did they all adopt him.
OliverOtter
That's Disney's next film, "Four Sith and a Padawan."
Kitakita
and I'll form the head!
Xander77777
I don't know if that's how he was credited in the movie, but... stunts? For the original trilogy's Darth? Maybe fight choreography?
KongoOtto
What about that guy in RotJ?
AndrewBuggy
Yeah, David Prowse...
stoots24
Did you know he played a bit part in A Clockwork Orange?
Carlillo
Jacked Vader
F4ndango
😮💪
Banana369
Darth Farmer. Feel the force my lad. Proper job!
SpaceForGold
Look left. Look right. Look left again.
jethroismaxbaer5772
David Prowse on Benny Hill:
UffDaDan
David Prowse looks like an old man Max Verstappen
liquinas
Can't say I get the point of Prowse having a stunt double. He is basically the double and the only stunt that could've been even remotely dangerous/difficult was picking up and yeeting Palpatine down the shaft.
BishlamekGurpgork
Yeah, but if he gets hurt it shuts down filming.
I don't imagine they needed the double a LOT, though. Apparently they used him mostly for fencing. Apparently they did use him for when he falls off the carbonite chamber. I'm sure some of the catwalk fighting, too.
sirbartonslady
i believe "stunts" is shorthand for "swordfighting choreography and execution" lmao this guy does Vader's saber fights for him.
Phonoi00
Nah. Making the swordplay look good is a big deal, and he had a few scenes where he was knocked down and stuff. That was back in the heyday where the guys doing it were also trained fencers and stuff.
RyvaTheRenamon
And Bob was literally the best swordfighter in Hollywood as well. Makes sense they'd want him to do the actual sword fighting
DrForester
Working backwards from (and including) Return of the King, if you saw a sword fight in a Hollywood film, there's a good chance that guy in the bottom right choreographed it.
goboltz
. . . "As you Wish ! "
airbreather
...totally! Including Princess Bride, Highlander, Mask of Zorro... legendary.
BroWtfMann
I heard David got so mad when he found out that his voice wouldn't be used he almost spoiled the big reveal (I am your father!) Before episode 5 released
Ubik360
Is this actually true? Did he really believe he would be voicing Vader later?
netutoring
Yes. He thought he'd have a chance to rerecord the onset lines later. But then they couldn't fly him out to California to do the voicework. James Earl Jones was a last second replacement. That's according to Prowse. Other accounts seem to dispute this, but...until we find any definitive contracts stating one way or the other, we'll never know for sure.
jejorda2
That makes some sense for Star Wars, but not for Empire Strikes Back, which was shot after Star Wars was in theaters with JEJ's voice. Empire has the "I am your father" line. Because it was the second film, it is hard to imagine Prowse still thought his lines from the set would be used.
netutoring
Yeah, this was just the case for the first one. Again, this is just according to Prowse... but in the second and third movies, he'd ad-lib his lines. In this theory, this ad-libbing upset the cast and crew. Which is supposedly why Prowse was not welcome at any official Star Wars event in the years after.
NoNameFred
Supposedly: George Lucas knew, Irvin Kershner knew, Leigh Brackett knew, Lawrence Kasdan knew, and James Earl Jones knew. And then George Lucas told Mark Hamill too, after they shot the scene. Everyone else found out at the premiere.
BishlamekGurpgork
Mark Hamill said in an interview that Lucas told him, "I know, this person knows, another guy knows, and person D knows, and now you know (don't remember how long the list was, might have matched yours). If this gets out, we'll know it was you."
And then, at the premiere, that Harrison Ford looked at him after that scene and said "You didn't tell me that!"
NoNameFred
(When filming the scene? David Prowse was given the line "Obi-Wan killed your father" to say instead…)
BishlamekGurpgork
He was given a script with the real lines - I suppose to make sure he could act to them appropriately.
nefroye
His lines didn't matter, since his voice was dubbed over, and you can't see his lips. He could have been singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in that scene and have it come out the same.
BishlamekGurpgork
No, Mark Hamill was given a script.
RoutemasterFlash
My dad vaguely knew Dave Prowse; they used to train together at the same gym in Bristol.
I always thought it was a bit mean that Lucas had Prowse say all of Vader's lines in the first film, and it wasn't until Prowse saw the premier that he realised he'd been overdubbed with JEJ's voice.
I do love the idea of Bristolian Darth Vader, though. I wonder if any footage with his voice is available online?
VinzClorthoInSunglasses
"Ere Luuke, Oi'm yer Dad, gert lush innit"
RoutemasterFlash
"... me 'ansum!"
RoutemasterFlash
"Whurr's they droids to?"
lydecker17
Bytencoder
It is. Lucas made the right choice.
RoutemasterFlash
Well obviously, but I'd still like to see some of the original un-dubbed footage.
Bytencoder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcajAtIryTQ
RoutemasterFlash
"Oi want them aloive!" - wonderful :)
superhands01
I think it's a bit of willful negligence here really. He had to voice it in costume for timing so people can react to him saying things. He never went back to a vocal booth or anything and his lines are all muffled from the helmet. I think he was playing up to it as he had been superseded and wanted to be the star. And hi from a BS postcode
BishlamekGurpgork
I don't think at that time he knew he'd be dubbed over.
RoutemasterFlash
Ahh, that would make sense. So it's not like, in reality, he should ever have expected his lines to make it to the final cut?
cosonfused
It is. From what I understand, David Prowse kept changing his voice/accent all the time, so it wasn't even consistent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKQYLPaeiiA has examples and explains what happened. There's probably even more footage floating around.
RoutemasterFlash
Ha, that's wonderful! Thanks. I'm sending that link to my dad.
BishlamekGurpgork
Well, he didn't even think these would be used. According to him, he expected to dub over them later.
cosonfused
that's a fair point.