David Charles Prowse (1 July 1935 – 28 November 2020) was an English actor, bodybuilder, strongman and weightlifter. He portrayed Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy and a manservant in Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. In 2015, he starred in two documentaries concerning his Darth Vader role, one titled The Force's Mouth, which included Prowse voicing Darth Vader's lines with studio effects applied for the first time, and the other titled I Am Your Father, covering the subject of the fallout between Prowse and Lucasfilm.
Prior to his role as Vader, Prowse had established himself as a super-hero figure in the United Kingdom as the Green Cross Man in Green Cross Code media aimed at teaching children and young people road safety.
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Early life
David Charles Prowse was born on 1 July 1935 in Bristol, England. He was the son of Gladys (née Burt) and Charles Prowse. He was brought up on the Southmead housing estate in Bristol, gaining a scholarship to Bristol Grammar School. Prowse was tall, standing 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m), and developed an interest in bodybuilding. His early jobs included working as a bouncer at a dance hall and at Henleaze Swimming Pool, where he met his future wife. Following his successes from 1961 in the British heavyweight weightlifting championship, he left Bristol in 1963 to work for a London weightlifting company.
Career
Weightlifting and training
Prowse won the British heavyweight weightlifting championship in 1962. The following two years he represented England in the weightlifting event at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia. During his bodybuilding course, Prowse became friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno.
Prowse could deadlift as much as 785 lb (356 kg) and in 1963, became the first man to lift the Dinnie Stones after Dinnie father and son duo. During his prime, Prowse weighed around 283 pounds (128 kg).
During the 1970s, Prowse developed a minor interest with wrestling and trained many British wrestlers of the time.
Prowse helped to train Christopher Reeve for the lead role in Superman (1978) after lobbying for the part himself. In a television interview, he related how his response to being told "we've found our Superman" was "Thank you very much." Only then was he told that Reeve had been chosen for the role and he was to only be a trainer. He trained Cary Elwes for his role as Westley in The Princess Bride (1987).
Prowse also became fitness consultant to Harrods, ripped up phone books under the stage name 'Jack the Ripper', and opened a series of gyms, including The Dave Prowse Fitness Centre in Southwark, London. Notably, Arnold Schwarzenegger sometimes trained at Prowse's gym and the British bodybuilder was also a judge at the last Mr. Universe contest Schwarzenegger won.
After making his last professional film appearance as Vader in 1983, he returned his major focus to weightlifting and continued to appear on some strength demonstrations in the United Kingdom until the late 1990s.
Acting
His first appearance is a brief cameo in a gym as a weightlifter in the 1968 TV show The Champions: the opening sequence of episode 2 "The Invisible Man". Also in 1968, he was cast as kilt wearing and bagpipe playing Emlyn MacGregor in The Beverly Hillbillies episode "Coming Through the Rye" (season 7 episode 4). He made an appearance as henchman Tony in the 1969 TV show The Saint (series 6 episode 20) starring Roger Moore.
In the United Kingdom, Prowse was well known as the Green Cross Man, a superhero invented to promote a road safety campaign for children in 1975. As a result of his association with the campaign, which ran between 1971 and 1990, he received the MBE in 2000.
He had a role as Frank Alexander's manservant, Julian, in the film A Clockwork Orange (1971), in which he was noticed by the future Star Wars director George Lucas. He played a circus strongman in Vampire Circus (1972), a Minotaur in the Doctor Who serial The Time Monster (also 1972), and an android named Coppin in The Tomorrow People in 1973. He appeared in an episode of Space: 1999, "The Beta Cloud" (1976), right before he was cast as Darth Vader. Around that time, he appeared as the Black Knight in the Terry Gilliam film Jabberwocky (1977) and was supposed to play Minoton in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977), but the part went to Peter Mayhew instead, who later played Chewbacca in Star Wars.
Prowse claimed that he nearly got the role of Jaws in James Bond (which ultimately went to Richard Kiel) and was offered the part of Conan the Barbarian before Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Prowse had a small role as Hotblack Desiato's bodyguard in the 1981 BBC TV adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He appeared in the first series of Ace of Wands on LWT and as a bodyguard in Callan (1974), a feature film version of the TV series, as well as the character Wellington in one episode of the TV series. He played Charles, the duke's wrestler, in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of As You Like It in 1978.
Prowse played Frankenstein's monster in three films, Casino Royale and the Hammer horrors The Horror of Frankenstein and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. Prowse made two uncredited appearances on The Benny Hill Show. On Hill's first show for Thames Television in 1969, he played a briefs-clad muscleman in the "Ye Olde Wishing Well" quickie, and in 1984 "Scuttlevision" he showed off his muscles in a sketch set to the song "Stupid Cupid". The earlier routine was also featured in the 1974 film The Best of Benny Hill, in which he was credited.
Partnership with Jayce Lewis
Prowse became friends with Welsh musician Jayce Lewis when the latter was a teenager, after they met at a science fiction convention. At the convention, Lewis recalled learning that Prowse's son, whom he later met after a performance, was also a drummer. On their shared musical interest, Prowse identified himself as "a music fan for years, going from big band jazz, trad jazz, modern and progressive."
The two became business partners with Prowse taking on a management and public relations role. He was also featured in the music video for "Shields" on the album Orderart. On 1 October 2015, Lewis created a mini-documentary entitled The Force's Mouth, which gave Prowse the opportunity to hear himself voicing Darth Vader's lines with studio effects applied for the first time.
Personal life
Prowse married Norma Scammell in 1963 and was the father of three children. He was a supporter of Bristol Rugby Club. He lived in Addiscombe, Croydon, in Surrey from 1963.
Prowse publicly declared his support for the UK Independence Party in the 2009 European Parliament election: "I've looked right and left and right again and the only party I can safely vote for is UKIP."
Health problems
Prowse suffered from arthritis for much of his life. This led to replacements of both hips, and to his ankle being fused, as well as several revisionary surgeries on his hip replacements. His arthritic symptoms first appeared when he was 13. Though they seemingly disappeared after he took up competitive weightlifting, they reappeared in 1990.
Prowse worked with multiple arthritis organisations in Britain and was vice-president of the Physically Handicapped and Able-bodied Association.
In March 2009, Prowse revealed that he was suffering from prostate cancer. He underwent radiation therapy at the Royal Marsden Hospital in South London. Later that year he was said to be in remission.
In November 2014, the Daily Mirror reported that he had dementia. Prowse denied this, but admitted that he had problems with his memory, which he put down to age.
Retirement
In late 2017, Prowse retired from all public appearances and events, due to ill health and the wishes of his family. His final onscreen appearance was filmed with his long-time friend the Welsh musician Jayce Lewis in a sci-fi music video titled Shields. Upon completing production Prowse was quoted as saying; Well, that's that and Jayce as responding; Job done, Legacy made!
Death
Prowse died at a hospital in London, England, on 28 November 2020, aged 85.
Honours and awards
Prowse was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to charity and road safety at the New Year Honours in 2000.
