The actor who played Darth Vader, David Prowse, is banned from Star Wars conventions. For those who don’t know who he is, and can not place him in the movies, he was the man who wore the mask of Darth Vader. Obviously, apart from a few fleeting scenes at the end of the third original movie, The Return of the Jedi, his face remained completely covered up. For an aspiring actor such a role would be troublesome enough, but at least he got to use dialogue throughout the movie. Even if his face was covered up, people would be able to recognize his voice. But at the completion of filming, David Prowse was dealt another mighty blow. George Lucas had decided to ditch the voice of Prowse, and go for the much more menacing voice of James Earl Jones. Given the double blow to his career, you could imagine that he was somewhat upset at the decision. So what has this got to do with Him as Darth Vader being banned from Star Wars conventions?
He wasn’t booted from the fan conventions because he was practically invisible throughout the movies. Even though he was really only as good as a moving mannequin by the time the movie hit the big screen, he was part of the cast and crew, so could attend if he wanted. The thing that saw him no longer welcome was his attitude.
So David Prowse was not upset, he was pissed off at his treatment, and he wasn’t afraid to show it. He complained to the press and fans about how he was treated by George Lucas. And he didn’t let up either. The problem is that when you are burning bridges, you get to a point where there are no brides left to burn.
Eventually Lucas had enough of the bad mouthing, and ensured that the Darth Vader was banned from Star Wars Conventions.When he asked for the reason, he was given a blunt response.
…burnt one too many bridges between him and George Lucas.
My personal thoughts on this. 30 plus years. Dude get over it and move on, Lucas made the right decision, but he could have gone about it differently. Judge below for yourself.
