From Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Most autographs don’t come with a big story about the celebrity signing them. Sure, you’ll tell your friends about this moment your whole life, but for a big-time actor at your local convention, this was just another off-season weekend afternoon. However, the man behind the most famous Star Wars character of all has a wild autograph story that’s equal parts sad and spiteful. David Prowse wore the Vader suit but was voiced by James Earl Jones and was so angry that he signed most of his autographs with “David Prowse is Darth Vader.”
David Prowse is Darth Vader
To understand why this Star Wars icon was so vicious with his autographs, one must understand the history of bad blood between the late, great David Prowse and George Lucas. It all started with the original Star Wars film. Prowse was a tall bodybuilder who was hired because his impressive physique made him perfect for the role of Vader. However, his voice wasn’t really suitable: the late one Carrie Fisher It was once revealed that the cast nicknamed Prowse “Darth Farmer” due to his rural English accent, and Lucas famously hired James Earl Jones to rewrite all of Vader’s lines, which surprised Prowse.
A surprise rename of his famous character probably wouldn’t be enough to destroy the relationship between the two men, but what really drove a wedge between Prowse and Lucas was an incident in 1978. Prowse and other Star Wars actors were signing autographs when the Darth Vader The actor revealed that his character was actually Luke Skywalker’s father. In fact, The Empire strikes back hadn’t been written yet, so everyone’s favorite on-screen cyborg was talking out of his exhaust port. He happened to accurately predict what would come up one film later.
Until the end The Empire strikes backLuke is unsure if Vader is really his father or if this was a strange Dark Side trick aimed at emotionally manipulating him. Return of the Jedi confirmed who Luke’s father was, but this big reveal was spoiled for fans by a British tabloid a year before the film’s release. Because of the earlier incident, Lucas always blamed Prowse for the leak, and the results were swift and brutal: Prowse was ostracized during filming, replaced by Sebastian Shaw for Vader’s only unmasked scene, and banned from attending official Star Wars conventions until 2010 forbidden.
Still, you could say Prowse was the last laugh. The temporary ban from attending official Star Wars conventions didn’t stop him from appearing at other Comic-Con-style events around the globe and signing autographs for legions of fans. And he made sure that each autograph was a statement in itself: “David Prowse is Darth Vader.” Some saw this as a slight to James Earl Jones, but we see it as the actor’s way of reminding people of his achievements remembered in a franchise that was increasingly distancing itself from him.
Obviously, this Star Wars story about sad and spiteful autographs isn’t a feel-good story, but we like to think it helps us remember something important about this franchise. Fans tend to highlight individual creators (like George Lucas, Dave Filonior Rian Johnson) when a movie or TV show crashes and burns in a galaxy far, far away, but the truth is that it takes a village of creators to bring our favorite stories to life. Celebrating Star Wars means celebrating all those who were part of something that has always brought great joy to fans.
David Prowse played one of the most important roles in the early days of this franchise, and we can only hope that his surviving family knows that we don’t need an autograph to remind us of a simple and profound truth: David Prowse is Darth now and forever Vader.
Source: Crushable