There has been a lot of mystery surrounding who was the actor beneath the memorable Darth Vader costume. In fact there was more than one person involved in making the Darth Vader costume very realistic.
The answer to the first query is David Prowse. He was the one who wore the Darth Vader costume for the majority of the movie. He was chosen for the role because of his huge stature and medium size built. He was actually asked to make a choice between being Chewbacca or the dark ruler himself.
He said in an interview that he chose the Darth Vader role because he thought that by playing the role "people would remember him". It was a very good decision as people really do remember Darth Vader. On record, Darth Vader was ranked third in the list of the top 100 villains in the American Film Institute's top 100 heroes and villain's awards.
The next person who gave the Darth Vader costume its creepy mechanical voice was James Earl Jones. Of course he did it with a little sound effect editing. Still, his voice gave that signature evil and powerful quality. The reason why David Prose did not get to voice his acting behind the Darth Vader costume, was because he had too much of a West Country accent.
Next on the list is the face behind the mask. Darth Vader was finally unmasked by his own son before he died. It was Sebastian Shaw who gave the feeble and dying look of the powerful person under the mask of the Darth Vader costume. Though he was given little credit for it, he was still recognized.
As for the fight scenes, some of them needed stunt doubles in the original Start Wars trilogy. It was only later recognized that it was not David Prose who was doing all the light saber battle choreography while in the Darth Vader costume. It was performed by Bob Anderson. He was only recognized later by Mark Hamill who played as Luke Skywalker in the film. He said that he could not keep it a secret anymore as Bob needed recognition for all the hard work he put into those fight scenes.
Anderson was a fencing instructor. This was the main reason he was very good in sword fights.
The answer to the first query is David Prowse. He was the one who wore the Darth Vader costume for the majority of the movie. He was chosen for the role because of his huge stature and medium size built. He was actually asked to make a choice between being Chewbacca or the dark ruler himself.
He said in an interview that he chose the Darth Vader role because he thought that by playing the role "people would remember him". It was a very good decision as people really do remember Darth Vader. On record, Darth Vader was ranked third in the list of the top 100 villains in the American Film Institute's top 100 heroes and villain's awards.
The next person who gave the Darth Vader costume its creepy mechanical voice was James Earl Jones. Of course he did it with a little sound effect editing. Still, his voice gave that signature evil and powerful quality. The reason why David Prose did not get to voice his acting behind the Darth Vader costume, was because he had too much of a West Country accent.
Next on the list is the face behind the mask. Darth Vader was finally unmasked by his own son before he died. It was Sebastian Shaw who gave the feeble and dying look of the powerful person under the mask of the Darth Vader costume. Though he was given little credit for it, he was still recognized.
As for the fight scenes, some of them needed stunt doubles in the original Start Wars trilogy. It was only later recognized that it was not David Prose who was doing all the light saber battle choreography while in the Darth Vader costume. It was performed by Bob Anderson. He was only recognized later by Mark Hamill who played as Luke Skywalker in the film. He said that he could not keep it a secret anymore as Bob needed recognition for all the hard work he put into those fight scenes.
Anderson was a fencing instructor. This was the main reason he was very good in sword fights.
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