![]() He played Charles, the duke's wrestler, in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of As You Like It in 1978. 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. Prowse had a small role as Hotblack Desiato's bodyguard in the 1981 BBC TV adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 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. 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. He appeared in an episode of Space: 1999, " The Beta Cloud" (1976), right before he was cast as Darth Vader. 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 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. As a result of his association with the campaign, which ran between 19, he received the MBE in 2000. 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. 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". Universe contest Arnold won.Īfter making his last professional film appearance as Vader in 1983, he returned his major focus on weightlifting and continued to appear on some strength demonstrations in the United Kingdom until the late 1990s.Īcting Prowse as Julian holding Alex ( Malcolm McDowell) in A Clockwork Orange (1971) Notably, Arnold Schwarzeneger sometimes trained at Prowse's gym and the British bodybuilder was also a judge at the last Mr. 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. He trained Cary Elwes for his role as Westley in The Princess Bride (1987). 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. Prowse helped to train Christopher Reeve for the lead role in Superman (1978) after lobbying for the part himself. During his prime, Prowse weighed around 282 pounds (128 kg).ĭuring the 1970s, Prowse developed a minor interest with wrestling and trained many British wrestlers of the time. Prowse could deadlift as much as 784 lb (356 kg) and was notable for being the first person to lift the Dinnie Stones. During his bodybuilding course, Prowse became friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno. He represented England in the weightlifting event at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia. Prowse won the British heavyweight weightlifting championship in 1962 and the following two years. Following his successes from 1961 in the British heavyweight weightlifting championship, he left Bristol in 1963 to work for a London weightlifting company. His early jobs included a bouncer at a dance hall, where he met his future wife, and a helper at Henleaze Swimming Pool. Prowse was tall, standing 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m), and developed an interest in bodybuilding. He was brought up on the Southmead housing estate in Bristol, gaining a scholarship to Bristol Grammar School. He was the son of Gladys ( née Burt) and Charles Prowse. ![]() Early life ĭavid Charles Prowse was born on 1 July 1935 in Bristol. ![]() 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. In 2015, he starred in two documentaries concerning his Darth Vader role, one entitled 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 fallout between Prowse and Lucasfilm. He portrayed Darth Vader (voiced by American actor James Earl Jones) in the original Star Wars trilogy and a manservant in Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. David Charles Prowse MBE (1 July 1935 – 28 November 2020) was an English actor, bodybuilder, strongman and weightlifter. ![]()
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