It’s not hard to think that a lot of people still don’t realize that there were three people that brought Darth Vader to life in the original trilogy. David Prowse was the guy in the suit, James Earl Jones was the voice of the iconic villain, and Sebastian Shaw was the guy that was in the suit when the mask was taken off. But of the three, only David Prowse has been banned from any and all Star Wars conventions over the years. The rumor is that he let it slip that Darth Vader was Luke’s father before anyone else found out, but that’s been soundly debunked over the years since the truth is that the people that need to know were made aware before the line was delivered. The reason Prowse has been banned is that he has a long-running feud with George Lucas that stems either from being stiffed by Lucas when it came to his pay because he didn’t appreciate his lines being dubbed. In any case, he decided to get loud about the issue, and things kind of went south for him when it came to the punishment that was handed down. Some might think ‘big deal’ when it comes to an actor being banned from Star Wars, but those fans that know anything about it understand that even the most innocuous actors from the franchise are often looked at in awe by at least a few fans that might remember them since it’s Star Wars for crying out loud, it’s a franchise that made a good number of people immortal in a way since their characters are still revered.
Not to rag on Prowse, but had he kept his mouth shut he might still be able to cash in on a bit of the fame that he could have continued to have by being linked with one of the most popular villains in all of pop culture. Darth Vader has been seen as one of the most pervasive villains in all of pop culture, even though the character died decades ago on the big screen. There have been entire sites dedicated to this character, people have wondered just who would prevail if he was pitted against certain other characters, and he’s become almost a franchise unto himself in a big way. So it’s easy to see why it might have been a bit short-sighted of Prowse not to keep his temper in check or to at least make his apologies in order to keep himself within the Star Wars family, as he could have been making a huge splash still by being present at even a few conventions.
But that’s how things go to be certain since some people can hold a grudge for a long, long time. At this point, one might think that Prowse, who’s in his 80s, might have learned to live and let live, but it sounds as though he might have continued to hold onto those ill feelings all this time. Why is anyone’s guess, but whether or not he’s thinking that he should have found a way to bury the hatchet or not is kind of irrelevant at this time since he’s missed out on a lot of stuff throughout the years because of this, but it doesn’t sound as though it’s affected him quite as much as people might like to think. He has still been involved in Star Wars since keeping him out entirely would have likely become a huge legal matter that no one wanted to deal with. Plus, it’s more than right to keep him in the loop since he did provide a lot of work for the trilogy. But the idea that he and Lucas didn’t see eye to eye for so long feels a bit silly at this time since it makes a person wonder just how petty people can be in show business, and what money can do to a lot of folks that might otherwise get along. After all, Star Wars is a phenomenon that has been able to bring people together for a long time now, and it’s been a veritable cash cow that has drawn interest from all corners of the globe.
It does sound as though Prowse wasn’t too impressed by the prequel trilogy, which is a commonality among a lot of people, but stating that the story didn’t appear to line up with the original trilogy is still a point that a lot of people are willing to argue. One has to wonder just why it is that so many people that have glorified the original trilogy wouldn’t think that anything could possibly match up with it, particularly when the first trilogy laid the roadmap to follow so that the prequels could turn out the way they were.
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