Star Wars Actor Kenny Baker Dies at Age 81 (theguardian.com) 51
An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes The Guardian:
The British actor who played R2-D2 in the Star Wars films has died at the age of 81 after a long illness. Kenny Baker, who was 3-feet 8-inches tall, shot to fame in 1977 when he first played the robot character.
He went on to play the character in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as the three Star Wars prequels from 1999 to 2005. He also appeared in a number of other much loved films in the 1980s, including The Elephant Man, Time Bandits and Flash Gordon.
Baker's niece told the newspaper that "He brought lots of happiness to people and we'll be celebrating the fact that he was well loved throughout the world..."
He went on to play the character in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as the three Star Wars prequels from 1999 to 2005. He also appeared in a number of other much loved films in the 1980s, including The Elephant Man, Time Bandits and Flash Gordon.
Baker's niece told the newspaper that "He brought lots of happiness to people and we'll be celebrating the fact that he was well loved throughout the world..."
He had a short, but lucrative career. (Score:2)
He will be remembered by all who hear him.
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He was bigger than most of us will ever be...
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Or, if you intend to go to senior school, let alone university, then you're signing yourself up to working until you're 80. Or older.
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Most people wouldn't have recognized him on the street if he wasn't in that tin can.
They would recognize him by the Astromech beeping and whirring noises that he used to communicate. His ability to communicate in Astromech is one of the primary reasons that George Lucas selected him for the role of R2D2.
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no one would recognize you period... sucks for you quit hating on a man's death
R2D2 (Score:1)
You mean there was a MAN IN THERE??
Get the fuck out of here.
Re:R2D2 (Score:4, Funny)
Actually it was Anthony Daniels. Kenny Baker did the R2D2 voice over.
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Ahem.
Ben Burtt (the sound editor) and a synthesizer did the R2D2 voice over.
Anthony Daniels wore the C3PO suit (he had to be skinny enough to fit it), and did the C3PO voice over.
Kenny Baker performed inside some of the R2D2 models - pretty much those that required complex movements that Radio Control technology of the time could not manage.
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You mean there was a MAN IN THERE??
Yeah, AI was not that good at the time.
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Yes, although to be fair his career didn't really begin until his 1980 appearance on the Dr. Demento Show with Another One Rides the Bus.
Decoding (Score:2)
bad reporting (Score:2)
Kenny Baker isn't dead; he's just returning the map.
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OMG, they've killed Kenny! (Score:2)
Oh, sorry. Wrong Kenny.
Damned shame.... (Score:5, Informative)
That really stinks. Baker was a nice man and very open to his fans. He was also in Time Bandits- another beloved movie.
At the very least- you could say he was a man who didn't make the world a worse place, Though I suspect he did far better than that.
RIP Kenny.
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Time Bandits was one of my absolute favorite movies growing up, and it still is.
Cheers for Kenny, may he always live on in our hearts.
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Kenny, "He had only six days to make the world so there are a few holes. With this map [showing the space-time holes] why not use it to make ourselves stinking rich!"
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I saw Star Wars opening night, neener neener (Score:2)
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He was a bigger man than Anthony Daniels (Score:4, Interesting)
Baker had a varied career that included lots of musical theatre and the circus as well as heaps of roles in other productions. I bet he had a million stories to tell.
Who could have imagined that because off the shelf analogue radio controls were so crappy in the 1970s and a series of accidental meetings, it was easier to hire him to steer the inside of the R2D2 Prop. That he was short made him in the Star Wars promotion circuit with kids and so forth.
What a life.
From what I've read, his counterpart Daniels is a 'difficult' personality and the two didn't get along. And from what I've read of that relationship, Baker towered in stature over Daniels as a person.
Thanks for being part of my childhood.
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Practically anyone who knew anything of the technology of the time would have easily imagined that somebody small would be hired to play R2D2. Just a few years before Silent Running [wikipedia.org] had been filmed, using amputees to play the 'droids - something widely known at the time. Nor was using physically small pe
As Artoo would say... (Score:3)
Beep Boooooop.