That Tea and Crumpets voice would have killed Darth Vader.

Vader needed a voice that sounded eerie and dominant. Not a voice that you can’t decide between gay or just British.

David Prowse IS Darth Vader!  Met him and got his autograph. We talked to him for quite a while and he was so very gracious and nice. It was an Honor to meet him.

I remember meeting David Prowse at a comic book convention when I was still in college going back over 30 years ago, I had an unopened  Kenner Darth Vader action figure he signed for me, he wrote “David Prowes “IS” Darth Vader” me and my college buddies thought this was hilarious.

Met him at MSG back in ‘99. Such a sweet and humble man

He was great in stature for the role but it really was a collaborative effort, and JEJ could be also be considered Darth Vader despite only providing the voice. Credit to all involved and RIP to the actors

Back in day (I was there!),the controversy about "Empire" was NOT about Vader dying but about Vader being Luke's father. I remember this!!! I was there!!! Somehow it was leaked that Vader was Luke's father and Prowse was doing an interview and the interviewer asked him if Vader was Luke's father. Prowse said something like,.."well...I don't know anything about that...I haven't heard anything like that"...or something to that effect. Supposedly ( and I stress the word "supposedly") Lucas found out about it, blamed Prowse for revealing Luke's relationship with Vader and that was that. Interestingly...only 3 people had the script with  
Vader's lines..."I am your father"! They were.....Lucas...because he wrote it........Jones...who spoke it and Hamill.....who reacted to it. Interviews with the cast even reveal that while behind the mask, Prowse actually said a completely different line while filming the scene. He had NO idea as to the "I am your father" line. No idea! So one of the 3 people who knew the REAL line leaked the info to the press. I doubt it was Lucas....so it had to have been Jones or Hamill. Of course...for his own reasons...Lucas was not about to blame a well seasoned actor like Jones (who was also black...and definitely Lucas was not going to rat out a black man) and he was certainly NOT going to blame his young leading star hero. So who then? Oh,....just some big bodybuilder no-name actor.....yeah...he'll be the scapegoat. Also.....when people say Prowse wouldn't have had the right voice after hearing his voice behind the mask in the rough cut of the film.....he had to basically yell the lines from behind the mask so that everyone around him could hear his lines. He was not 'acting' his lines at that time. Noone would have heard him. I seriously doubt if you could have heard Jones saying his lines behind the mask...he would have also had to yell his lines. Filmmaking, while its being done, is nothing like the final film. People are just so naive about how things work. Jones brought such a great sound to Vader's voice and I will never knock him for that.....but to claim that Prowse would have spoken his version of Vader's lines with an extreme British accent is ludicrous! I think some secrets were leaked to the press by person (or persons unknown) and Prowse was made the scapegoat. Also...anybody who thinks Prowse was just a body behind the suit...and had NO acting ability...think about this. By the time the next film came about..."Return of the Jedi", EVERYBODY treated Prowse like a leper. Remember, you have to sign contracts in the film world and Prowse was already contracted to play Vader for "Return". If Lucas wanted to 'fire' Prowse from the film...he would have to have a valid reason. He couldn't say..."well Prowse gave secrets to the press"....uh....no he didn't! Only 3 people knew THE secrets and Prowse was not one of them! Lucas could not say Prowse was a troublemaker on set....uh....NO....everyone thought Prowse was a professional and never bothered anyone. So, Prowse was playing Vader in "Return" no matter what. Well, Lucas obviously made it clear to the crew that Prwose was to be treated badly on set. No body would talk to him at length...just to be given the minimum of info (because remember....Prowse was the evil traitor who revealed the secrets of "Empire")...and if you got to close to him...well...you might suffer collateral damage. Richard Marquand, the director for "Return" especially treated Prowse with disdain. Prowse gave interviews saying that he was given NO DIRECTION in his scenes.....NOTHING. He was told where his mark was and where he was to stand..but nothing else. Now watch "Return" and see how Prowse pauses and moves his helmet in slow deliberate ways to express things.....he was acting....and behind a helmet no less. Prowse was never going to be an academy award winning actor...I'll be the first to say that...... but he could act and, with the help of "mad King" George, he was basically made a pariah. I think he got a bad deal....but hollywood is a place where bad deals are common place....nothing but politics . Dave Prowse IS Darth Vader......and no matter how these bastards try..........nobody is going to erase his memory from me.

Dave Prowse used to own a small gym a few doors down from the office I used to work in along marshalsea road, Southwark in London in the early 00's. I went there a few times to speak to Dave about his roles. He seemed to appreciate it recalled him as the green cross code man and in the clockwork orange. Lucas did him wrong.  back when I saw Dave I was into star wars then more than now as this was before Disney took over and ruined it for me.  He kindly signed my laserdisc star wars limited edition. I also bought some Braveheart and abstract pictures off him. I also had his phone number if I wanted more but I never got around to it.

George Lucas also digitally removed Sebastian Shaw's eyebrows and replaced his force ghost with Hayden Christensen's Anakin. But nobody ever talks about that.

we met him at a local  event and he was an absalute  gentleman! R.I.P Dave!

I remember seeing him as a young kid at a bookshop in Gloucester many many moons ago ....had the suite on and signed a picture...my baby brother ( at the time ) cried like a little girl when it was our turn to meet and greet 😂 hes 47 now

Prowse seemed to have forgotten that Bob Anderson wore the Darth Vader suit during all the fight scenes in Empire and Return, since he couldn’t pull it off.

4:23 Ironically, given the age that they went for Anakin being in the Prequels, and the timescale from Revenge of the Sith to Return of the Jedi (around 23 years if I recall correctly), Vader's face being old doesn't make as much sense as using someone of Prowse's age at the time.  In fact, I think Anakin was 22 in ROTS, Hayden was around 23/24 and Prowse was around 47 during ROTJ.  So, as it eventually turned out, Prowse was almost exactly the right age to play an older version of prequel Anakin.

Also, I think that David Prowse had a more-or-less a believable "Hayden Christensen could grow to look like that" facial structure.  More so than Sebastian Shaw anyway.  Of course, at the time, no one knew what younger Anakin was going to look like (or even if we were ever going to see him).

While I think using James Earl Jones' voice was absolutely the right move (and FWiW I'm ambivalent about Sebastian Shaw) turning up to the premier to hear another actor's voice dubbed over your acting could perhaps have been handled better.  I'm not saying that the change shouldn't be made, merely that it could have been handled a bit more sensitively, as could using another actor to shoot the face reveal scenes.  That is, assuming that the account presented in this video is accurate.  It's mostly presented from Prowse's side, and I'm sure it would sound different from Lucas.

Even James Earl Jones once admitted that he considered himself just a “technical effect addition” and considered Prowse the real actor of Darth Vader.  He didn’t even want credit on first 2 Star Wars movie.

Prowse let his EGO get in the way. Do you hear about Kenny Baker bitching about how he had to play R2D2? Or what about Peter Mayhew playing Chewy?

He should have just accepted his limitations and ahem grateful for the part he was given. The main focus is the character and JL had a vision of how Vader sounded and how he looked. It was his creation and that’s what’s matters most.

They originally asked me to play Darth Vader but I remember I was busy, at the time, being Chris Reeves' stunt double, the Man of Steel in the 1977 blockbuster, Superman.

I had met him several times at conventions and got his autograph.   Getting to see him in person was an honor l will never forget.   He was very nice to his fans.

The use of James Earl Jones voice made Vader, with Davids voice it just wouldn’t have worked behind the mask. I think sometimes you need to look at the bigger picture, at the time it must have been devastating to not be recognized fully but the film wasn’t about David and that was tough to reconcile. However they could have used him in Return of the Jedi in the final sequences as that would have made sense, less emphasis on acting, just a small segment to recognize his part in the saga.

Critical Drinker did a good video recently saying actors are only performers. It’s the script and creativity that they’re just portraying. David was just following the script.