David Prowse
Despite my love of Star Wars, most of my earliest autographs were of Star Trek actors. This wasn't by design, but it just was a simple matter of who was obtainable. While Creation shows roll out Trek actors all the time, you have to work a little harder for original Star Wars actors.
Although not my first encounter with a Star Wars actor, one of my most memorable was with the Lord Vader himself. Meeting the ultimate bad guy at the ultimate con (San Diego Comic-Con) is a memory I won't soon forget.
As with Kenny Baker (R2-D2) at SDCC in 2005, Prowse was signing at an Official Pix booth at SDCC. Unlike Mr. Baker, Mr. Prowse did not meet us with grins and smiles. Despite that, we eagerly paid $40 for the picture and autograph; and although Prowse was not affable, he was still Darth Vader! A special twist on the autographed picture was that he signed it, “David Prowse is Darth Vader.” At the time I thought this was an extra nice thing that Prowse was doing for us (couldn't understand why), but it wasn’t until years later that I found that this was the original Darth Vader’s way of staging his own rebellion (ironic?). Mr. Prowse never cared for George Lucas’ philosophy that characters are more important than actors, and that anyone was replaceable. Prowse has signed this way to declare himself as the one and only man in black.
Although not my first encounter with a Star Wars actor, one of my most memorable was with the Lord Vader himself. Meeting the ultimate bad guy at the ultimate con (San Diego Comic-Con) is a memory I won't soon forget.
As with Kenny Baker (R2-D2) at SDCC in 2005, Prowse was signing at an Official Pix booth at SDCC. Unlike Mr. Baker, Mr. Prowse did not meet us with grins and smiles. Despite that, we eagerly paid $40 for the picture and autograph; and although Prowse was not affable, he was still Darth Vader! A special twist on the autographed picture was that he signed it, “David Prowse is Darth Vader.” At the time I thought this was an extra nice thing that Prowse was doing for us (couldn't understand why), but it wasn’t until years later that I found that this was the original Darth Vader’s way of staging his own rebellion (ironic?). Mr. Prowse never cared for George Lucas’ philosophy that characters are more important than actors, and that anyone was replaceable. Prowse has signed this way to declare himself as the one and only man in black.
