David Prowse was the original Darth Vader and had an incredible career

David Prowse sadly passed away at 85 years old. Bowington Management revealed the heart breaking news on twitter:

“It's with great regret and heart-wrenching sadness for us and million of fans around the world, to announce that our client DAVE PROWSE has passed away at the age of 85.”

The legendary actor was chosen by George Lucas during the audition for the roles of Darth Vader and Chewbacca due to his athletic physique, with the film producer giving him a choice between the two roles.

The actor, born in Bristol in 1935 in the United Kingdom, ended up choosing Darth Vader's role and when asked why he replied, "because everyone remembers the villain".

Dave, a former weightlifting athlete, starred in several roles as a monster and villain.

After a great and very long career, he decided to retire. The year was 2017 and Dave made his last on-screen appearance with a starring role in a music video from Welsh rock musician Jayce Lewis.

The man who played the iconic villain in the original Star Wars trilogy starred in his final ever production after retiring from all professional and public appearances, due to illness.

Jason Charles Lewis known professionally as Jayce Lewis is a Welsh musician from South Wales who entered the music industry as a percussionist. Previously employed as a fabricator and welder, Lewis's prominence began in late 2009 following the self-produced single titled "Icon" which achieved a top-10 chart position alongside VH1 and MTV features. With strong industrial music and rock influences, his music has been defined as alternative rock with electronica influences. Lewis has collaborated with acts such as Queen and the legendary Gary Numan, for whom Lewis has been a supporting act on the road on three different occasions.

With his long-time friend and promoter David Prowse as manager, Lewis formed a live touring band with a group of friends, and designed and manufactured his own concert set production.

David Prowse was an active manager of Jayce from 2007 to 2010. In 2009, Prowse agreed to handle all PR for Lewis following a long term friendship since 2001.

On the first of October 2015, the two filmed a mini-documentary, The Force's Mouth, a short studio tutorial video demonstrating a recording process with Prowse and effecting his voice as the famous villain Darth Vader, a welcomed piece of film by the Star Wars community after 37 years of debate about the voice casting choices of the original production. Prowse and Lewis were close friends and worked with each other for over 15 years.

In an interview in 2007 with the online magazine The Void, David explained how he became a music manager. At the time he said:

“The drummer Jayce Lewis came to see me at a sci-fi convention down in Newport and we got on well. We did another convention in Cardiff and he turned up again and told me his mother would like to invite me to dinner. I never go to things like that, but I made an exception and when I went to his house it was like a shrine to Star Wars. Then it transpired that he was in this group Losing Sun. I asked him what they were doing for publicity and he said nothing. They just turn up and do their bit. So I offered him my help.”

When asked about how active his role as a manager was, Prowse explained all the details in an interview with The Void:

“The first thing I did was employ a publicity agent, the one that did the publicity for Celebration Europe, one of the most successful Star Wars conventions I’ve ever been to. Now we’ve got several people that want to act as our record distributor, the CD is finished and we’re going to do a DVD to accompany it.”

When asked about his favorite metal band, Prowse didn’t hold back and said:

“That German one. The biggest one in the world. Ramm stein! I think they’re phenomenal. I could watch them all day.”

About the fact that Dave Prowse chose “Shields”, one of Jayce’s music videos, to make his final on screen public appearance, Jayce described the experience as something that he never ever dreamt of:

“It’s a weird feeling as it’s Dave’s final appearance and a very poignant moment for me. If you had told me as a kid that Darth Vader’s last appearance would be in a music video of mine I wouldn’t have believed you.”

In the video for the song “Shields”, Prowse plays a menacing government chief in charge of a secret experiment which opens a portal to another world and unleashes energy which he controls. That energy includes Jayce, who struggles to free himself from the tyranny of his oppressor.

Dave shared additional details about his professional relationship with Jayce:

“Me and Jayce have been planning to work together in a music video for years and finally he did one that made sense for me.
“I won’t be doing anymore on screen work after this, so I guess it makes this video a little something extra for the fans. I’m in long admiration of Jayce and his work, we make a good team. May the force be with us!”

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