A Volcano Stopped The Voice And Body Of Star Wars' Darth Vader From Finally Meeting
Prior to his work on "Star Wars" in 1977, actor and bodybuilder David Prowse had made a career playing goons, creatures, and bodyguards in high-profile movies. Prowse played Frankenstien's monster in the Hammer film "The Horror of Frankenstein," a role he had already played briefly in the 1967 version of "Casino Royale." He played a comedic torturer in "Carry On, Henry," the 21st "Carry On" movie. Most visibly, Prowse played the muscular bodyguard for the injured old Frank (Patrick Magee) in Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange." He was the one who got to cradle Malcolm McDowell like a baby. This was easy for Prowse, who stood six-foot-six.
The actor also played Darth Vader "Star Wars," "The Star Wars Holiday Special," "The Empire Strikes Back," and "Return of the Jedi" ... but only in the scenes wherein Darth Vader wore a mask. In "Jedi," when Vader finally revealed his face, Prowse was replaced by actor Sebastian Shaw. Famously, Prowse was also not permitted to use his own voice. "Star Wars" director George Lucas wasn't intimidated enough by Prowse's West Country accent and instead hired the bass-voiced American James Earl Jones to provide Darth Vader's vocals. Prowse has admitted to being a little peeved that neither his face nor his voice can be seen in his "Star Wars" movies.
Notably, Prowse and Jones, the two actors most associated with Darth Vader, didn't meet in person for decades. Prowse lived in London and Bristol, while Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi. Back in 2011, Prowse was interviewed by WhatCulture, and he recalled a time when both actors had rare open spots on their busy calendars, and would both happen to be within driving distance of each other. Sadly, the 2010 volcanic eruptions at Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland grounded all flights from the UK and prevented them from meeting ... at least for a while.
The 2010 volcanic eruptions at Eyjafjallajökull
For those who don't recall, the Eyjafjallajökull ice cap in southern Iceland exploded in 2010, spreading ash over a large northern portion of the globe. The ash raised a lot of concerns about air travel, with many fearing that the volcanic particles would choke up plane engines. There was a mass grounding all throughout Europe, the largest since World War II. The shutdown lasted eight days, stranding millions of travelers ... including James Earl Jones (who thought his work voicing Darth Vader was more like special effects than actual acting).
Prowse and Jones, both hardworking actors, would only occasionally drift into each other's orbits. Sometimes Jones would be in England for a stage performance, while Prowse would sometimes go to New York for various awards, but the two never found themselves in the same room at the same time. Odd that they should never have attended a sci-fi convention together. Prowse recalled one of their more recent near-misses like this:
"It's a well known fact I have never met the guy. I tried very hard to meet him when he was over in London last year doing a production ['Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'] in the West End. We had arranged to meet, but it was during the ash cloud fiasco and I got a call from his son to say the ash cloud had lifted so he had to take the next available flight back to New York. So I didn't get to see him."
The "ash cloud fiasco" was simply poorly timed. One might think that if Jones had been delayed by the Eyjafjallajökull event then he would have a little extra time to have a dinner with his fellow Darth Vader actor, but evidently, Jones needed to get back to New York as soon as possible.
Dinner in Jersey
Luckily, a window of opportunity opened shortly thereafter. Prowse recalled:
"[A] couple of weeks later I got a call 'Hello, it's James Earl Jones here. I am in New York, apologies for not meeting you. If you ever come to New York we must meet up.' So I said, 'Well actually I am going to New Jersey in late October to receive an award with the Oldtime Barbell Strong Men Association.' And he said, 'Well let's have a get together, let's have dinner.' So we're trying to make an arrangement."
Remember that Prowse is an experienced bodybuilder, and lifted for many decades. Prowse was even astonished to find that his bodybuilding was able to stave off many symptoms of his lifelong arthritis. The above interview was conducted in 2011, and at that time, Prowse and Jones hadn't yet met.
Luckily for both of them, the arrangement Prowse described finally went off without a hitch and the two men were finally able to dine in 2012; he later mentioned the meeting in several convention appearances. Prowse stepped out of the limelight in 2016 for health reasons: He had already battled prostate cancer, and while it had gone into remission, other unannounced health maladies arose. Prowse passed away in 2020 at the age of 85. James Earl Jones, meanwhile, is still active at 93, having voiced Darth Vader in 2016's "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story." Welsh kickboxer and stuntman Spencer Wilding took over Prowse's role in that film.