The Only Major Actors Still Alive From The Star Wars Original Trilogy
Perhaps no other film has shaped Hollywood like "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope" (or, as it was originally known, just "Star Wars") has since 1977, which is not bad for a movie whose crew regarded it as a joke during production. George Lucas' epic saga of space wizards, space fascists, and plucky everyday heroes long ago in a galaxy far, far away was ground-breaking in its VFX, yet its story looked to the past. Drawing from a myriad of sources across different cultures and genres, Lucas wove a fairy tale as elemental as any in its depiction of the eternal war between the forces of darkness and light.
Due to its success, the cast of "Star Wars" would forever be associated first and foremost with their roles in the film, sometimes to the chagrin of the actors who had led long and illustrious careers before that. For the likes of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, and David Prowse, that guaranteed a lifetime of professional opportunities, be they in the form of fan convention appearances, future projects of the "Star Wars" and non-"Star Wars" variety, or both. To be sure, many of these talented artists would form a legacy completely removed from anything to do with Jedi, stormtroopers, X-wings, Death Stars, Wookiees, and the like.
Over 46 years later, the surviving members of the "Star Wars" cast have only continued to work steadily well into their 70s and 80s, whether that means acting for the screen, performing on-stage, or reprising the "Star Wars" characters that have come to be treasured by multiple generations of viewers. Let's take a look and see what those who are still with us have gotten up to over the intervening decades since the original trilogy.
Harrison Ford (Han Solo)
In 2023, at the young age of 81, Harrison Ford reprised his role as Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr. one last time in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," having only just reprised Han Solo in the sequel trilogy a few years prior. The actor has become fabled for his curmudgeonly attitude during press interviews and his panel appearances at fan conventions, but that's also part of his charm. The fact that he has continued to play his most iconic characters for so long, well beyond the point when he might have needed to for his career's sake, is a testament to just how deeply he actually cares about the roles that made him famous.
When he isn't punching Nazis and shooting Imperials (or crashing planes in real-life), Ford has tackled memorable roles in films both big and small. His pre-"Star Wars" projects include classics like "The Conversation" and "American Graffiti," the latter of which was the breakout hit that gave Lucas the cred he needed to get his space opera off the ground. Ford would later star in Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner," a box office misfire turned sci-fi touchstone that would also bring Ford back for a legacy sequel several decades later. A few years after that, Ford picked up his first and, so far, only Oscar nod for his turn in Peter Weir's acclaimed crime drama "Witness."
By the time the '90s arrived, Ford was one of the biggest action stars on the planet and would defend that title up until the turn of the century. Since then, he's returned to his most revered franchises in-between showing just how much range he truly has in films as worlds apart as the Jackie Robinson memoir "42" and magical realist romance "The Age of Adaline." He's also currently starring on the Apple TV+ series "Shrinking," which many have hailed as a career-best perfomance.
Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker)
When offered the role of the Joker in the future Emmy-winning '90s hit "Batman: The Animated Series," Mark Hamill was understandably hesitant. Not just because he understood the baggage that comes with playing the Clown Prince of Crime in any medium but also because he had no idea if people would give his take on the Batman villain a fair shake free of pre-judgment based on his role as Luke in "Star Wars." Fortunately, he eventually said yes, and the world is all the better a place for it.
Portraying the Joker would allow Hamill to launch his voice acting career, which is still going strong 30 years later. His body of work is as stupefyingly diverse as it is long, with Hamill having lent his voice to animated shows and video games varying from '90s curiosities "Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa" and "Biker Mice From Mars" to franchises such as "Scooby-Doo," "Superman," "Spider-Man," "The Tick," "The Simpsons," "The Powerpuff Girls," "Avatar: The Last Airbender," "Metalocalypse," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," and so much more. And that's before touching on his live-action voice roles on celebrated shows like "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance" or his stint voicing Chucky in the 2019 "Child's Play."
Hamill's legendary status also makes it a special occasion every time he shows up in the flesh, be he playing "himself" in "The Big Bang Theory" or a vampire on "What We Do in the Shadows." However, it was Rian Johnson's "Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi" that gave Hamill the chance to showcase just how far he had come as an actor since his days whining about power converters as a young Luke, with Hamill delivering an emotionally rich performance as the prickly and disillusioned older iteration of the Jedi Master.
Anthony Daniels (C-3PO)
For as much as most of the "Star Wars" cast has left their mark outside of the franchise, there are those who've been happy to keep playing in Lucas' sandbox for as long and as often as they can. Such is the case with Anthony Daniels, the man behind everyone's favorite fussy, gold-plated protocol droid C-3PO. He's done a few things of note that aren't connected to "Star Wars," like when he voiced Legolas in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings." But for the most part, Daniels has spent the last five decades playing C-3PO in live-action films and TV series, animated shows, video games, theme park rides, and even TV documentaries about the making of "Star Wars."
And why shouldn't he? It's virtually impossible to imagine the expert in human-cyborg relations with anything other than Daniel's fretful voice coming out of him (and the odds of finding a suitable replacement are lower than 3,720 to 1). The actor's onscreen counterpart and his companion R2-D2 were viewers' guides throughout the trials and tribulations of The Skywalker Saga, making Daniels the only actor to appear in all nine films in the series. He even popped up in the spinoff film "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," serving as a vital link between the franchise's primary narrative threads and those involving the spinoff's unsung yet important and valiant heroes.
Following his recent appearance on "Ahsoka," it's unclear what the future holds for C-3PO (and, as such, Daniels). Then again, considering some of the scrapes we've seen the ever prim and proper droid get himself out of before, we should know better than to ever consider him down for the count — so long as Daniels is game to play him.
James Earl Jones (Darth Vader)
As robustly as Darth Vader's on-set actor David Prowse embodied the role physically, Lucas knew he needed someone who could project real menace and gravitas as the voice of the domineering Sith lord. He found precisely what he was looking for in James Earl Jones, who by then was already a couple of decades into his career as a distinguished veteran of the stage and screen. Thanks to the actor, Vader's modulated vocals would become one of the most readily identifiable voices in all of film history. One need not even quote one of his quintessential lines from "Star Wars" for those listening to recognize you're "doing the Vader voice."
Suffice it to say, though, to reduce Jones' career to his voice acting as Vader would be to do him a grave injustice. He's also the star of cold-stone film classics like "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (which marked his feature debut) and "Field of Dreams," as well as box office smash-hits like "Coming to America" and "The Hunt for the Red October." Then there's his other renowned voice role as the complete opposite of a malicious father — that of the noble Mufasa from "The Lion King."
Throughout his prolific film and TV career, Jones never stopped acting on the stage. From multiple Shakespeare productions to the Broadway premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Fences" to revivals of venerated plays like "The Iceman Cometh" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," Jones would still be a superstar even if he had never done a Star War in the first place. Now in his 90s, Jones has officially stepped away from voicing Vader. His retirement is well-deserved.