David Charles Prowse, MBE (born 1 July 1935) is an English bodybuilder, weightlifter and character actor in British film and television. Worldwide, he is best known for physically portraying Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. Prior to his role as Vader, Prowse had established himself as a prominent figure in British culture as the first Green Cross Code man, a character used in British road safety advertising aimed at children.Prowse played the physical form of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. Prowse spoke the dialogue during filming, but Lucas claimed he wanted a "darker voice"—a deeper, more reverberating voice, and had James Earl Jones provide the voice instead, deeming Prowse's West Country accent unsuitable for the character. Prowse claims he was originally told that he would be seen and heard at the end of Return of the Jedi when Vader's mask was removed. Instead, actor Sebastian Shaw was used. In the 2004 documentary Empire of Dreams, actress Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original trilogy films, quipped that they nicknamed Prowse "Darth Farmer" because of his un-intimidating accent. In the lightsaber fight scenes between Vader and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Prowse, who wasn't a very skilled swordsman (he kept breaking the poles that stood in for the lightsabers), was replaced by the scene's fight-choreographer, the stuntman and fencing coach Bob Anderson. Prowse felt sidelined by Anderson during the making of Return of the Jedi in particular, and claims that he was only able to persuade director Richard Marquand that he should be the one to throw the Emperor off the balcony after Marquand had tried and failed for a week to film the scene successfully without him. Wikipedia
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