Kenny Baker played the lovable droid R2-D2 in the Star Wars films, achieving cult status and fans’ adulation without showing his face or speaking any lines.
The 3-foot 8-inch (1.1 metre) performer — a word he preferred to actor — inside the waste-bin-shaped costume has died at 81. Baker’s nephew and carer, Drew Myerscough, said he found Baker dead on Saturday at his home in Preston, northwest England.
Myerscough told Sky News that Baker had suffered years of breathing problems, “which he had borne very bravely.” He said the affection of Star Wars fans around the world “kept him going, without any doubt.”
“He was amazed that, even after 30-odd years, the fans still basically adored him,” Myerscough said.
Baker’s agent, Johnny Mans, confirmed his death. He said Baker was “one of the nicest guys you could ever wish to meet, and a fabulous and talented performer.”
Mark Hamill, the Star Wars series’ Luke Skywalker, tweeted: “Goodbye #KennyBaker A lifelong loyal friend-I loved his optimism & determination. He WAS the droid I was looking for!” — a reference to a famous line from the first film.
Actor Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in three Star Wars movies, tweeted: “So sorry to hear about this. It was lovely working with Kenny.”
Born to a music-loving family in the central England city of Birmingham on August 24, 1934, Baker started performing at 16 as part of a troupe called “Burton Lester’s Midgets.”
Baker said in 1985 that Burton had asked him “What can you do?’ I said I could roller skate, ride a bike and whistle. I joined them and did all that, and conjuring tricks, played drums and comedy routines as well.”
Baker later worked as a DJ and circus clown, and as half a comedy-musical duo called the Mini-Tones with Jack Purvis, who also appeared in the Star Wars films.
Fame came when he was cast as the actor inside R2-D2’s cylindrical robot costume in 1977’s Star Wars.
“I worked the levers,” he said. “They said, ‘You’ve got to do it; we can’t find anybody else. You’re small enough to get into it and you’re strong enough to be able to move it,’” he said in a video interview in Stockholm that he shared on his website. “I was a godsend to them, really.”
“The problem was we had to get someone inside it,” Star Wars art director Leslie Dilley, who helped design R2-D2, told The Los Angeles Times in 2007. “I eventually ended up with Kenny Baker, who was small with upper-body strength. Kenny didn’t want to do this job. He and his buddy were on a talent show on TV. ... I had to go around to his house and persuade him.”
Baker said he initially turned down the part. In an interview on his website, he said he told director George Lucas “I don’t want to be stuck in a robot, what for, for goodness sake?”
Eventually, he said he told Lucas, “I’ll help you out.”
Even though R2-D2’s dialogue amounted only to beeps and whistles, the droid and his lanky friend C-3PO became two of the series’ most beloved characters.
Baker returned for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and reprised the role in three prequels released between 1999 and 2005.
Despite their onscreen rapport, Baker and Anthony Daniels, who played the protocol droid C-3P0, weren’t close. Baker accused Daniels of being snobbish; Daniels was once quoted by Britain’s Daily Mirror as saying Baker “might as well be a bucket.”
A wheelchair-bound Baker attended the European premiere in London of last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in which he received a mention in the credits. “Unfortunately he was too ill to be part of the new Star Wars films,” his niece Abigail Shield told Sky News television. “But he was consulted by certain people.”
She had earlier told The Guardian newspaper: “He brought lots of happiness to people and we’ll be celebrating the fact that he was well loved throughout the world.
“We’re all very proud of what he achieved in his lifetime.”
Baker also appeared in films including The Elephant Man, Time Bandits, Willow and Labyrinth.
Baker’s wife Eileen died in 1993. The couple had two sons.
