Star Wars Icon Kenny Baker Dies, R2-D2 Actor Was 81

Kenny Baker, the British actor who played R2-D2 in the first six ‘Star Wars’ films, has died at the age of 81-years-old. Baker was discovered on Saturday morning by one of his nephews, who had been looking after him as he’d been suffering from a long illness.

3 ft 8 in tall, Baker was hired to portray R2-D2 in ‘Star Wars: A New Hop’ back in 1976 after originally getting his first taste of show business working in a theatrical troupe when he was just 16. As R2-D2, Baker manoeuvred the droid during filming, which since it was filmed in Tunisia saw him subjected to extreme temperatures.

The huge success of the 1977 film led to Baker reprising the role in 1980’s ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, 1983’s ‘Return Of The Jedi’, and the prequels, too, starting with 1999’s ‘The Phantom Menace’, which was followed by 2002’s ‘Attack Of The Clones’ and 2005’s ‘Revenge Of The Sith’. Baker also worked as a consultant on the character on ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’.

While Baker will always be primarily associated with ‘Star Wars’, he also appeared in ‘Flash Gordon’, ‘The Elephant Man’, ‘Time Bandits’, ‘The Goonies’, and ‘Amadeus’, too.

Speaking to the Guardian, Kenny Baker’s niece Abigail Shield revealed that her uncle had been ill for several years, explaining, “It was expected, but it’s sad nonetheless … He was very ill for the last few years so we had been expecting it … He had problems with his lungs and was often in a wheelchair. He was very poorly for a long time.”

“He was asked to go out to LA for the new ‘Star Wars’ premiere but he was told he was too ill to travel. Luckily he did manage to meet George Lucas again when he came to Manchester.”

Baker met his wife Eileen after she spotted him on television during an appearance on Michael Parkinson’s chat show. She had told him that she was a little person, too, and would like to meet him. Shield admitted, “They got married soon after,” before then tragically adding, “Sadly she died of epilepsy about 20 years ago.”

But Shields summed up the impact of Baker and his work, when she declared, “He had a very long and fulfilled life. 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.”

Hear, hear.

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[Image via Lucasfilm]