PETER MAYHEW

(19 May 1945 - 30 April 2019)

The British actor Peter Mayhew, who has died aged 74 from a heart attack, was a hospital porter before being discovered by film producer Charles Schneer who was looking for a tall actor to play Minoton in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. At seven foot three inches tall, Mayhew fitted the bill and was later asked to play Chewbacca, a big hairy but friendly Wookiee monster in the first Star Wars film (1977). For the actor this part changed his life and for the next 38 years he mostly played the same role in five of the main Star Wars films plus appearances in various television spin-offs. He also played Chewbacca in other TV shows such as Donnie and Marie, The Muppet Show, The Late Show with David Letterman and Glee, as well as other parts in other series including a giant in Hazell, The Tall Knight in Dark Towers and various roles in The Kenny Everett Show. While much of his film career was with Star Wars, he was also cast in a few other movies including the role of The Mechanic in David McGillivray’s screenplay for Terror, a Dead Man in Yesterday Was a Lie and Uncle Clyde in Killer Ink, his last appearance (in 2016). Peter Mayhew married his wife Angelique in 1999 and they have three children. They lived in Texas where Mayhew was a naturalised US citizen from 2005. He became a businessman and wrote two children’s books about giants.

MICHAEL DARVELL