Star Wars Chewbacca Peter Mayhew

Peter Mayhew Star Wars Chewbacca

Peter Mayhew (born May 19, 1944) is an English actor known for playing the Wookiee Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies. His peak height was 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 m) tall.

Trade Mark

Chewbacca from the Star Wars films

Trivia

Prior to starring as Chewbacca in the Star Wars trilogy, he was an orderly at London’s King’s College Hospital.

Chewbacca won a Lifetime Acheivement award at the MTV Movie Awards.

Mayhew, like many actors connected with the Star Wars universe, makes frequent appearances at Sci-fi conventions. Although famous guests at these events normally make a charge for autographs, some actors connected with famous movies from the past make their living touring different conventions.

Peter Mayhew

Peter Mayhew

After getting the role of Chewbacca, Mayhew went to the zoo and began studying the movements and mannerisms of various large animals to incorporate into the character of Chewbacca.

Fell sick during the filming of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), which prompted director Irvin Kershner to bring in another extremely tall actor to fill in for him as Chewbacca. All the footage with the double was scrapped and re-shot after Mayhew recovered because Irvin Kershner found that the double’s body movements didn’t match Mayhew’s.

He had the option of either playing Darth Vader or Chewbacca, as did David Prowse. Mayhew chose Chewbacca because he wanted to play a hero, whilst David Prowse chose Vader because he wanted to play a villain.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) premiered on his 55th and 61st birthdays respectively. He appeared in the latter but not the former.

Became a naturalized U.S. citizen, along with 441 other people from 77 countries, in Arlington, Texas on October 17, 2005.

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