Kenneth George Baker (24 August 1934 â 13 August 2016) was an English actor, comedian and musician. He portrayed the character R2-D2 in the Star Wars franchise and also appeared in The Elephant Man, Time Bandits, Willow, Flash Gordon, Amadeus and Labyrinth.
Baker was born and educated in Birmingham, West Midlands, and at a boarding school in Kent. He was the son of Ethel (1906âÂÂ1990), a pianist and dress maker, and Harold Baker (1908âÂÂ1949), an artist, musician and draughtsman. He went to live with his father, stepmother, and half-sister in Hastings, Sussex.
Due to his dwarfism, Baker stood as an adult. Both his parents were of average height.
In 1951, Baker was approached on the street by a woman who invited him to join John Lester's theatrical troupe of little people. This was his first taste of show business. Later, he joined a circus for a brief time, learned to ice skate and appeared in many ice shows. He formed a successful comedy act called The Mini Tones with entertainer Jack Purvis and played in nightclubs.
While working with Purvis and the Minitones, Baker was selected by George Lucas to operate the robot ("droid") R2-D2 in the fantasy feature film Star Wars, released in 1977. Baker recalled that he initially turned down the role, concerned about breaking up the Minitones partnership when the duo had reached the final on the British television talent show Opportunity Knocks. On 22 March 1976, Baker's first day of filming took place at Tunisia which provided the setting for Tatooine. He "wore a harness that secured the R2-D2 unit to his body" and controlled turning the head, walk or light up whenever it was required. His costume weighed about 80 pounds and he also made his character wobble. There was an opaque window and although Baker could not see much at all, he insisted he "didn't need to, as long as [he] could see who [he] was supposed to be reacting to." A mechanical R2-D2 was built for some scenes which required the droid to roll along on three legs. The success of Star Wars led to more films rounding out the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy which continued Baker's association with his character and the franchise. Prior to the release Baker like with the cast and crew did not expect the film to be a success.
Baker appears as R2-D2 in six of the episodic theatrical Star Wars films, and played an additional role in 1983's Return of the Jedi as Paploo, the ewok who steals an Imperial speeder bike. He was originally due to play the ewok named Wicket, but he fell ill and that role was handed over to Warwick Davis. Baker was featured in the 2004 documentary film, '.
Prior to the beginning of filming on ' in 1997, fans campaigned on the Internet to retain Baker as R2-D2; George Lucas replied that the actor would reprise the role. Baker operated R2-D2 for scenes which did not require radio-controlled versions of the character. While some of the younger versions of established characters were portrayed by new cast members, Baker, Anthony Daniels, Frank Oz and Ian McDiarmid were the only actors from the original trilogy to reprise their roles. The film was released to cinemas in May 1999. As technology grew and the need to have Baker in the suit decreased over time, he acted sporadically in the prequel trilogy. He requested to appear in one scene for ' "for old time's sake." Baker and Daniels filmed the one scene at Ealing Studios; R2-D2 and C-3PO attending Anakin and Padme's secret wedding on Naboo. Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman had already filmed their scene at Lake Como, Italy so Baker's and Daniels' scene was later inserted. The one scene was the last day of filming for Attack of Clones.
By time the film was released to cinemas in May 2002, work had begun on the last film of the prequel trilogy. On 23 April 2003, it was announced on the Star Wars website that Baker would reprise his role in ', the last instalment of the prequel trilogy and last film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox. Two of his co-stars, Daniels and Peter Mayhew from the original trilogy were also announced to be reprising their roles as C-3PO and Chewbacca respectively.
Following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm in October 2012, Baker continued his Star Wars association with the R2-D2 character in ', which was released on 18 December 2015 in North America. He was going to be a member of the cast, but he served as consultant for the character instead. In November 2015, it was confirmed that Jimmy Vee was cast as R2-D2 in ', replacing Baker. Baker attended several conventions as part of Star Wars Celebration as a guest. Celebration Europe III in July 2016 marked his last appearance at Celebration.
Daniels acknowledged Baker's enthusiasm saying his co-star "adored his association with Star Wars and Artoo and the fans." However, they both admitted their relationship did not match their on-screen relationship.
Baker's other films include The Elephant Man, Time Bandits (also with Jack Purvis), Willow (also with Purvis and Warwick Davis), Flash Gordon, Amadeus and Jim Henson's Labyrinth.
On television, he appeared in the British medical drama Casualty. He also had a part in the BBC production of The Chronicles of Narnia. In the late 1990s, Baker launched a brief comedy career. He played Casanova in the 1993 movie UFO.
In November 2009, his biography, From Tiny Acorns: The Kenny Baker Story, was written with Ken Mills and published by Writestuff Autographs.
Baker resided in Preston, Lancashire. He was married to actress Eileen Baker (who co-starred with him in the 1977 film Wombling Free) from 1970 until she died in 1993. Although Eileen also had dwarfism, their two children did not inherit their parents' dwarfism.
Baker was invited to attend the premiere of ' in Los Angeles in December 2015, but was too ill to travel to the US. He had been living with a lung condition for years. Instead, Baker attended the film's premiere in London.
Baker died on 13 August 2016, 11 days shy of his 82nd birthday. His funeral was held at the Park Cemetery and Crematorium in Lytham St Annes on 24 August 2016.
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