The “Lost” 2009 David Prowse Interview

The man behind Darth Vader’s helmet, in a never-before-published interview.

In 2009, I was preparing a sequel to my first book, How to Survive a Day Job. That long out-of-print 2005 motivational tome was self-published, and consisted of nearly 80 interviews with celebrities and other creative artists as to how they attained their dream careers.

Life got in the way as life sometimes does, and the intended sequel, You’re Too Smart to Go Down Stupid, was never completed. However, a host of interviews were completed for the new volume, and they will be presented exclusively on Medium.com for the first time.

First up, David Prowse, the man behind Darth Vader’s helmet and costume in the original Star Wars trilogy.

David was an elite weightlifter in the 1960s, winning the British heavyweight weightlifting championship three times from 1962–1964. Aside from the Star Wars films, David appeared in another of my personal all-time favorites: A Clockwork Orange. He was featured in numerous films and television programs, including 1967’s Casino Royale. David was well-known in the United Kingdom as the Green Cross Code Man, a superhero promoting road safety. A bit of trivia, which punctuates David’s immense pop-culture contributions, is that he was also a prominent trainer, working with Christopher Reeve for…