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The July 1987 issue of Starlog Magazine featured an interview with Sebastian Shaw. It also had some great never-before-seen photos of Shaw.

Sebastian Shaw:
The Return of
Anakin Skywalker
Hidden beneath the ebony cloak & dark helmet of Darth Vader, there was the true father of a Jedi Knight, a Shakespearean actor with the soul of a poet.
By Adam Pirani

When you're looking for an actor to play a climactic moment in movie history, you don't choose just anybody. So, when the makers of Return of the Jedi were casting the role for Darth Vader's memorable unveiling, it was at Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company, one of the world's leading theater companies, where they found 82-year old Sebastian Shaw.

"I've no idea why they fixed on me," says Shaw, taking a break from his roles as Charles VI in Henry V and First Gravedigger in Hamlet at London's Barbican Theater. "The point was, they decided that they needed a very experienced actor to play that very difficult scene. It wasn't easy to bring off. And so they decided not to use David Prowse [who played Vader's costumed scenes] for it; they couldn't use James Earl Jones, that magnificent American actor [who voices Vader], because, quite frankly, Luke couldn't have a black daddy.

"So, they searched around. I don't know why they chose me.  I presume that the casting director had suggested various people, as they always do, and when I went up and talked to them, they liked what they saw.

"But they didn't, at the time, tell me what I was going to have to do, because they were being so careful.  I wasn't allowed to see that bit of the script until it was absolutely certain that I was going to play it, and that I had faithfully sworn that I wouldn't give the secret away."

Shaw's distinguished career in British theater and television hadn't stopped the actor from enjoying the first two episodes of George Lucas' Star Wars saga just like anybody else.  And he wanted to get involved, even if he didn't know what role they wanted him for. "I saw Star Wars when it was originally released, and of course, I was absolutely amazed at the brilliant techniques, which, in many ways, were revolutionary, something quite new," he says.  "In spite of all my years, I'm very fascinated with the way things progress, what is new, what is young, and so on, because you can't be an old stick-in-the-mud. So, I found a great delight in watching the Star Wars movies."

Interview Part 1 - Interview Part 2 - Interview Part 3

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