Peter William Mayhew (19 May 1944 – 30 April 2019) was a British-American actor. He was best known for portraying Chewbacca in the Star Wars film series. He played the character in all of his live-action appearances from the 1977 original to 2015's The Force Awakens before his retirement from the role. He also voiced the character in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and portrayed him in some television shows, including The Muppet Show.
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Early life
Peter Mayhew was born on 19 May 1944, in Barnes, Surrey. At the age of 8, he was diagnosed with gigantism. Mayhew is often erroneously reported as having a genetic tissue disorder called Marfan syndrome; however, his family has clarified that Mayhew suffered from pituitary gigantism. His peak height was 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 m).
Career
Early work
Mayhew gained his first acting job when the producers of Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) discovered him from a photograph in a newspaper article about men with large feet, and cast him in the role of the Minoton.
Star Wars
Mayhew played Chewbacca in five Star Wars films of the Skywalker saga: the original trilogy (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi), Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
When casting the original Star Wars (1977), director George Lucas needed a tall actor who could fit the role of the hairy alien Chewbacca. He originally had in mind 6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m) bodybuilder David Prowse, but Prowse chose to play Darth Vader. This led Lucas to cast Mayhew, who was working as a hospital orderly in the emergency department at Mayday University Hospital in Surrey. He became aware of a casting call for Star Wars which was filming at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire. Mayhew decided to visit Lucas to find out more about the role. He said, "George came into the office, and at that time I'd been sitting down on a chair, so I stood up and his eyes almost popped out of his head". Afterwards Mayhew had a costume fitting. The 7-foot-3-inch (2.21 m) tall actor was immediately cast as Chewbacca after he stood up to greet Lucas. Mayhew continued working as an orderly at the same hospital in between filming the original Star Wars trilogy. The success and cultural impact of Star Wars led to further sequels rounding out the original trilogy, two more trilogies and television shows which continued Mayhew's association with his character and the franchise for the next decades.
Mayhew modelled his performance of Chewbacca after researching the behaviour of bears, monkeys and gorillas he saw at London Zoo. Lucas said Mayhew was "the closest any human being could be to a Wookiee: big heart, gentle nature and I learnt to always let him win". The character did not have any lines, the sounds he made being derived from sound recordings of animal noises.
The release of Star Wars, the first film in the series and fourth chapter of the Skywalker saga, took place in 1977 and received positive reviews. He filmed several scenes for the original trilogy at Elstree Studios. Mayhew starred in The Empire Strikes Back; the film received positive reviews and was the highest-grossing film of the year. Ever since its release and even after a reassessment, it is considered to be the best film in the Star Wars series. He also appeared in the 1980 television documentary special, SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back. Although 1983's Return of the Jedi marked the end of the original trilogy, some back stories George Lucas created would generate production and filming of the prequel trilogy in the 1990s and eventually contribute to Mayhew's reprisal. The actor shared his memories of his costume and experience on the first three films in the 2004 documentary film, Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy. The documentary was included in the first DVD release of the original trilogy in September 2004.
Other work
Outside Star Wars, Mayhew appeared in the 1978 horror film Terror, directed by Norman J. Warren. In the English version of Dragon Ball GT: A Hero's Legacy, he provided the voice for Susha. He also appeared in Yesterday Was a Lie.
Books
Mayhew wrote two books for younger audiences: Growing Up Giant, which explains that being different is a strength instead of a weakness, and the anti-bullying book for children My Favorite Giant.
Personal life
Mayhew moved to Wheathead Lane, Keighley, West Yorkshire, in 1987. He invested in and worked at a timber yard just over the City of Bradford border in South Craven, North Yorkshire. He became a supporter of Keighley Rugby Union Football Club.
Mayhew married Mary Angelique "Angie" Luker (née Cigainero), a native of Texas, in 1999. The two lived in Boyd, Texas, United States, where he had moved to in 2000. Peter was the stepfather to Mary's three children. It was reported that his wife would head his namesake charity, the Peter Mayhew Foundation.
Mayhew became a naturalised citizen of the United States in 2005 at a ceremony in Arlington, Texas. In an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he joked that he did not get a medal at this ceremony either, a reference to the closing scene in Star Wars during which Luke Skywalker and Han Solo get medals, but Chewbacca does not. Mayhew noted in an MTV interview that although Chewbacca does not get a medal in the film, he does have the last line of dialogue, when he roars.
Mayhew underwent double knee replacement surgery in 2013, having been a full-time wheelchair user for the previous two years and still largely reliant on it at the time of filming The Force Awakens. In July 2018, Mayhew announced via Twitter that he had successfully undergone unspecified spinal surgery to improve his mobility, and was recovering.
Death and tributes
Mayhew died of a heart attack on 30 April 2019, at his home in Boyd, Texas, at age 74. He was buried in Reno, Parker County, Texas, in Azleland Memorial Park and Mausoleum.
Harrison Ford praised Mayhew for his "great dignity and noble character". Mark Hamill called Mayhew "the gentlest of giants."
Anthony Daniels detailed his recollections about working with Mayhew on the original trilogy, the Star Wars Holiday Special and television shows and their reunion in The Force Awakens in his 2019 memoirs, I Am C-3PO: The Inside Story.