‘Star Wars’ David Prowse Retires From In-Home Autograph Signings

David Prowse, who served as the physical actor for Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, will no longer perform private autograph signings, his agency announced.

“Dave’s family have decided that due to his ongoing health issues all private home signings will now come to an end. There will be no further bookings made,” Alliance Agents wrote on Facebook Wednesday.

“They ask that the autograph community respect their decision and their privacy and do not call them at home. Dave has been signing autographs for over 40 years. Sadly now it has become a difficult task for him, so the time has now come to stop.”

Prowse revealed his battle with dementia in 2014.

The 83-year-old actor retired from convention appearances at the end of 2017, citing failing health. A former bodybuilder, Prowse famously filled out the towering and threatening figure of Darth Vader in the iconic Star Wars saga between 1977 and 1983, where the Sith Lord was given his booming voice by actor James Earl Jones.

Prowse and producers Lucasfilm, now owned by Disney, have long had a strained relationship: he said previously he was “cut out” from Star Wars and suggested contractual issues prevented him from making residual profits on Return of the Jedi.

“I get these occasional letters from Lucasfilm saying that we regret to inform you that as Return of the Jedi has never gone into profit, we’ve got nothing to send you. Now here we’re talking about one of the biggest releases of all time,” Prowse told Equality Magazine in 2015.

“I don’t want to look like I’m bitching about it, but on the other hand, if there’s a pot of gold somewhere that I ought to be having a share of, I would like to see it.”

In 2016, he told Radio Times it would have been “nice” if he were offered to again don the Darth Vader suit in Rogue One — Spencer Wilding and Daniel Naprous filled out the physical suit in the prequel to A New Hope, with Jones again lending his voice — because Prowse got “loads and loads of requests…to do loads of personal appearances, both as myself and him.”

Those comments came after he told The Sun in 2015 no one from Disney-Lucasfilm reached out to him about boarding franchise revival Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

“No one bothered to contact me about the new movie and to be honest I don’t care. I don’t even own Darth Vader’s mask anymore,” he said. “Those behind the film cut me out and have continued to ignore me for years. So do I have any interest in watching the new movie? No, I don’t.”

The Skywalker saga comes to its conclusion with the J.J. Abrams-directed Star Wars: Episode IX, out December 20, 2019.