Baker rose to fame in 1977 as R2-D2 in the first Star Wars, the speechless droid “counterpart” to the chatty C-3PO.
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Lucas’ sentiment was reflected by many others who worked with or admired Baker, including actor Warwick Davis. Baker’s nephew and carer, Drew Myerscough, said he found Baker dead Saturday at his home in Preston, northwest England.
Actor Rahul Kohli said: “You brought life to one of my favourite characters, thank you Kenny Baker”. “He was a one-off”.
Film studio 20th Century Fox hailed Baker as “the heart and soul of R2-D2”. I joined them and did all that, and conjuring tricks, played drums and comedy routines as well’.
He is survived by two children.
Like Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, Anthony Daniels, or even James Earl Jones in a way, the British-born Baker became a household name to the enormous legions of Star Wars fans, who span nearly 45 years of generational adoration for the franchise by donning the instantly recognizable R2-D2 costume.
In addition to Hamill’s personal message, his Twitter feed is full of messages and photos of Kenny Baker, with some throwbacks that go all the way back to 1977.
Mr Mans said he knew Baker since the 1960s when they were both club entertainers. He began performing at the age of 16 with a troupe called “Burton Lester’s Midgets”. Former co-star Ewan McGregor tweeted, “It was lovely working with Kenny”.
But he relented: “I said, ‘I’ll help you out, I’ll do you a favor.’ He said, ‘You’ve got to do it”. “I said, ‘I don’t want to be stuck in a robot, what for, for goodness sake'”.
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“He did a turn at a nursing home about 15 years ago and on the way home in the auto, he told me that going into a nursing home was his ultimate fear”. Even though he was a robot, R2-D2 quickly became one of the most, well, human characters in the films. Baker also starred in Time Bandits, The Elephant Man and Flash Gordon. He was married to the actress Eileen Baker from 1970 until her death in 1993.
