That guy there? That's Anthony Daniels. You might know the head he's holding better since it's the face he's largely shown the world for the past four and a half decades. Since 1977, Daniels has played C-3PO in every major (and a ton of minor) Star Wars productions both on the big and little screens. He's been the character's voice in animated features and series and on the radio as well. There probably isn't a single actor in history who has parlayed a single character into such long term success.
Daniels doesn't seem to have gone the route of many actors before him who came to resent being so thoroughly identified with a character. While actors like Sean Connery, Adam West and George Reeves fought long and hard to escape the roles that made them famous, a quick look at Anthony Daniels' IMDB profile shows 82 acting credits with 50 or so of those being portrayals of C-3PO, with at least one currently in production. Clearly, Daniels recognized his good fortune early on and learned to surf rather than fight the tide.
There's no particular point to this post. I just happened to read that the LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special was soon to air and that got me thinking about original Star Wars Holiday Special. Daniels had a hand in that too, naturally and is reprising his role in the LEGO version this week. All that got me thinking about the franchise's longevity. That got me thinking about how the original actors have moved on or passed on over the years, yet there's Daniels still Master Luke-ing his way to a paycheck and more fan love in this latest installment.
I think it's not only remarkable but admirable that Daniels has so thoroughly and enthusiastically embraced a role that so easily could have been recast early on. While it's tough to picture anyone else's voice as the character these days, I'm pretty certain that if they'd needed to put another actor in Daniel's place after the first trilogy completed, not much fuss would have been raised. Instead, Daniels voiced the character in a cartoon series (Droids) in the 80s and did a ton of comedy cameos, radio work and other tv spots as the character. When the prequels finally got going, he was right there at the very beginning and just kept on going.
The guy is a serious actor who could (and still occasionally does) play serious roles in prestigious productions but he has always made himself available to play Goldenrod and do the fan conventions, talk shows and pressers that such a high profile role demands.
Like I say, no particular point to all this. Just a post that reflects an admiration for a man who does something really well. Long may the Force be with him.
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