Kenny Baker

Kenny Baker portrayed cheeky astromech droid R2-D2 in the original ‘Star Wars’ films, bringing the robot to life from inside the prop.

Baker had a successful movie career appearing in films such as ‘The Elephant Man’, ‘Time Bandits’, ‘Willow’, ‘Flash Gordon’, ‘Amadeus' and 'Labyrinth’.

Baker continued his association with the R2-D2 character with the first sequel 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, which was released in 2015. He was going to be a member of the cast, but he served as consultant for the character instead. In November 2015, it was confirmed that Jimmy Vee replaced Baker as R2-D2 in ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi.’

Baker died in August 2016, 11 days before his 82nd birthday, following a brief illness.