Improv master

Given he was a comedy genius - appearing in some of the biggest and best comedy shows and movies of the 1980s like Little Shop of Horrors - Rick Moranis had no difficulty bringing his own unique humour to Spaceballs.

The actor - who played Dark Helmet - had improvised the erotic doll play scene, including the “your helmet is so big” line.

George Wyner - who portrayed Colonel Sandurz - said: “Rick would try and break me up just before we would do a take, but he would drop the visor.

“So he could laugh his little tuchus off, and no one knew. And I'm ruining the take, because I'm laughing. And all I see are his little knees shaking a little bit.”

Moranis later revealed he had improvised the entire scene, which did not appear in the script at all.

He said: “What I remember is not feeling that well that day. I think I had a fever. I wasn’t at the top of my game, but somehow was able to come up with that.

“George was so fantastic in that scene. His performance makes the movie. The intensity he creates is what allowed me to be as broad as I needed to be walking around in that outfit.”