Clive Revill, the actor who voiced Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars’ sequel The Empire Strikes Back, has died after battling dementia. He was 94.
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The late actor’s daughter, Kate Revill, revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that he died on March 11 at a care facility in Sherman Oaks, California. Born in Wellington, New Zealand on Apr. 18, 1930, Revill was an accountant before going into stage scripts. He then became an actor in his 30s, making his Broadway debut in Mr. Pickwick.
Clive Revill earned two Tony Award nominations over the years. The first nomination was for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his role in Irma La Douce. The second nomination was for Best Actor for his performance in Oliver!
Years into his acting career, Revill took on a major role in the Star Wars franchise as he voiced the Emperor in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back.
He declared the famous line, “There is a great disturbance in the Force.”
Clive Revill also voiced other characters in the Star Wars video games, including Dodonna in Star Wars: X-Wing, an Imperial officer in Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, and three additional roles in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Revill retired from acting in 2016. He is survived by his daughter, Kate.
Clive Revill Once Opened Up About Playing Evil Emperor Palpatine in ‘Star Wars’
During a 2017 interview with the Dallas Observer, Clive Revill opened up about playing Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars.
“It’s just seven words, but those words encompass the absolute idea,” Revill said. “From this character who came from somewhere was the essence of that somewhere.”
He then said, “To this place, this lump of grubby rock where everyone’s just walking about and smashing each other, and it wasn’t what he thought could happen, and why did he do that? Because he had an idea. Anybody can throw rocks at each other or pull a trigger, but it didn’t drive him. It was there within him, and he used that thing to change the quintessence of the idea.”
Revill’s voice remained in the film for more than 20 years, until George Lucas reimagined the original trilogy to have a holographic projection of actor Ian McDiarmid, who played the Emperor in Return of the Jedi.