Memph, TN RIP Uncle Owen

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. -- The actor known by many as Luke Skywalker's uncle in Star Wars: A New Hope has died.

Phil Brown's wife said he died of pneumonia Thursday at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills.

He was 89.

Brown worked as an actor for more than 30 years, largely in London theaters and in such films as "Tropic of Cancer" and "Twilight's Last Gleaming."


But many remember him best for his brief role as the loving Uncle Owen who tries to give Skywalker a normal childhood and keep him from knowing his Jedi roots.

That role made him a popular figure at science fiction conventions when he returned to America in the 1990's after more than 40 years in London.

Brown had moved his family there in the 1950s after being blacklisted during the communist scare in the United States.

Goodbye Uncle Owen, we will miss you.