Saga The Original Actor to Play The Emperor

It's no secret that the casting of Ian Mcdiarmid was coincidence. The original actor to play the emperor supposedly looked very elderly:

McDiarmid says a much older actor was supposed to play the Emperor — who doesn't look a day over 120 — but he couldn't take the yellow contact lenses that were a necessary creepy part of the character's look. "His eyes just wouldn't support them and they couldn't insure him."

So, my questions are. Does anyone know who this mystery actor was? Does anyone have pictures of what the original emperor looked like?

I'm so curious as to what the original emperor was supposed to look like and how he differs from the current one.

 

Sylvester Stallone.

 

Come on .

Im guessing no one really has the answer to this, do they?

 

there's a topic about this very thing in the ot forum.

 

Oh that's fascinating. Can you possibly link it? I'm unable to find this thread.

 

Marjorie Eaton - The Original Emperor | Jedi Council Forums

 

That isn't quite the questin Formidious is posing

Before McDiarmid was cast, there was supposed to be someone else entirely new to play Palpatine in ROTJ, but the other actor had trouble with the costume, as was stated

Except we don't know who this is, of course

 

Peter O'Toole?

 

i know it's here somewhere. i just saw it recently.

 

Alan Webb is the answer you seek.

*bows*


Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/10341365/Return-of-the-Jedi-behind-the-scenes.html

Originally, the role of the evil Emperor was to be played by veteran British actor Alan Webb. “Alan got snowed in [as filming was about to commence] and got the flu," director Richard Marquand said. “And then finally he wrote me a letter saying he was very sorry, but he felt the part was too big for him and he would hate to let us all down.” It wasn’t the first big sci-fi role that Webb had turned down. He had been approached by the BBC to play the lead in Doctor Who in 1963, but had declined. He died before Jedi was released, in June 1982.

 

So, this guy:

 

Thank you for clearing that up!

This is fantastic! I had no idea it was this guy. Looking at his pictures, he seems like he could've been a fantastic emperor.

 

apparently, this is a picture of Alan Webb as the emperor: http://www.photonesta.com/alan-webb-actor-emperor.html

Can't see anything and I doubt the authenticity of it as well.

 

Not sure when the recasting happened exactly, so it's possible that some scenes had him in. I'll check screenshots, but since there's been varying accounts of when he dropped out and no pictures of him on set, I don't think any scenes were actually filmed.

 

I remember him now. Couldn't figure out in which film I had seen this face actually.

He played the "Chevalier de Rivarol" in Ridley Scott's awesome first movie The Duellists (1977).

However, I just can't imagine the Emperor played by someone else than Ian McDiarmid. Just can't...

Ian IS the Emperor and the Emperor IS Ian !!!

I can't either...

With that chilling voice of his...