Who played the Emperor in ESB?

Well, I already know that Clive Revill (the Rebel General on Hot, right?) did the voice for the Emperor...but who actually PLAYED the Emperor? Was it this "old woman" I keep hearing about? Or did Revill don the hood and make-up as well?

I've also heard people suggest that none other than Alec Guiness could have spoken the Emperor's dialouge. I must admit, it does kind of sound like an "evil Obi-Wan Kenobi"...in a way.

I'd just like to get my facts straight on this one for once.

 

From an Ian McDiarmid interview:
The makeup was very carefully explained to me. In fact, it was in photos of the Emperor from The Empire Strikes Back, which wasn't me," he explains. "That Emperor was a combination of things -- an old New York actress, some mask materials and Clive Revill's voice, not mine.

Some Old New-York actress played Palpatine. Nobody knows her name. Perhaps it'll be revealed in the "Empire of Dreams" documentary?

Anyway, it's Ian McDiarmid who'll play the ESB Palpatine on the DVD's, just the way it has to be.

MonkeyWoman is dead.

 

Soon this will be a moot point. Ian McDiarmid IS the Emperor in TESB.

 

Where did you get the idea Clive Revill
played a rebel general?

He played the Emperor in the one scene
with Vader.

 

And the reason everyone calls her the Monkey Lady is that the eyes of a chimpanzee were superimposed over her own.

 

Only Clive Revill was credited as the Emperor in the film. The IMDB correctly credits him only for the voice, but does not credit who actually played the Emperor.

Clive Revill did the voice of Jan Dodonna (Rebel General) in the original "X-Wing" PC Game -- probably where you're getting the rebel general thing from.

[unrelated factoid]
Interestingly enough, the voice of Luke in X-Wing was the same person who did the voice of Vader in the "Dark Forces" PC game and the voice of Vader in the extended "Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival" sequence in The Empire Strikes Back special Edition (nope, it was't James Earl Jones. See, you thought there was something not right bout that voice, didn't you? ). That guy is C. Andrew Nelson, a digital point and rotoscope artist for ILM.
[/unrelated factoid]

 

WRONG gonktacular!!!

Dearie me, you must check your facts before you make sweeping statements....

James Earl Jones DID voice the added line in ESB: SE

How do I know ? Ben Burt has confirmed it in interviews.

Why does it sound unlike JEJ ? Because it is recorded dialogue from ANH which was cut (and the Vader in ANH sounds very different to the Vader in ESB and ROTJ - even though its the same actor)

 

C. Andrew Nelson was Vader in the suit for that TESB:SE sequence

 

WRONG gonktacular!!!

Dearie me, you must check your facts before you make sweeping statements....

Now that you've gotten your cheap thrill from viciously bludgeoning me with your obviously stunning and superior intellect (and managing to sound like a 5 year old...), I DID do some fact checking, smart guy.

That info is what the IMDB said about it. And the guy did Vader's voice in both the Dark Forces PC game and the Rebel Assault II PC game, so it makes sense that he'd do the voice too. Don't treat me like I'm some sort of moron repeating rumors.

Geez.

 

IMDB is not always a great resource. It is not always completely accurate.

 

Did you even bother to read my post Gonk? C. Andrew Nelson was Darth Vader in the suit, not the guy doing the voice. There is no (voice) credit next to the Darth Vader credit listing, as there would be. Ergo, he did the body work.

 

The Name of the Chimp was "Piddles" Due to An Unfortunate Infection...

 

The original Emperor was played by non other than Maude Findlay herself, Beatrice Arthur. Lucas saw her wonderful performance in that magical Star Wars Christmas Special. He had to hire her right away. He thought if anybody can play pure evil it's Mrs Arthur.

 

In the pre-DVD edition, a monkey played him.

 

I'll believe Ben Burtt's own words before IMDB, which can be spotty.

 

OK, the IMDB can be unreliable when it comes to their user-submitted "trivia" sections and so forth, as well as on any movie classified in any stage of production, since that information is also user-submitted.

The credits listing, which is what I referenced, is reliable, since it comes from the film itself.

That being established, consider these two facts:

1. C. Andrew Nelson (who I was aware was in the suit, thank you) also is credited as playing Vader in the live-action sequences of Rebel Assault II on the PC. Now, one could argue that he was "just in the suit" in that project as well, except that he also played Vader in Dark Forces which had no live action sequences -- meaning he did the voice. This establishes that he has done the voice of Vader for various Star Wars projects in the past, which could POSSIBLY suggest that he was capable of doing the voice in ESB -- meaning that I'm not grasping at straws here.

2. I'm getting attacked by a vague reference to a Ben Burtt interview. I'm not doubting that he said it. I am doubting anyone's ability to counter the credits in a film with DUDE UR WRONGE CUZ BEN BURT SAYED IT IN AN INTERVUE!!!!1!! I've never seen or heard of this interview and I consider myself pretty versed in OT Star Wars lore. If anything, tell me when/where this interview was, if I can find a transcript, or watch it somewhere. I'd honestly like to see it, because I obviously missed something.

Now, that all being said, I'm not beyond admitting that I'm wrong. But you've got to give me some credit here, people. The pieces fit. I always thought something was wrong with Vader's voice in the SE, and you may be (probably are) right about it being an old unused JEJ clip. But good Lord people be a little freakin' nicer.

 

Well, as soon as C. Andrew Nelson's website is back up, we shall see (if you go under an actor's profile in the IMDB, there's often a link to their official website. Nelson has one, just down for construction.

 

He probably didn't do the voice. All I'm saying is that it could be logical to assume he did if you hadn't seen (like me) whatever interview it is that says JEJ did the voice.

If I say "I'm wrong and you're right", would that help?

 

If "Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival" was a cut line from ANH, what scene did it come from? Any opinions? The only place I can think of would be on Leia's captured starship. But I'm a little doubtful. I've never seen that line in any clips, comics, script drafts, discussions of cut scenes, or, well, anywhere.

"See to it personally, commander - there will be no one to stop us this time!! Oh, and also...Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival!"

Hmmmmmmm....

 

Is there any cg Vader in Dark Forces? I've never really played it. If there is it's possible he just did the motion capture.

 

Dark Forces is so old (original Doom-era) that it just had drawn cutscenes and sprite-based enemies. The only thing he could have done was the voice.

 

Ian McDiarmid, of course. According to Lucas, that other Emperor you saw was in a rough cut and doesn't count.

 

Hey, I'm glad you see it that way, T_M Good to see another acolyte of The God Ian McDiarmid.

 

Here you are, Gonk......

http://www.starwars.com/community/askjc/ben/askjc20030410.html