Peter William Mayhew (19 May 1944 – 30 April 2019) was a British-American actor. He was best known for portraying Chewbacca in the Star Wars film series. He played the character in all of his live-action appearances from the 1977 original to 2015's The Force Awakens before his retirement from the role. He also voiced the character in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and portrayed him in some television shows, including The Muppet Show.
Peter Mayhew was born on 19 May 1944, in Barnes, Surrey. At the age of 8, he was diagnosed with gigantism. Mayhew is often erroneously reported as having a genetic tissue disorder called Marfan syndrome; however, his family has clarified that Mayhew suffered from pituitary gigantism. His peak height was 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 m).
Mayhew gained his first acting job when the producers of Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) discovered him from a photograph in a newspaper article about men with large feet, and cast him in the role of the Minoton.
1977–1983: Star Wars original trilogy
Mayhew played Chewbacca in five Star Wars films of the Skywalker saga: the original trilogy (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi), Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
When casting the original Star Wars (1977), director George Lucas needed a tall actor who could fit the role of the hairy alien Chewbacca. He originally had in mind 6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m) bodybuilder David Prowse, but Prowse chose to play Darth Vader. This led Lucas to cast Mayhew, who was working as a hospital orderly in the emergency department at Mayday University Hospital in Surrey. He became aware of a casting call for Star Wars which was filming at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire. Mayhew decided to visit Lucas to find out more about the role. He said, "George came into the office, and at that time I'd been sitting down on a chair, so I stood up and his eyes almost popped out of his head". Afterwards Mayhew had a costume fitting. The 7-foot-3-inch (2.21 m) tall actor was immediately cast as Chewbacca after he stood up to greet Lucas. In a 2011 interview for Star Wars Insider, Mayhew said he first walked onto the Docking Bay 94 set at Elstree Studios which featured Harrison Ford, several extras and Declan Mullholland as a human Jabba the Hutt. Mayhew continued working as an orderly at the same hospital in between filming the original Star Wars trilogy. The success and cultural impact of Star Wars led to further sequels rounding out the original trilogy, two more trilogies and television shows which continued Mayhew's association with his character and the franchise for the next decades.
Mayhew modelled his performance of Chewbacca after researching the behaviour of bears, monkeys and gorillas he saw at London Zoo. Lucas said Mayhew was "the closest any human being could be to a Wookiee: big heart, gentle nature and I learnt to always let him win". The character did not have any lines, the sounds he made being derived from sound recordings of animal noises.
The release of Star Wars, the first film in the series and fourth chapter of the Skywalker saga, took place in 1977 and received positive reviews. He filmed several scenes for the original trilogy at Elstree Studios. Mayhew starred in The Empire Strikes Back; the film received positive reviews and was the highest-grossing film of the year. Ever since its release and even after a reassessment, it is considered to be the best film in the Star Wars series. He also appeared in the 1980 television documentary special, SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back. Although 1983's Return of the Jedi marked the end of the original trilogy, some back stories George Lucas created would generate production and filming of the prequel trilogy in the 1990s and eventually contribute to Mayhew's reprisal. The actor shared his memories of his costume and experience on the first three films in the 2004 documentary film, Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy. The documentary was included in the first DVD release of the original trilogy in September 2004.
2003–2011: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: The Clone Wars
By the time Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones was released to cinemas in May 2002, work had begun on the last film of the prequel trilogy. On 23 April 2003, it was announced on the Star Wars website that Mayhew would reprise his role in Revenge of the Sith, the last installment of the prequel trilogy and last film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was also announced that two of his co-stars from the original trilogy, Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker would reprise their roles as C-3PO and R2-D2 respectively. The events of the film take place 19 years before the first theatrical film Mayhew appeared in. Prior to the announcement, Mayhew received a phone call from Rick McCallum asking if he was available. Upon his return, Mayhew said, "Not only was it great personally to be able to become that character again, to bring him back after all this time, but it generally seemed to make people happy." He also described his character as "very comforting."
Most of the live-action scenes had been completed during the 57-day shoot in 2003, however several scenes including the Battle of Kashyyyk had not been. In the summer of 2003, Mayhew and seven new Wookiee performers had their costume fittings. A new Chewbacca costume was made for Mayhew and it included a foam musculature. The costume also reflected the character being 19 years younger than his counterpart in A New Hope. There was no ventilation system in the original costume but this time the new costume featured "an arterial cooling system underneath the fur." The updated costume featured "an articulated mask with radio-controlled facial servos." Mayhew's scenes were quieter because although Chewbacca was featured alongside Yoda the latter was digitally added later. Kashyyyk had been previously featured in Star Wars Holiday Special which Mayhew appeared in. Mayhew and the Wookiee actors filmed their scenes for the Battle of Kashyyyk at Sydney in the Spring of 2004. Mayhew admitted that the filmmaking techniques for Revenge of the Sith was different to the way the original trilogy was made because there was more blue screen.
Revenge of the Sith was released in cinemas in May 2005 and received positive reviews. He also recorded dialogue for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 3 finale episode "Wookiee Hunt". The animated television series takes place between the events of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
2012–2016: Last Star Wars film and successor
In October 2012, the Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm and announced that the sequel trilogy would be made with Episode VII being released in 2015. Mayhew hoped that he could be involved in the new film saying, "It was just a question of waiting and seeing what was happening, and whether it would be a series or just one movie". In April 2014, it was announced that Mayhew would reprise his role in the first instalment of the sequel trilogy and seventh Star Wars film. A new Chewbacca costume was made and was more comfortable. He acted opposite several of his co-stars including Harrison Ford from the original trilogy again and new cast members including Daisy Ridley and John Boyega. The Force Awakens was the first live-action Star Wars film to be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film received positive reviews, was the highest grossing film of 2015, grossed $2.07 billion worldwide and became the third-highest grossing film at the time of its release.
While Mayhew portrayed Chewbacca in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he was not in Star Wars: The Last Jedi but was listed in the credits as "Chewbacca Consultant". Mayhew retired from playing Chewbacca due to health issues. Joonas Suotamo shared the role of Chewbacca with Mayhew in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, portraying the character in physically demanding scenes and then completely replaced him in subsequent Star Wars films. Mayhew and Suotamo spent several weeks discussing the character and costume.