Biographie

Based his character Emperor Palpatine's unusual voice on the Japanese method of using your stomach to project yourself. The result was a strange, guttural croak that Lucas decided was perfect for the character of Palpatine. In an earlier draft of La guerre des étoiles V: L'empire contre-attaque (1980), the Emperor was described as having a voice that was even deeper and more terrifying than Darth Vader's.

In an odd twist of fate, he played an elderly, disfigured Emperor Palpatine in La guerre des étoiles VI: Le retour du jedi (1983), and then went on to play a younger version of that character, some 20 years later, in the Star Wars prequels.

In 1982, he played Harry Hackamore, a Howard Hughes-type character, in the play, "Seduced", by Sam Shepard. This showed his ability to convincingly play, in close-up, a character much older than himself. This is what attracted the attention of George Lucas and Richard Marquand, who decided that he could play the Emperor in La guerre des étoiles VI: Le retour du jedi (1983), which was already in production at the time.

Has appeared with his drama school classmate Denis Lawson in La guerre des étoiles VI: Le retour du jedi (1983) and with Lawson's nephew Ewan McGregor in Karaoke (1996), Star Wars Épisode I: La menace fantôme (1999), Star wars: Episode II - L'attaque des clones (2002) and Star wars: Episode III - La revanche des sith (2005).

Was very good friends with fellow Star Wars cast member Sebastian Shaw.

As an actor, you find yourself in many unusual places.

[on his co-star Yoda in the Star Wars films] He's terrible. Never turns up. Sends his funny little dummy that gets moved around... most unprofessional.

[on digitally replacing Clive Revill in the DVD release of La guerre des étoiles V: L'empire contre-attaque (1980)] George felt that it was just and proper. When he made Empire, we hadn't met, and he didn't have a particular idea of who would play the Emperor or how the character would develop. And he had no notion that he would do the backstory - Episodes I, II, and III. So whoever played the Emperor in a mask and added to Revill's voice wouldn't seem authentic to the people who are going to watch the entire saga in the right order. It wouldn't make any sense. Since I was the Emperor [in the other Star Wars films], it felt appropriate that I should be inserted into Empire, and that's what George did.

And then of course I thought Palpatine was a pretty good character. I like the notion that he didn't have any psychological subtlety or depth, that he was just solidly evil and the dirtiest word in his vocabulary was 'friend'. I thought that was terrific.

That's a pattern I'm very happy with. I mean I take theater seriously and I am primarily a stage actor and every now and again a movie comes along and I'm happy to do it if the part's good.