Jack Purvis (actor)

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Jack Purvis (born July 13, 1937 in London , England , † November 21, 1997 in Bushey, Hertfordshire , England) was a British actor .

The short actor played in the first three Star Wars movies and was also in three fantasy films by director Terry Gilliam . His active time as a film actor was almost entirely in the 1980s; his small daughter Katie , born in 1966 or 1967, was also active in the acting field, especially in the 1980s.

life and career

Purvis was born in the British capital London in the summer of 1937; Little is known about the early life of Jack Purvis. In 1964 he married his wife Marjie, with whom he had a son named Andrew that same year. Two or three years later, their daughter Katie , who would later become an actress, was born. Also in the 1960s he met his long-time colleague and friend Kenny Baker , with whom he founded the comedy and musical group " The Mini-Tones " and toured several continents with it. So both appeared in clubs and theaters in Europe, Canada, the United States and New Zealand. In 1971, Marjie and Jack Purvis had their third child, a boy named Jason. Together with Baker, who also had short film and television appearances in the 1960s, he was used in George Lucas' 1977 six -time Oscar - winning film Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope . While Baker played one of the main characters with the droid R2-D2 , Purvis was assigned the role of a clan chief of the Jawa . In the same year Purvis played in the film adaptation of the British children's series The Wombles with the title Wombling Free one of the so-called wombles .

In the second part of the Star Wars series, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back , which came out in theaters in 1980, Purvis was involved again; this time he took on the role of Ugloste , a chief of the pig-like humanoids Ugnaught . The following year, the fantasy film Time Bandits was released , the first collaboration between Purvis and director Terry Gilliam ; in the film he played Wally , a member of a small band of robbers. In addition, Purvis played in 1981 in an episode of the long-running comedy series The Goodies by the comedy trio of the same name . In 1982 he was involved in the BAFTA- nominated animation fantasy classic The Dark Crystal as an additional actor. A year later he also played in the third Star Wars part Star Wars: Episode VI - The Return of the Jedi , where he took on the role of Ewoks Teebo . This is also a special feature, since Purvis is the only actor who was used in three different roles in the three original films.

In 1984 he appeared in an episode of the six-part miniseries The Invisible Man based on HG Wells' novel The Invisible Man . Just one year later, the 1.24 m tall Purvis was again in use in a Terry Gilliam production; in the dystopian film classic Brazil he presented the Dr. Chapman . He also appeared in 1986 in Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa and in Jim Henson's Die Reise ins Labyrinth , whereby he had worked with the latter director four years earlier in The Dark Crystal . After a year without significant engagements, he only had an appearance as a singer on the game show 3-2-1 , he played a small guest role in Willow in 1988 , starring among others with Val Kilmer , Joanne Whalley , Warwick Davis and Jean Marsh , and had a double role in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen .

In 1989 he had a recurring role in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian & The Journey on the Dawn , the second part of the television trilogy that began a year earlier with The Chronicles of Narnia: The King of Narnia . In the second part, which is divided into six episodes lasting around 25 to 30 minutes, he presented a dwarf, later dwarf leader, of the genus Dufflepud in three episodes . He also starred in the music videos for Stay and Little Girls by Oingo Boingo from the album Skeletons in the Closet that year. Just a year later he had his last appearance in film and television when he was used in the third part of the Narnia trilogy The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Armchair and slipped into the role of Golg .

Shortly after that final appearance, Purvis was seriously injured when his car, after parking it, started moving again and trapped him between the car and a wall. He broke his neck and was tetraplegic until his death . On November 21, 1997, Jack Purvis, who was "bedridden" in the last years of his life, died in Bushey in Hertfordshire at the age of 60. His body was cremated ; scattered his ashes afterwards. Purvis death, as well as the death of David Rappaport , who had already committed suicide seven years earlier, were the main reasons for Terry Gilliam to put aside his plans for a sequel to his film Time Bandits from 1981, as the two main reasons Leading actors who had shaped the character of the first film and could not be easily replaced had died.

Throughout his entire career as a film actor, he has appeared in seven Oscar-nominated and award-winning films, even if he himself never played a major leading role. Two of his other films that weren't Oscar nominations were BAFTA nominations.

Filmography

Film appearances (also short appearances)
Series appearances (also guest and short appearances)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Purvis, Jack
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actor
DATE OF BIRTH July 13, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH London , England, UK
DATE OF DEATH November 21, 1997
Place of death Bushey, Hertfordshire , England, United Kingdom