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Peter Mayhew

Peter Mayhew

Biographical information
Born	May 19, 1944
Nationality	British (born) American (2005)
Career
Star Wars work	Chewbacca

[Source]

"This [Star Wars] has been the best thing that ever happened to me. In the last 25 years, I've been able to travel all over the world, get paid for it. I never have to pay for a thing. I can go out in public without being recognized. If I want to be recognized in public, it will happen. Star Wars was great to me. I'm set for life."

―Peter Mayhew^[src]

Peter Mayhew (born May 19, 1944 in Barnes, London, England) is best known for his portrayal of Chewbacca in the Star Wars films.

Peter Mayhew had been working as an orderly at a Yorkshire hospital prior to receiving the role of Chewbacca. Sitting down on one of the benches, Peter Mayhew spotted George Lucas and Gary Kurtz walking through a door which led to the room Mayhew was in, and as a show of politeness, stood up to greet the two of them. After visually observing Mayhew's tall frame, Lucas turned to Kurtz and said, "I think we found him".

George Lucas needed two tall actors to be Chewbacca and Darth Vader. At 7 feet 3 inches, Peter Mayhew was tall enough. David Prowse, who was also tall, and Peter Mayhew were given the option of which giant character they wanted to play. Peter wanted to be a good guy and David wanted to be a bad guy so they got their respective parts.^[1] In addition to his work as Chewbacca in the films, he has appeared in-character in various commercials and for hospital appearances for sick children.

Mayhew now lives in Granbury, Texas, and is the owner of his own business. He took the oath to become an American naturalized citizen of the United States on October 17, 2005 at a ceremony in Arlington, Texas.^[2] In an interview with the Fort Worth Star Telegram, he jokingly noted that he didn't get a medal at this ceremony either; a reference to the Star Wars scene in which Luke and Han get medals but the Wookiee gets none.

He was kind enough to make a cameo as himself in the Paducah Imperials FanForce feature length fan film Star Wars Fanboy, scaring off stormtroopers with Wookiee noises, some of which he made himself on set.

1 Star Wars filmography
2 Sources
3 Notes and references
4 External links
- 4.1 In other languages

Star Wars filmographyEdit

Title	Release Date	Role
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope	May 25, 1977	Chewbacca
The Star Wars Holiday Special	November 17, 1978	Chewbacca
The Muppet Show Episode #4.17: "Mark Hamill/Star Wars"	January 16, 1980	Chewbacca
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back	May 21, 1980	Chewbacca
Return of the Ewok	1982	Chewbacca
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi	May 25, 1983	Chewbacca
1997 MTV Movie Awards	June 7, 1997	Chewbacca
Live with Regis and Kelly: Episode dated May 17, 2005	May 17, 2005	Himself (as Chewbacca)
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith	May 19, 2005	Chewbacca