'Darth Vader' relishes fans, avoids limelight

Dave Prowse estimates that 99.9 percent of "Star Wars" fans are perfectly normal, sensible human beings. Still, in the more than two decades since Prowse last appeared as Darth Vader in "Return of the Jedi," that one-tenth of a percent has added up. \nWhether it's being bombarded by fans while on a plane or visiting houses completely turned into "Star Wars" shrines, Prowse has noticed the craze the movies and his character spur in some people.\nLately, he said, it's been fans having their love for Lord Vader tattooed onto all sorts of body parts.\n"Loads of people come up with them on legs, across backs, across arms," he said. "Just recently a man asked, 'Will you write Dave Prowse, Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith' on my arm? I said, 'I don't mind if you seriously want it.' He came back the next day and he had it tattooed."\nProwse said he also routinely fields requests from fans to come visit their houses and view their "Star Wars" collections. He rarely does so, but Prowse said now and then he visits and is astounded by the lengths some fans go to. \n"It's strange, but that's how the 'Star Wars' phenomenon affects people," Prowse said. "There's a fair share of people who've been collectors and say they've got the biggest collection of Star Wars memorabilia. Sometimes I do go and their house is a shrine to Star Wars with everything connected to 'Star Wars.' That I can't understand."\nProwse's home in England is exactly the opposite. He doesn't display any of the many Darth Vader action figures, talking dolls or other popular merchandise, save for one statue.\n"I'm quite certain my wife wouldn't like the 'Star Wars' thing to invade our house," he said. \nStill, if the fandom gets to be too much, Prowse does have one thing going for him: Though his character is among the most recognizable in the history of film, hardly anyone knows what Prowse looks like.\n"That's one of the good things," he said. "Some actors, when they go to a restaurant, they have terrible, terrible problems because people just won't leave them alone. I'm lucky because I'm this character regarded as the ultimate screen villain of all time, and I get all the publicity I want. And I can walk (out) of the hotel without ever being recognized"