David Prowse (1935 - 2020)

Star Wars has been a major part of not only American and world popular culture, but also my personal and professional life, for the last 43 years.

My first movie memory is seeing Star Wars literally under the stars at a drive-in movie theater during its original release in 1977, when I was four years old.

Later, I found myself in the presence of Darth Vader himself, or at least the iconic voice of the fearful Dark Lord of the Sith, when James Earl Jones, along with Joe DiMaggio, spoke at my NYU commencement ceremony in 1994. Thank the Force that I graduated one year ahead of my class!

Only three years after that, I interviewed Darth Vader's son, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), on the phone for my first freelance article, which was published in Starlog, an iconic global science-fiction entertainment magazine that I had grown up reading as a teenager and young adult.

While James Earl Jones is synonymous with Darth Vader for his menacing and metallic baritone intonation, it was the seven-foot-tall British stuntman and actor David Prowse who brought the black armor-clad villain to life. Prowse's less than adequate vocal prowess necessitated the overdubbing of Jones, but it was Prowse's towering figure and commanding stage presence that made a visual impact on the big screen.

Body language is a big part of acting, and in that context, nobody wore that heavy suit quite like Prowse, not even Hayden Christensen, who played Vader's former self, fallen Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, in the prequel trilogy. Prowse's physical gesticulations and movements defined Vader's imposing and intimidating villainy.

Prowse's finest acting scenes occur in the exchange between Vader and Luke on the forest moon of Endor, in their duel in front of Emperor Palpatine, and just before the dying and redeemed Vader's mask comes off, in the original trilogy's finale, Return of the Jedi. Prowse aptly and deftly communicated Vader's confusion, regret, concern for his son, and his ultimate rapprochement with his son, all without the benefit of his face or even his own voice. That is quite the thespian accomplishment.

May the Force be with you, your family, your friends, and your fans, Lord Prowse.

--Raj Manoharan

Sean Connery (1930 - 2020)

Sean Connery was the first big-screen James Bond, perhaps the most memorable, and definitely the only Bond actor to evade the stigma of typecasting and forge a cinematic career and identity all his own, far beyond the confines of Ian Fleming's famed British secret agent.

In addition to his high-profile Academy Award-winning role in The Untouchables, Connery built an impressive filmography that includes Robin and Marian, Outland, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October, First Knight, The Rock, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Also, when you watch him in any of his post-Bond roles, you are watching and thinking Sean Connery, not James Bond. Even when you go back and watch his Bond films, you are watching and thinking Sean Connery, not James Bond.

The name was Connery, Sean Connery, and he both shook and stirred films and film fans around the world alike.

--Raj Manoharan

Eddie Van Halen (1955 - 2020)

I was never a fan of the band Van Halen, but being among the first generation of MTV viewers, I grew up watching and enjoying their outlandish and flamboyant music videos, especially during the tenure of their first lead singer, David Lee Roth.

As a casual admirer, I definitely enjoyed their songs – particularly “Jump” – and the guitar artistry and wizardry of Eddie Van Halen. His guest solo on Michael Jackson's “Beat It!” was and is perfection.

I wish EVH recorded and released instrumental solo albums, because I would have definitely bought them. Unlike the rest of the “shredders” out there, he had a keen sense of composition and melody, providing tasteful and accessible context for his fretboard pyrotechnics.

I will also always be grateful to EVH for “discovering” one of my favorite guitarists, new age jazz/rock fusion impresario Allan Holdsworth, who was nine years EVH's senior.

EVH was one of the last generation of true guitar heroes. No guitarist has emerged in the last twenty to thirty years that matches the iconic status and achievements of the prominent guitarists of the 1960s through the 1980s.

Eddie Van Halen was and will always remain a giant in the pantheon of six-string slingers.

--Raj Manoharan