Ian McDiarmid Net Worth

Ian McDiarmid's Quotes

• 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 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (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.

Interesting Facts about Ian McDiarmid

1. Serves as Artistic Director of London's Almedia Theatre.
2. He was awarded the 2001 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama) for Best Actor for his performance in "Faith Healer" at the Almeida at King's Cross.
3. In an odd twist of fate, he played an elderly, disfigured Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983), and then went on to play a younger version of that character, some 20 years later, in the Star Wars prequels.
4. Has appeared with his drama school classmate Denis Lawson in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983) and with Lawson's nephew Ewan McGregor in Karaoke (1996), Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).
5. Attended the University of St. Andrews where he pursued a Master's degree in clinical psychology and the Royal Academy in Glasgow.
6. 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 Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983), which was already in production at the time.
7. The make-up he had to wear in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) took about two hours to apply and two to take off. By the end of principal photography, the make-up artists had been able to get it on in an hour and a half.
8. His Star Wars character, Senator Palpatine, is believed to have been named after the character Senator Palantine, who appears in the film Taxi Driver (1976). In Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), Palpatine conceals a lightsaber in his sleeve and brings the hilt into his hand when he is about to engage in a fight. As Travis Bickle, Robert De Niro conceals his handgun likewise in Taxi Driver (1976).
9. Has appeared in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), which is a remake of Bedtime Story (1964), which starred Marlon Brando. He also appeared in Heart of Darkness (1993), which is based on the Joseph Conrad story of the same name, which was previously filmed as Apocalypse Now (1979), also with Brando.
10. Is the first actor in the Star Wars films to both physically play a Sith Lord, and provide the voice.
11. Has appeared in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983) with Frank Oz, and then in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), which Oz directed. These films were later turned into an NPR radio broadcast and a Broadway musical, respectively.
12. 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 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the Emperor was described as having a voice that was even deeper and more terrifying than Darth Vader's.
13. Was very good friends with fellow Star Wars cast member Sebastian Shaw.
14. Currently starring in the Donmar Warehouse production "Henry IV", now showing at The Bristol Old Vic in Bristol, England. [July 2004]
15. Appearing, as Stevens, in the BBC Radio 4's adaptation of "The Remains of the Day", starring with Julia Ford, Oliver Ford Davies, Peter Sallis, Anton Lesser, Adrian Scarborough, Garrick Hagon, 'Ed Bishop', 'Tom George', 'Maggie McCarthy', 'Ben Crowe', Deborah Findlay, 'David Shaw-Parker', Becky Hindley and Tracy Wiles. [August 2003]