Superstar makeup artist Stuart Freeborn of 'Star Wars' fame is dead at 98
British actor Richard Briers, best
known for his role in the BBC sitcom 'The Good Life,' has died after a long
battle with emphysema.
Richard Briers died peacefully at
his London home on Sunday, his agent said. (Getty Images)
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British actor Richard Briers, best known for his
role in the 1970s BBC sitcom "The Good Life," has died. He was 79.
Briers, who had battled emphysema
for five years, died peacefully at his London home on Sunday, his agent,
Christopher Farrar, said, according to The Guardian.
"I used to love smoking. It's
totally my fault," Briers was quoted by the BBC as saying recently.
"So, I get very breathless,
which is a pain in the backside. Trying to get upstairs... oh God, it's
ridiculous. Of course, when you're bloody nearly 80 it's depressing, because
you've had it anyway."
Briers appeared in sitcoms, films
and stage productions.
His most famous role was in
"The Good Life," which was about a married suburban couple trying to
live a self-sufficient lifestyle.
Penelope Keith, who played Briers’
wife in the sitcom, paid tribute to her co-star.
"You will hear a lot of people
saying a lot of marvellous things about Richard, and let me assure you, they
are all true,” Keith told Sky News.
"He was a gentleman, he was a
wonderful actor, very, very generous and one of the charming things about Richard
was he was so self-deprecating.”
The world loses a masterful makeup
artist.
Makeup artist Stuart Freeborn,
creator of Yoda, Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt and other "Star Wars"
favorites died today at the age of 98.
Makeup artist Stuart Freeborn, the
man behind Yoda, Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt and other "Star Wars"
favorites has passed away, Lucasfilm announced Wednesday, according to CNN.
Born in 1914 in east London,
Freeborn died at 98. The artist had earned a special reputation for his
creatures work, making the ape-ish figures in "Dawn of Man" and
working on "2001: A Space Odyssey," said CNN.
BBC said Freeborn had mostly educated himself,
launching a six-decade career in which he did makeup for Peter Sellers, Alec
Guinness, Marlene Dietrich and Vivien Leigh.
"Star Wars" creator George
Lucas said Freeborn had "boundless creative energy."
"His artistry and craftsmanship
will live on forever in the characters he created. His 'Star Wars' creatures
may be reinterpreted in new forms by new generations, but at their heart, they
continue to be what Stuart created for the original films," Lucas
statement said, reported CNN.
Nick Dudman, a collaborator with
Freeborn on The Empire Strikes Back, described him to BBC as "a Renaissance man
capable of doing absolutely anything," kind of "a Nutty
Professor."
"He wanted to push boundaries
and had the most inquiring mind I'd ever encountered," according to
Dudman.
Indeed, it seems Freeborn was aptly
named, telling BBC he always
sought independence: "I didn't want to spend my life in an office,"
he said.
As his Yoda creature might say:
"Miss you, we will."
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