Hey, guys. Quint here. Over the weekend we lost Kenny Baker, who passed away less than 2 weeks before his 82nd birthday.
Kenny was, of course, the man inside R2-D2 and one of the most consistent convention guests of all time. Kenny went everywhere signing autographs, so I imagine most of you guys reading this had the chance to meet him at one point or another.
One of the very first things I ever published on this website was an interview with David Prowse that I did for my high school newspaper and Harry let me run it on the site in full when my school paper cut it down. I met Prowse when he came through Austin for some Con or another. My memory is a little hazy (this was 20 years ago now), but I'm pretty sure I met Baker at that Con as well. Remember, this is back when Austin was just that tiny, cool little town in the middle of Texas, not the 100-people-moving-here-a-day metropolis it has become. It was a big deal for this Star Wars geek to meet these people.
I never had a bad experience despite the cranky reputations of some of the Star Wars folks from the Con trail. The two more infamous players were Prowse and Daniels. Prowse was nice to me (nice enough to grant me a goodly amount of time when I was just a kid writing for his school paper anyway) and my one run-in with Anthony Daniels at DragonCon many years later was super pleasant.
Baker, however, was beloved. I'm sure someone somewhere has had a bad experience with the man, but I've never met them. Fans loved him because he genuinely seemed happy to be there. What sticks in my memory isn't my personal interactions with Baker, which never went further than a quick “Hello, thanks for coming” and an autograph (I had him sign my original Star Wars LP cover), but in the interactions I saw him engage in when not at the table, just out with his family for a meal after his day got started. He never seemed put out when approached by a fan. I saw him three or four times over the years in these kinds of situations and he never turned someone away or refused a picture because he wasn't “on the clock” or charging for his time.
While Baker's work extended from stage to boobtube and screen in over 40 projects over the years, his two lasting contributions to storytelling will be in two visionary fantasy pictures: Star Wars (of course) and Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits.
I can't be 100% sure on this, but it's a safe bet Baker is what drew me to Time Bandits. I know it wasn't Gilliam's name at the age I become obsessed with/scarred by that frickin' movie and with all the behind the scenes magazines I flipped through back then I knew the guy who played R2-D2 was in that flick.
Time Bandits is his best role by far. Fidget is so lovably smart-ass in that film. That's just about Kenny Baker in a nutshell: wry humor on the surface, a huge heart underneath.
Fidget gets to showcase Baker's actual screen presence the best, but R2-D2 will be his legacy and I get the feeling he knew that even back in the late '70s. Instead of shunning that eventuality, he embraced it. And we're the better for it. R2 was more than just post-added bleeps and bloops. A real human personality came through thanks to Baker baking in that tin shell day in and day out. He did more than just spin R2's dome and wobble his body from time to time. He gave the droid a soul.
I know I speak for many fans when I say that Baker was a huge piece of the puzzle that ended up forming the defining cinematic experience of my life and that I'll miss seeing him at Cons. My thoughts are with Mr. Baker's friends, family and fans.
I'll leave you with some of my favorite photos of Mr. Baker, starting with possibly the best photo ever taken: Muhammad Ali and Kenny Baker sparring:
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
