Anthony Daniels uses his C-3PO character to pay tribute to Dave Prowse

Anthony Daniels played C-3PO in Star Wars (Ian West/PA)

Anthony Daniels has reprised his role as C-3PO to pay tribute to his fellow Star Wars star Dave Prowse following his death.

The death of the 85-year-old actor, who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, was announced on Sunday.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Daniels used the voice of his golden droid character to send a message to Darth Vader.

He said: “Master Vader, I understand you can be careless of the rules of etiquette and protocol and have been known to be rather bad mannered.

“Should I ever have the pleasure of making your acquaintance, I would be happy to give you advice on the proper way to behave.”

Speaking in his own voice, Daniels, 74, added: “I’m not sure Vader would listen to that, would he?”

Dave Prowse played Darth Vader (Tony Harris/PA)

He said his co-star Prowse had a “physical presence” on set as the former weightlifter was a “big guy”.

“Just seeing him was daunting,” he said.

“Of course, the difference was that he wasn’t personally anything like that.”

More sad news. Dave has gone. I don’t think 3PO ever faced Vader’s mighty presence on set, other than as a bag of bits on Chewie’s shoulders in the carbon freezer. But Dave’s iconic figure dominated the finished film in '77 and has done so ever since. And will continue to do so.

— Anthony Daniels (@ADaniels3PO) November 29, 2020

Daniels said Prowse made Darth Vader a “magical evil character” who made being bad “cool”.

“Dave kind of invented this ability to go to the dark side and be cool about it,” he said.

He added: “It was a lovely contrast because he was a very benign figure and really rather calm and relaxed.

“I’d see him round the set and he would be sort of lounging in one of those studio chairs and was very quietly spoken, very unassuming.”