Kenny Baker, Who Played R2-D2, Dead At 81

Kenny Baker, the British actor who brought the lovable robot R2-D2 to life in the "Star Wars" movies, has died at his home in England. He was 81.

Baker had been suffering a "long illness," according to the Guardian, which first reported his death Saturday.

“It was expected, but it’s sad nonetheless," Baker's niece, Abigail Shield, told the Guardian. "He had a very long and fulfilled life. He brought lots of happiness to people and we’ll be celebrating the fact that he was well loved throughout the world. We’re all very proud of what he achieved in his lifetime.”

Baker, who stood 3 feet, 8 inches tall, played R2-D2 from inside a metal costume. He had no speaking lines, as the robot only communicated through beeps and boops.

He was initially hesitant to take the role.

“This film came along, and I turned it down,” Baker said in a video interview posted on his website. “I said, ‘I don’t want to be stuck in a robot, what for, for goodness sake.’”

But after taking the role, he said, as a favor to George Lucas, he would have gone back and done it for free.

“Had I known I would have done it for nothing because he was broke at the beginning, he didn’t have a penny, George,” Baker said.

Baker's entertainment career began in a theatrical troupe, and he later performed in a circus and in ice-skating routines. But it was his portrayal of R2-D2, a small robot who befriends the stories' protagonists to defeat evil, that rocketed him to stardom.

“They said, ‘You’ve got to do it; we can’t find anybody else. You’re small enough to get into it and you’re strong enough to be able to move it,’” Baker said in the video interview. “I was a godsend to them, really.”

Tony Dyson, the special effects designer who built R2-D2, died in May.

Baker played R2-D2 in all three of the original movies and later in the three prequels made between 1999 and 2005. In 1983's Return of the Jedi, he also appeared as an Ewok — a teddy-bear like creature that lives on one of the universe's moons.

Outside of the "Star Wars" world, Baker appeared in films such as "The Elephant Man," "Time Bandits" and "Flash Gordon."

Baker was an R2-D2 consultant on "The Force Awakens," the latest installment in the "Star Wars" franchise, but he was too sick to attend the movie's U.S. premiere in Los Angeles in December 2015.

“He had problems with his lungs and was often in a wheelchair," Shield, his niece, told the Guardian. "He was very poorly for a long time. He was asked to go out to LA for the new Star Wars premiere, but he was told he was too ill to travel. Luckily he did manage to meet George Lucas again when he came to Manchester.”

Baker was married to actress Eileen Baker from 1970 until her death in 1993. He is survived by their two sons, Christopher and Kevin.

Image via Recuerdos de Pandora, Flickr, used under Creative Commons