There is some sad news to report, as Clive Revill died recently, at the age of 94. It was revealed this week that he died on March 11 after a battle with dementia.
Revill had a long career of work in film, television, and stage productions, nominated for two Tony Awards and one Golden Globe Award during his more than six decades of work. He also had a minor, but notable, role in The Empire Strikes Back – as the original voice of Emperor Palpatine. In the highly-anticipated sequel to Star Wars, the script for Empire called for the evil Emperor to appear on-screen for the first time, after having only been mentioned in the previous film. It was only one scene, where Darth Vader kneels and speaks with the holographic image of his master, when Palpatine says “there is a great disturbance in the Force” and reveals that Luke Skywalker is the son of Anakin Skywalker.
For the short but very important scene, director Irvin Kershner called up Revill, with whom he had worked while directing A Fine Madness (1966). Revill recorded the voice lines (though he didn’t physically portray the character) for the original theatrical release in 1980. However for the special editions of the movie (the version you can watch today), Revill has been replaced with Ian McDiarmid, a perfectly reasonable and wise choice so as to keep continuity with the rest of the saga. Even though his voice isn’t in the film anymore, however, Revill is still credited for his role at the end of the film alongside the rest of the cast.
That gives Revill the distinction of being the very first person to ever voice Emperor Palpatine on the screen. It was a small role, but a noteworthy one.
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