Harrison Ford, who lent his voice to the new animated family movie ‘The Secret Life of Pets 2’, popped up for an appearance on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’. But of course, it would be remiss to not discuss the recent passing of his onscreen partner for the past 40 years, Peter Mayhew. Underneath a wooly costume, Mayhew portrayed the Wookie Chewbacca, co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon, opposite Ford’s space scoundrel Han Solo.
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Fords discussion of Mayhew was brief, but affectionate:
“He was a really sweet man, nice man. He had a hard time physically. It was really hard for him to do what he did for us, what he did for all of us, and he did it with real dignity and class. He was a really neat guy. I miss him.”
Unlike the “face” actors in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise, it was easier for Mayhew to pass his role over to a younger actor, Finnish Joonas Suotamo, who took over as Chewbacca in ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ and ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’. But Mayhew was on set for ‘The Last Jedi’ acting as a coach to help Suotamo perfect the body language of the character.
Both Mayhew and Ford were only occasional actors on the side while working regular jobs, prior to ‘Star Wars’. Mayhew was a hospital orderly, a job he maintained through the filming of the original trilogy. After the release of ‘Return of the Jedi’, Mayhew made the majority of his living from Chewbacca, including appearing at conventions. Ford was famously a carpenter working for George Lucas, who asked him to audition to play Solo.
If you want to watch all of Ford’s interview on ‘The Tonight Show’, it is below:
Unfortunately, neither Ford nor Mayhew will be in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’, but fans will still be flocking to see it, when it opens on December 20.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
