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May 27, 2022 · When he first played the villain in "Return of the Jedi," McDiarmid's face was concealed behind makeup. The impact of Palpatine's design was two-fold: his devious, wrinkled appearance...
- Devin Meenan
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[17] Sixteen years after Return of the Jedi, he reprised the role as the character's younger incarnation of Senator (and later Chancellor) Palpatine and Sith Lord Darth Sidious in the prequel films: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith.
Actor: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Ian McDiarmid was born on August 11, 1944 in Carnoustie, Tayside, Scotland. He studied for a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of St. Andrews, but eventually found that his calling was in theatre.
- January 1, 1
- 1.78 m
- Carnoustie, Tayside, Scotland, UK
Ian McDiarmid and Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)- Jeffrey Jones, Michael Gough, Ian McDiarmid, Michael Gambon, Richard Griffiths, and Steven Waddington in Sleepy Hollow (1999)
- Johnny Depp, Jeffrey Jones, Michael Gough, Ian McDiarmid, Michael Gambon, and Richard Griffiths in Sleepy Hollow (1999)
- Ian McDiarmid in 37 Days (2014)
- Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, and Keira Knightley in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Aug 3, 2022 · The Emperor, as he appears in "Return of the Jedi" looks to be impossibly old. He is sits shriveled in a throne, a wicked black hood leaving his face in shadow.
- Witney Seibold
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"I first encountered Emperor Palpatine at Elstree Studios in the early 1980s. He was staring back at me from a make-up mirror, larger than life and 50 times as ugly. Yellow contact lenses stung my eyes and afforded little peripheral vision. As I walked onto a vast sound stage that had been transformed into a starship hangar, populated by seemingly endless platoons of gleaming white stormtroopers, the scale of George Lucas's vision hit me. This was space spectacle, a back-drop for a space opera of Wagnerian dimension."
―Ian McDiarmid
Ian McDiarmid (born August 11, 1944) portrayed Palpatine/Darth Sidious in the Star Wars films. He appears in every film of the prequel trilogy, as well as in Return of the Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. He is one of the three actors to have appeared in all three Star Wars trilogies along with Kenny Baker (R2-D2) and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO). He did not play the Emperor in the original release of The Empire Strikes Back, but was edited in for the 2004 DVD release of the original trilogy and subsequent releases. McDiarmid also worked with George Lucas on the 1992 television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, in which McDiarmid portrayed Professor Levi in the episode "Paris, October 1916."
McDiarmid reprised his role in one scene in the sixth episode of the Obi-Wan Kenobi television series. His scene was filmed against a blue screen. Director Deborah Chow told him to film his scene between being on an edge and having some lines be more casual. McDiarmid struggled with remembering to use the word "execute" during filming.
Explore all of Wookieepedia's audio files for this article subject.
••Star Wars: Episode I •Star Wars Insider 53
•Ian McDiarmid: Dark Force Rising on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
•"Launch Pad" — Star Wars Insider 110
•Angry Birds Star Wars II: The Making of Join the Pork Side on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
••Star Wars: Phantom Menace 20th Anniversary Celebration Live Panel on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
1.This Week! in Star Wars LEGO Celebrates Life Day, Bounty Hunters #4 Preview, and More! on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
2.Obi-Wan Kenobi — "Part VI"
4.James Dyer (@jamescdyer) on Twitter: "In case there's any lingering ambiguity from the trailer (and McDiarmid's appearance at the panel!), I can 100% confirm that Palpatine is back in The Rise Of Skywalker as I just asked JJ. He's thrilled - and slightly incredulous- that McDiarmid's presence on set didn't leak." (screenshot)
6.Angry Birds Star Wars II: Join the Pork Side on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
•Official website
•Ian McDiarmid on Wikipedia
•Ian McDiarmid at the Internet Movie Database
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Mar 7, 2024 · Ian McDiarmid was cast as Palpatine for Return of the Jedi after the original actor fell ill, and he went on to portray the character for almost 40 years.
May 1, 2013 · That's how Return of the Jedi star Ian McDiarmid describes his first day playing pretty much the most rotten person in George Lucas' Star Wars galaxy.
