Dave Prowse is famous for playing Darth Vader in the Star Wars
movies, and he travels the world attending conventions about the
films. But unbeknown to many of his fans, over the past 20 years he
has suffered a series of serious orthopaedic problems, including
failed hip replacements.

Dave, 71, and a father-of-three, lives in Croydon, Surrey, with his
wife, Norma. Here, he explains to MOIRA PETTY how he refuses to let
his health slow him down:

At Star Wars conventions around the world, fans have grown used to
the sight of me dressed as the character Darth Vader, with one added
accessory - a crutch.

Over the past 20 years I've had one new left hip and three right
hips, more dislocations than I can count and a near brush with death
from septic arthritis.

Only last week, I had the latest operation to drain fluid from an
infected hip joint. But I don't let my health stop me from doing
anything - my wife, Norma, says I'm either in complete denial or
totally amazing, she's not sure which.

As a schoolboy, I was one of the fastest sprinters in Great Britain
and a talented rugby player. Then, at 13, my knee started to swell
up. Doctors thought tuberculosis had attacked the joint and I ended
up in a sanatorium for ten months.

With all the fresh air and milk, I shot up from 5ft 9in to 6ft 3in.
They said it wasn't TB but decided to put me in a supportive leg
iron, from groin to ankle, for 18 months; I grew a further two
inches.

In the end, they said I was suffering from an inflammation of the
tendons, known as Osgood-Schlatter's Disease.

When I came out of the leg brace I was rather puny, and after
noticing a big, blond giant on the cover of a fitness magazine, I
started weightlifting. I was a British heavyweight champion from
1962 to 1964. I joined Equity in 1965 and started getting acting
roles.

Stanley Kubrick cast me as a bodyguard in Clockwork Orange (1970),
which paved the way for Star Wars in 1977.

I worked hard at my physique, so it was a big shock when, in 1986,
aged 51, I was on the leg press machine and my right hip gave way -
400lb of weights crashed down, pinning me to the machine's base.

I was rescued by friends, but when I stood up, I couldn't put my
foot on the floor. The pain didn't subside and I had to rely on a
stick for support.

Not long after, I flew to the U.S. for three-week tour as Darth
Vader. While I was there, a leading orthopaedic surgeon said I had
the start of an arthritic hip.

I was told arthritis can be hereditary - my mother and her mother
had it - but I was determined it wouldn't interfere with my life. I
began taking cod liver oil and doing sensible exercise. I was pain-
free and my hip was working well within 18 months.

When I got carried away on the leg-press machine and became trapped
again. This time an X-ray confirmed the hip was arthritic.

I had a right hip replacement. The head of the femur, the main leg
bone, and the acetabulum, the socket, were replaced with artificial
parts. But because they are smaller than the natural ones, they can
easily become dislodged. Sure enough, a few days after the op the
hip dislocated.

It was agonising and I had to stay in bed for three weeks. I was on
crutches for three months, but was soon back on an exercise bike. A
few months later, as I got up from my floor exercises, I heard a
cracking noise from my left ankle and felt a terrible pain.

I had a hairline fracture in my ankle which I was told should right
itself with an elasticised bandage. But as the months passed the
swelling became huge.

I was given three choices: wear a support calliper, have the ankle
joint fused surgically - or amputation below the knee. I opted for
the calliper. I wore it for several years but the ankle remained out
of alignment.

In the early 1990s, I was put in touch with a specialist in Atlanta
who said he could save the joint by doing an ankle fusion. In
theatre, he had to break the joint and rebuild it using pins and
bone grafts. It takes the mobility out of the ankle, but it is then
pain-free.

I lost about one-and-a-half inches of bone in my ankle and had to
wear a built-up shoe. This put extra pressure on my left hip, which
became stiff and painful, and a couple of years later, the
specialist offered to replace it.

I had the surgery on a Tuesday, was in a walking frame on Thursday,
on crutches on Friday, and that weekend I was doing a tour of
Atlanta toy and book stores.

But on the Saturday the new hip popped out. It did it twice more
over the next ten days. Back home, it happened a fourth time and was
dealt with at my local hospital. But I wasn't worried: I knew the
muscles were weak from the surgery and that remedial exercises would
strengthen them.

However, my UK surgeon felt my right hip replacement was getting
old, and in 1998 it was redone (a common revision procedure).

For three years everything seemed all right, then on the day I was
due to fly out to Japan I found my right arm was paralysed. That is
my (autograph) signing arm, so I was a bit worried, but I flew off.

Next morning, I woke up in Tokyo to find my left arm was also
paralysed. I had to wait for the convention organiser to arrive to
help me out of bed. The feeling started to return to my right arm,
but at the convention I had to use my right hand to place my useless
left arm like a weight on photos I signed.

My wife met me off the plane and said I looked terrible. I asked her
to ring my GP, who immediately sent me to hospital. I was suffering
from septic arthritis, a rare but serious joint infection.

Doctors battled to save me and prevent it turning into septicaemia.
They pumped me with antibiotics but warned my wife my liver and
kidneys were affected and if it went to my brain, that would be the
end. I recovered, but was in hospital for more than a month.

A year later I had another revision of the right hip. A few days
later I had another dislocation - surgery to adjust the joint has
meant my right leg is a couple of inches longer than the left, so I
now need a greater build-up on the left shoe.

Although I've had no more dislocations, a couple of years ago an
abscess erupted in the old operation scar at the top of my right
leg. I was taken into hospital for the wound to be cleaned out, but
two weeks later it came up again. The problems reoccur every couple
of months, and the abscesses have increased to three.

Doctors say the infection in my scar is very deep-seated, and if it
doesn't improve they may have to remove the right artificial hip to
get to the heart of the wound.

Next year there are 30th anniversary celebrations for Star Wars. I
shall arrive on stage escorted by 50 stormtroopers, and when they
gaze at me, the Commander in Chief, with awe and wonder, I'll forget
my hips are playing me up.

Dave Prowse: Straight From The Force's Mouth, his two-volume
autobiography, is available from www.darthvader-starwars.com