Star Wars: Clive Revill, who voiced the Emperor Palpatine, dies aged 94

Clive Revill was the voice actor for the evil Emperor Palpatine in 1980’s Empire Strikes Back, the second of the Star Wars films. Although the character was played by Ian McDiarmid, the line “There is a great disturbance in the Force” was said by Revill - setting the tone for one of the most menacing villains in film.

Revill’s daughter Kate told the Hollywood Reporter that he had died in California aged 94. He had had dementia for several years.

The Hollywood Reporter relayed a line from a 2015 interview Revill gave, in which he said about Star Wars fans: “They come up to me, and I tell them to get close and shut their eyes. Then I say [in the emperor’s haunting voice], ‘There is a great disturbance in the Force.’ People turn white, and one nearly fainted!”

He was, however, dubbed over in the 2004 re-release of the films, so that Ian McDiarmid’s voice appeared in all the films.

Revill was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1930. Originally an accountant, he switched careers after appearing in Twelfth Night, and then moved to London to train at the Old Vic Theatre School.

From there he became a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company and also appeared in the 1986 Transformers film, The Twilight Zone and Star Trek: The Next Generation, among many other programmes. He also appeared on Broadway and had two Tony award nominations, one for his role as gangmaster Fagin in Oliver!

In 1972, he was nominated for Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor as Carlo Carlucci in Avanti! opposite Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills.

He is survived by his daughter Kate and his granddaughter Kayla.