‘My dad was Darth Vader’
May the Fourth be with you: special celebrations are being planed for Bingham Park and the opening of the David Prowse Gym
No, not a line uttered in the blockbuster movie series by Luke Skywalker, but the intro on a piece in a residents’ association newsletter, as Bingham Park gears up to celebrate the life of resident Dave Prowse on Star Wars Day
ASPRA, the Addiscombe and Shirley Park Residents’ Association, has managed to scoop Inside Croydon in its latest issue, with a feature with Rachel Prowse, daughter of Dave Prowse, the former British weightlifting champion-turned-actor who famously played one of the most feared baddies in Hollywood history: Darth Vader.
The article comes as residents living near Bingham Park prepare to celebrate Prowse’s life with a special event to mark the formal opening of an outdoor gym that is being named in the movie star’s honour.
The event will be taking place on “Star Wars Day”, May 4. As in “May the Fourth be with you”. Geddit?
The David Prowse Gym has been designed with input from residents and fitness clubs. It is free to use and fully accessible.
Prowse and his wife, Norma, bought their family home on Carlyle Road, Addiscombe, in 1967. There were views of Bingham Park from the house, which would be Prowse’s home throughout the rest of his career, which also included his long-term role as the Green Cross Code Man, the road safety public information series which ran through much of the 1970s.
Family fun: David Prowse, Norma and their children on the cover of his fitness book
David and Norma raised their three children in Addiscombe – Steven, James and Rachel.
Lyn Simmons, in her article in the Spring 2026 edition of ASPRA’s Addiscombe magazine, writes, “Bingham Park quickly became central to family life. The children could simply shift a railing at the end of their garden and slip straight into the park, where they spent long days playing tennis, roller-skating and enjoying the freedom of outdoor activities alongside local friends.”
The article points out that this one Croydon park used to have the attention of two park keepers. “Hard to imagine now,” Simmons writes.
David Prowse’s time as the Green Cross Code Man took him around the Commonwealth, where the motto of “Stop, Look, Listen and Think” also became well-drilled into children of the time. Prowse was awarded an MBE for his contribution to road safety.
All this came before he made his debut in Star Wars, the first in the series, in 1977.
“Rachel recalls visiting the set in 1980 during the filming of The Empire Strikes Back. Asked by her dad to pass him his helmet, she accidentally left fingerprints on the polished surface, much to the annoyance of the crew, who had to polish it again.”
Park life: Rachel Prowse cycling in her local park when a child
Simmons writes, “With the naming of the outdoor gym in her father’s honour, it was only natural to talk about his passion for fitness. He was, Rachel says, evangelical about it. He owned a gym in Marshalsea Road which Rachel described as ‘hard-core bodybuilding, sweaty and male-dominated’. Both her brothers worked there for a time.”
It was where another Hollywood star, Christoper Reeve, would train to prepare for his role in Superman.
The Prowse children also appeared in a book written by their father, Fitness is Fun.
Among Prowse’s various capers was tossing the caber – the traditional Scottish sport using a tree trunk almost the size of a telegraph pole. Practising for the event saw Prowse driving a Mini with the caber strapped on the roof, so he could train with it in Lloyd Park.
“Rachel described her dad as a lovely man who would always make time for fans – whether that meant stopping for a chat, posing for photographs or signing autographs.
“She said he would have absolutely loved the outdoor gym being named in his memory.”
The Force is strong with this one: David Prowse lived in Addiscombe for more than 50 years
Prowse’s acting career centred mostly on giant and strongman roles. He played a Frankenstein’s monster in the 1967 Bond move with David Niven, Casino Royale, as well as appearing in some British-made Hammer horror films and Carry On pictures.
He also had a role in Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 dystopian envisaging of A Clockwork Orange.
A regular on British television, Prowse played Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, including The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1983) – though his own voice, which was accented from his native Bristol, was never heard in the movies, where the producers preferred to use James Earl Jones’s more threatening tones for the part.
Director George Lucas paid this tribute to Prowse: “David brought a physicality to Darth Vader that was essential for the character. He made Vader leap off the page and on to the big screen, with an imposing stature and movement performance to match the intensity and undercurrent of Vader’s presence.
“David was up for anything and contributed to the success of what would become a memorable, tragic figure.”
David Prowse died in 2020. He was 85.
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2026, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for an EIGHTH time in nine years, in Private Eye magazine’s annual round-up of civic cock-ups
- Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
In the summer months when I’m working from home I often pop down to Addiscombe Recreation Ground for a bit of lunch.
Hopefully the hordes of Star Wars fans won’t get between me and my sandwich. I’ll bring my lightsaber just in case.
With St James’ Road (CR8) being the childhood home of Peter Cushing, can Croydon lay claim to being the London Borough of Star Wars?
Perhaps South London can claim to be closely associated with horror films, with Boris Karloff (originally William Pratt) was born in Forest Hill Road, Peckham Rye ?
Anyone know why Boris changed his name..?
I saw Darth at a Mayday party – couldn’t miss him