Anthony Daniels

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This article is about the English actor. For the psychiatrist, see Anthony Daniels (psychiatrist).

Anthony Daniels with C-3PO's head.

Anthony Kingsley Daniels (born February 21, 1946 in Salisbury, England), educated at Giggleswick School, is an actor best known for his role as the droid C-3PO in the "Star Wars" series of films made between 1977 and 2005. It is interesting to note that Daniels and Kenny Baker (who played R2-D2 in the series) are the only actors credited as playing the same role in all six of the Star Wars films

Aside from playing the fussy droid in all six movies, Daniels has reprised the role frequently over the past three decades. He's donned the shiny suit for: various promotional work, including hosting The Making of Star Wars; for appearances on The Muppet Show and Sesame Street; for commercials including Kenner toys, a no-smoking PSA, and even a breakfast cereal based on the character; and for prequel tie-ins such as Star Wars Connections and The Science of Star Wars. He also voiced C-3PO in a radio serial based on the original trilogy, for the Disneyland theme park attraction Star Tours, and also for two animated series: Droids and Star Wars: Clone Wars. He also provided the narration and all character voices for the Dark Force Rising and The Last Command audio books.

Daniels also has a cameo in the Outlander nightclub scene early in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones as a different character, Lieutenant Dannl Faytonni, the man in blue uniform who can be seen in a cutaway reaction shot after Obi-Wan disarms the bounty hunter Zam Wesell. Faytonni can also be seen at the Galaxies Opera House in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

Daniels was the voice of Legolas in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. He crops up intermittently on British TV in various dramas, notably in a recurring role in Prime Suspect starring Helen Mirren.

Daniels has been politically active in the United Kingdom, but he has kept his politics and his professional life completely separate.

Quoted in the Examiner, Kenny Baker described Anthony Daniels as standoffish. Baker and Daniels have been feuding for three decades. Daniels, now 60, was never friendly to the other actors in the film, either. "Anthony doesn't mix at all," says Baker. "He keeps to himself."

He is 5'9" (1.75 m). As C-3PO he has planted his 'metal' footprints in the courtyard pavement of Mann's (formerly Graumans's) Chinese Theatre.

He was the guest of honour at the Sci-Fi Congress "Shadowcon 4" in Oslo, Norway, August 1999.

Ironically, Anthony Daniels was never a science fiction fan. The only science fiction movie he ever saw in a theatre was 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). He was so dissatisfied with the movie that he walked out after only ten minutes and demanded his money back.

He was the only cast member of the Star Wars trilogy to voice his character in all three episodes of National Public Radio's dramatizations of the Star Wars trilogy (while Mark Hamill voiced Luke Skywalker for both A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, and Billy Dee Williams voiced Lando Calrissian for The Empire Strikes Back, when the Return of the Jedi adaptation was recorded many years later, Hamill and Williams were replaced by Joshua Fardon and Arye Gross, respectively).

Daniels also contributed the foreword to the collected scripts of the Return of the Jedi radio drama, as their author Brian Daley died just as the episodes were being recorded. Daniels' other Star Wars-related writings include the Wonder Column for Star Wars Insider magazine and a comic book adventure for C-3PO and R2-D2 entitled the Protocol Offensive, published by Dark Horse Comics.

As C-3PO, he has the honour of saying the first line in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, first released in 1977 and part of what is known as the Original Trilogy, and the last line in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, released in 2005 and part of the Prequel Trilogy.

In The Phantom Menace Daniels did the voice work for the character but did not appear in the movie. In 2002's Episode II: Attack of the Clones and 2005's Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, he returned to the screen (in costume) and dubbed the vocal tracks for some scenes that used CGI.