- Height
- 5' 9"
- Mini biography
- His father was
a captain in the United States Navy; he grew up
in California, Virginia, New York and Japan. He
majored in drama at Los Angeles City College and
made his acting debut on "The Bill Cosby
Show" in 1970. He played a continuing role
(Kent Murray) in TV's "General
Hospital" (1963) and co-starred in the
respected TV comedy series "Texas
Wheelers, The" (1974). Real fame came
with his film debut (he was voice only in Wizards
(1977) with the hero role of Luke Skywalker
in Star Wars (1977), Star Wars: Episode V -
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star
Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983).
He experienced a disfiguring car crash, but later
played in Broadway shows (he was Mozart
in "Amadeus"), returning to film in
1989.
-
- Spouse
| 'Marilou York' |
(1978
- present) |
- Trivia
- Father of Nathan
Hamill (b. 25 June 1979), Griffin (b. 4
March 1983), Chelsea (b. 27 July 1988)
In
an ironic counterpoint to his problem of being
typecast as a upright hero like Luke Skywalker in
live-action roles, Mark Hamill has found that his
successful career as an animation voice actor has
typecast him as a player of flamboyant villains
like the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series.
Attended Yokohama High School.
Hamill met his wife, Mary Lou York,
when she was his dental hygienist.
He did all his own stunts in Star
Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
He accidentaly hit Peter Stormare
during a fight scene in Hamilton.
He did all his own stunts in the
empire strikes back, except in the scene in Cloud
city where he is sucked out of a window.
He was originally cast as David on
Eight is Enough, and asked to be released from
his contract before Star Wars came out because he
sensed the movie would be successful, and Hamill
wanted to focus on his movie career. ABC refused
to release him from his contract, thinking that
having a successful movie star connected with the
show would help Eight is Enough. Hamill was then
in a car crash in December 1976 and injured his
face badly enough to warrent plastic surgery.
This made him unavailable for shooting the TV
series, and ABC was forced to recast the role of
David, which then went to Grant Goodeve.
- Personal
quotes
- I have a
sneaking suspicion that if there were a way to
make movies without actors, George (Lucas) would
do it.
"Acting in
'Star Wars' I felt like a raisin in a giant fruit
salad, and I didn't even know who the cantaloupes
were."
- Biography from
Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
- Boyish-looking
actor who created the character of Luke Skywalker
in George Lucas' classic Star Wars series.
Not a terribly versatile performer, he got across
enough energy and postadolescent frustration in Star
Wars (1977) to create considerable sympathy
for his character. Before that film, he had
appeared in TV movies and done voiceovers for
cartoons. He was in a serious auto accident after
completing shooting on Star Wars and much
of his face had to be completely reconstructed,
accounting for his gaunt, hollow look in the
first sequel, The Empire Strikes Back
(1980). As the trilogy continued, Hamill stood
still as an actor while costar Harrison Ford grew
into a very credible action hero and romantic
lead, and while Hamill remains the focal point of
all the movies, much of the intrigue of their
storylines was transferred to Ford and costar
Carrie Fisher by the time of wrap-up Return of
the Jedi (1983). Buoyed by his Star Wars
fame, Hamill was starred in Corvette Summer (1978),
and featured in Samuel Fuller's WW2 ensemble
piece The Big Red One (1980) and The
Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (1981),
but never established himself as a bona fide
star. (He fared better on Broadway, where he
played "The Elephant Man" and Mozart in
"Amadeus," to good reviews.) A
big-budget British science fiction film, Slipstream
(1989), never even got U.S. theatrical release.
Hamill now stars in such video releases as Black
Magic Woman (1990) and Wishman (1991).
He's also the voice of The Joker on the animated
"Batman" TV series, and in the feature Batman:
Mask of the Phantasm (1993).
Copyright ©1994 Leonard
Maltin, used by arrangement with
Signet, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc.
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