Ian McDiarmid
Promoting media: pictures, videos, wallpapers, quotes, bio, filmography.
| Known for: |
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: |
| Birthday: |
11 August 1944, Carnoustie, Tayside, Scotland, UK |
| Height: |
5' 10" (1.78 m) |
Trivia

Serves as Artistic Director of London's Almedia Theatre.

He was awarded the 2001 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama) for Best Actor for his performance in Faith Healer at the Almeida at King's Cross.

In an odd twist of fate, he played an elderly, disfigured Emperor Palpatine in
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, and then went on to play a younger version of that character, some 20 years later, in the Star Wars prequels.

Appeared with his drama school classmate
Denis Lawson in
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi and with Lawson's nephew,
Ewan McGregor in
Karaoke,
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace,
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.

Attended the University of St. Andrews where he pursued an M.A. in clinical psychology & the Royal Academy in Glasgow

In 1982, he played Harry Hackamore, a Howard Hughes-type character, in the play Seduced, by Sam Shepard. This showed his ability to convincingly play, in close-up, a character much older than himself. This is what attracted the attention of George Lucas and Richard Marquand, who decided that he could play the Emperor in Return of the Jedi, which was already in production at the time.

The makeup he had to wear in
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith took about two hours to apply and two to take off. By the end of principal photography, the makeup artists had been able to get it on in an hour and a half.

His Star Wars character, "Senator Palpatine," is believed to have been named after the character "Senator Palantine," who appears in the film
Taxi Driver. In
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine conceals a lightsaber in his sleeve and brings the hilt into his hand when he is about to engage in a fight. As "Travis Bickle," 'Robert DeNiro' conceals his handgun likewise in
Taxi Driver.

Appears in
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which is a remake of Bedtime Story, which starred
Marlon Brando. He also appears in
Heart of Darkness, which is based on the Joseph Conrad story of the same name, which was previously filmed as
Apocalypse Now, also with Brando.

Is the first actor in the Star Wars films to both physically play a Sith Lord, and provide the voice.

Appears in
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi with
Frank Oz, and then in
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which Oz directed. These films were later turned into an NPR radio broadcast and a Broadway musical, respectively.
John Lithgow appeared in both.
External Resources:
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