Mayhew was born in Surrey, England in 1944. An overactive pituitary gland caused him to grow to a height of 7 feet, 3 inches as a teen (!). According to Mayhew, doctors performed a procedure in which they burned out his pituitary with radiation, which halted his rapid growth. He claimed that without the procedure, he'd likely have grown to a whopping 8 feet!
He also suffered from Marfan Syndrome, a genetic condition that affects the body's connective tissue.
Shortly afterward, George Lucas was in England filming a little movie called Star Wars. He was looking for tall men to play various characters in the film, and spotted Mayhew in the Sinbad movie.
According to Mayhew, his audition with Lucas consisted of him simply standing up and towering over him!
Lucas originally wanted to cast Mayhew as Darth Vader, but eventually changed his mind and gave him the role of Chewie. And the rest is movie history!
Considering the fact that Mayhew was covered head to toe in a heavy fur suit, he could have easily phoned in the part and simply stood there like a lump. Fortunately that wasn't the case, and he took the role very seriously. He studied the movements of gorillas and bears, which helped him give Chewie a distinctive personality.
Chewie's distinctive grunts and howls were provided by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt, who cobbled them together from various animal noises, such as bears, seals, walruses and more. On set, Mayhew actually spoke all of Chewie's lines in English! You can find videos of this over on YouTube, and I highly recommend you check 'em out. It's pretty freaky hearing a muffled human voice come out of a Wookiee's mouth!
After Star Wars wrapped, Mayhew didn't let showbiz go to his head, as he went back to his day job as an orderly. In fact he was so broke he had to move back in with his parents. Fortunately by the time The Return Of The Jedi came along, Mayhew was in huge demand at comic book and sci-fi conventions. He eventually earned enough from selling autographs that he was able to get his own place.
Mayhew married his wife Angie in 1999, and the couple moved to Texas. He became a U.S. citizen six years later. The couple were together until his death.
By all accounts, Mayhew was a kind and generous man who was fiercely devoted to his legions of fans. He was also quite active on reddit, often leaving comments on random posts. He always ended each post the same way, by writing, "Cheers, Peter Mayhew."
His Star Wars co-stars have nothing but good things to say about him as well. Mark Hamill had this to say:
"He was the gentlest of giants— A big man with an even bigger heart who never failed to make me smile & a loyal friend who I loved dearly-I'm grateful for the memories we shared & I'm a better man for just having known him. Thanks Pete."
"Peter Mayhew was a kind and gentle man, possessed of great dignity and noble character," said the actor. "These aspects of his own personality, plus his wit and grace, he brought to Chewbacca. We were partners in film and friends in life for over 30 years and I loved him. He invested his soul in the character and brought great pleasure to the Star Wars audience. Chewbacca was an important part of the success of the films we made together. He knew how important the fans of the franchise were to its continued success and he was devoted to them. I and millions of others will never forget Peter and what he gave us all. My thoughts are with his dear wife Angie and his children. Rest easy, my dear friend…. "
I was particularly pleased to see Ford take the time to comment on Mayhew's death. In the past Ford hasn't been shy about voicing his disdain for the whole Star Wars franchise, so it's heartening to know the two of them were friends.
Sadly, various health problems plagued Mayhew in his later years, which forced him to give up the role of Chewbacca. He then began training his replacement, Finnish basketball player Joonas Suotamo. Fortunately it appears that Suotamo takes the role of Chewie just as seriously as Mayhew did, continuing the Wookiee legacy started way back in 1977.
R.I.P. Peter Mayhew.
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