Peter Mayhew, who played the popular Chewbacca in the famed saga “Star Wars,” died at age 74 and has left a new void in the followers of the universe created by George Lucas.
Peter Mayhew was responsible for giving life to this beloved character in the first three installments of the franchise and returned to put on the Wookiee costume in The Force Awakens.
esides being a great pilot and having an excellent ability to repair ships, Chewbacca hides other secrets that, perhaps, many of the fans did not know. Here, we will review what are these lesser-known details from the actor and the character:
1. Chewbacca was inspired by George Lucas’s dog
The popular personage from the “Star Wars” saga was inspired by a gigantic malamute from Alaska called Indiana, the mascot belonging to George Lucas. The director said that when they saw their dog in the passenger seat of their car they thought it was a person. It should be noted that Indiana also inspired the name of Indiana Jones.
2. How was the character constructed?
George Lucas hired artistic makeup supervisor Stuart Freeborn for the creation of Chewbacca’s costume. Lucas was very impressed with the work realized by Freeborn in the representation of the anthropoids in the sequence “The Awakening Man” from the film “A Space Odyssey” (1968) from Stanley Kubrick.
3. Chewbacca is a Russian name
The name of the character comes from the Russian language, which means dog. For its part, the term Wookiee was created by voice actor Terry McGovern during a recording for George Lucas’ debut film.
4. Chewbacca bellows are real
And these sounds, for the most part, are inspired by a bear. Ben Burtt, the sound engineer of the original film, cataloged them according to the emotion that they portrayed (anger, tranquility, etc.) and then grouped them into different phrases as if they were a language.
5. The family of Chewbacca
In the “Star Wars” television special, it was revealed that Chewbacca was a father and had a family. His partner was Mallatobuck, his son Lumpawaroo and his father Attichitcuk. In addition, in the episode, Chewie visits his planet Kashyyyk accompanied by Han Solo to celebrate Life Day, a Wookiee festival.
6. The age of Chewbacca
It is relative because the Wookiee species is very different from that of humans. In Episode IV of “Star Wars, A New Hope,” the popular character was 200 years old.
7. The costume is made of natural hair
In short, the suit was made from a mixture of rabbit skin and yak woven on a mohair base. The same disguise was reused – with slight modifications – in “The Phantom Menace” (1999) for Senator Wookiee Yarua.
8. Medal of Valor
Many “Star Wars” fans were upset because Chewbacca did not receive the medal of valor that was awarded to Luke Skywalker and Han Solo in “A New Hope,” so MTV decided that Chewie was worthy of a prize and in 1997, during the gala of the MTV Movie Awards, he was awarded and received the distinction from the hands of Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher). As if that were not enough, his speech was in the language of the Wookiees.
9. The current disguise has certain improvements
The most recent disguise includes its own liquid cooling system, which debuted in “Episode III” (2005). In this way, Peter Mayhew – who was already 60 years old – could stay in the suit for a longer period of time.
10. What do monkeys have to do with Chewbacca?
Wookiees are hairy creatures that live in trees, and it is easy to associate the character with apes. Under this premise, Peter Mayhew said in an interview that he had devoted himself to observe the behavior of a family of monkeys in a zoo, to see how they interacted with each other.
