Kenny Baker: One With the Force

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

This is the year that will probably go down in history as ‘the year when everyone amazing passed on’. We’ve lost Alan Rickman, David Bowie, and now Kenny Baker aka R2D2 from “Star Wars”. Kenny Baker died in his sleep on August 13^th, 2016.

Baker was born in Birmingham, England on August 24, 1934. Due to his size of 3 ft 8 inches, Kenny Baker wasn’t expected to live past his puberty. His stature as a little person gave way to respiratory problems which accrued during his life and caused him to be in a wheelchair. Despite his height and illness, Baker became immortalized as R2D2 when he took on the iconic role in 1977. But before Baker stepped inside R2D2’s suit, he worked as a circus performer, a pantomime, and a nightclub actor at the age of sixteen. He was a part of a musical duo called the “Mini-Tones” with his friend, Jack Purvis, before he died in a car accident and Baker started his film debut.

Despite his height and health problems, Baker didn’t want to be treated differently and would inform others of this. His wife, Eileen, saw him on the “Michael Parkinson TV Chat Show” and wrote in, wanting to meet him because she too was a little person. After their meeting, they married shortly after only for Eileen to die from epilepsy in 1993. Not for one day did she treat him differently, not even when they made a family together.

Baker has cemented a place for himself in the hearts of many from fans to George Lucas and even his niece, Abigail Shield. Baker likes to be known for other roles he has played such as the Plumed Dwarf in “The Elephant Man”, Fidgit from “Time Bandits”, a part of the Goblin Corps from “Labryinth”, and many other memorable roles. He even starred as a jester in the music video for “Safety Dance” by the band, Men Without Hats. Baker was living proof that big things (such as talent, kindness, and professionalism) come in small packages.

Rest in peace, Kenny Baker – you were the droid we were looking for.

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So tell me, what Kenny Baker role did you most enjoy?

Sleeping With the Stars: Anton Yelchin

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

This year is incredibly bizarre so far. No, not for personal reasons, but more so the fact that fantastic celebrities keep dying. So far we’ve lost David Bowie, Muhammad Ali, Doris Roberts, Prince, and so many other people that I’m uncertain how much more our hearts can bear.

Sadly, we’ve lost yet another celebrity: Anton Yelchin. Anton Yelchin is also known as the young Chekov in J.J. Abrams’ rebooted Star Trek movies.

Yelchin was fatally pinned by his car against his brick mailbox pillar and the gate of his home. No one had tampered with the vehicle; officials found the car in the neutral gear. What many believe occurred was that the car rolled down the steep drive way and fatally collided with the young actor. The trauma from the incident led to his demise. His body was found by his friends who were concerned as to why he hadn’t appeared for an 11 pm rehearsal.

Yelchin drove a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee which had been recalled earlier this year due to rollbacks. Fiat Chrysler believes it was the car’s shifter behind the rollback which possibly caused 41 injuries. Fiat Chrysler claims it will aid in Yelchin's investigation.

Yelchin was twenty seven years old and originally from St. Petersburg, Russia. His parents were two iconic professional ice skaters who fled to America as political refugees. During their escape, Yelchin was still a child and raised in Los Angeles. After hitting his head as a kid, Yelchin didn’t want to become an ice skater. Instead he preferred reading, chess, and acting. His first professional role was Augie in A Man is Mostly Water. From there onward, he starred in other movies and series such as From Up on Poppy Hill, Only Lovers Left Alive, Huff, and The Practice. Yelchin just finished starring in the movies Thoroughbred and Star Trek: Beyond.

I’m not sure how many more wondrous people we’ll lose this year, especially one as young and as tragic as Anton Yelchin. Rest in peace, Yelchin – may you go boldly where no man as gone before.

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So tell me, what will you remember Anton Yelchin most for?

Sayonara Snape and Starman

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

They say that when you grow up you leave your childhood behind. You leave your footie pajamas, your old toys, and maybe even your favorite movies like the “Harry Potter” series and “Labyrinth”.  Some people are sentimentalists and/or diehard fans and will stay true to fandoms they loved as a child. “Harry Potter” and “Labyrinth” are no exceptions; so when two iconic roles from those films (or any other film) die, it breaks our heart to know that that person made what we treasure so dearly from our pasts.

Alan Rickman and David Bowie departed this past week at the age of 69, both suffering from cancer.  Their deaths have sparked outrage throughout the world and broken the hearts of many, including mine.

To be frank with you, I’m still in disbelief that we lost two wondrous people. Both these men shaped my childhood in ways that I still fondly remember. David Bowie’s voice was one of the first things I remember hearing, especially “Space Oddity” and his introduction to the animation, “The Snowman”.  Afterwards, Bowie took me into the depths of “Labyrinth” where not only my love for Jim Henson’s craft bloomed, but I also heard more than just his message to Major Tom. There I heard his expansive vocal range and to this day, “As the World Falls Down” still wins my heart every time I hear it. His other songs are catchy and captivating, causing me to listen to them without end.

Alan Rickman appeared a few years later as the tall, brooding Snape who claimed he could brew fame, bottle glory, and even put a stopper in death. I always believed him to be a serious, no –nonsense actor, but when I heard about his lighthearted interaction with a young Rupert Grint, my mind was completely changed. Apparently Rupert was crafting an unattractive picture of Snape/Alan Rickman while he stood behind him. When Rupert was done, Alan asked to see the picture and had Rupert sign it so that Alan could keep it. He said it was one of his most treasured mementos from the “Harry Potter” series.

When I also learned that he needed to understand the character in order to play them, it revealed to me just how truly devoted of an actor and man he was. He was given secretive information regarding Severus Snape by no other than JK Rowling herself and throughout the movies he allowed the character to be hard-hearted, but also grow into someone we adore.

To his day, despite their deaths, we adore these men. We love the crazy, colorful antics of Ziggy Stardust only to be followed by the charming allure of the Thin White Duke.  We admire the secretive, yet dark and foreboding nature of Professor Snape. Both men left irreplaceable marks on this world with Bowie inventing glam rock, different personas that we still remember him as, and producing music that will never be forgotten. Rickman forever labeled himself as ‘Severus Snape’ to an entire generation while learning about characters to understand them better like Judge Turpin, Marvin, Metatron, and Alexander Dane.

So raise your wands and blast “Starman” because David Bowie and Alan Rickman are up there in the sky. They’d like to come and see us again, but they’d blow our minds. Until we meet with them, let’s remember them for who they were and how they stayed with us from childhood to adulthood.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to subscribe, share, comment, and critique.

So tell me, what are your favorite characters portrayed by David Bowie and Alan Rickman?