David Prowse died due to COVID-19, confirms daughter

London [UK], November 30 (ANI): David Prowse, who portrayed the villain character of Darth Vader in the original 'Star Wars' trilogy, died due to coronavirus, his daughter said while paying tribute to the British actor who passed away on Sunday.
Prowse, the English bodybuilder and actor who portrayed the villain character of Darth Vader in the original 'Star Wars' trilogy, died at the age of 85, confirmed his management on Sunday.
In a Twitter post, Prowse's management company Bowington Management confirmed that the actor died following a short illness: "It's with great regret and heart-wrenching sadness for us and millions of fans around the world, to announce that our client Dave Prowse MBE has passed away at the age of 85."
His daughter Rachel, 50, on Monday confirmed that the British actor had died due to coronavirus. The actor had been admitted to a London hospital with COVID-19 for past two weeks.
The Daily Mail quoted Rachel as saying, "It's horrible that Covid restrictions meant we did not get to see him and say goodbye. But when we went to collect his stuff from the hospital, the nurse said what a cool guy he was."
"He might have looked quite scary but as a person he was a sweet, kind and generous man. He really was a gentle giant. And to us he was our dad," she further said.
"He was such a larger-than-life character. He would have loved to see himself trending on Twitter," she added.
She also confirmed that David had previously been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, the Daily Mail said.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, David was misdiagnosed with tuberculosis of the knee and forced to wear a leg splint for four years as a youngster (it turned out he actually had osteoarthritis). Yet he went on to compete for the Mr Universe bodybuilding title in 1960 before capturing the British weightlifting championship three straight years running, from 1962 to 64 and at age 50, he was still able to dead-lift 700 pounds. (ANI)