The champion weightlifter-turned-actor starred as the body, but not the voice, of one of cinema's best-known villains.
Director George Lucas opted to dub another voice - that of James Earl Jones - on to Prowse's portrayal of the towering, masked antagonist Darth Vader in "Star Wars", "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi".
Prowse was honoured by Queen Elizabeth in 2000 for services to charity and road safety after starring in a long running public campaign as a character called the Green Cross Code Man who encouraged pedestrian road safety.