Ian McDiarmid - Definition and Overview

Ian McDiarmid as Senator Palpatine in The Phantom Menace

Ian McDiarmid (born August 11, 1944) is a Scottish actor. He is most famous for his role in Star Wars as Palpatine, the cunning politician who eventually becomes ruler of the evil Empire. He is one of the few actors who has depicted the same character in both of the Star Wars trilogies.

In the 2004 re-release of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, a brief scene between Darth Vader and a hologram of Emperor Palpatine was updated to have him depicted by McDiarmid (the Emperor was originally voiced by Clive Reville for that scene.) With this addition to The Empire Strikes Back, Palpatine is now exclusively depicted by McDiarmid in the films.

Ian McDiarmid was born in Carnoustie, Tayside, Scotland. He was an unknown charismatic stage actor in his thirties when he was cast as the most powerful being in the Star Wars universe. He has achieved little recognition for his role, which may have a lot do with the mysterious absence of his character from Episode VI’s advertising, except from Star Wars fans with whom he has a kind of cult following. While some fans complained about the addition of Hayden Christensen to Return of the Jedi, hardly a word was said about McDiarmid being added to The Empire Strikes Back.

Filmography

Theatrical movies

• The Likely Lads (1976) as vicar
• Richard's Things (1980) as burglar
• The Awakening (1980) as Dr. Richter
• Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980) as Reg Smeeton
• Dragonslayer (1981) as Brother Jacobus
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) as Emperor Palpatine
• Gorky Park (1983) as Prof. Andreev
• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels(1988) as Arthur
• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) as Senator Palpatine/Chancellor Palpatine
• Sleepy Hollow (1999) as Dr. Thomas Lancaster
• Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) as Chancellor Palpatine
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith as Chancellor Palpatine/Emperor Palpatine

TV movies

• Macbeth (1979) as the porter and ross
• (1991) as Dr. Vatisenko
• Heart of Darkness (1994) as doctor
• Annie: A Royal Adventure!(1995) as Dr. Eli Eon
• Hillsborough(1996) as Dr. Popper
• Rebecca(1997) as coroner
• Great Expectations (1999) as Jaggers
• All the King's Men (1999) as Rev. Pierrepoint Edwards

External links

• IMDb page on McDiarmid (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001519/)
• A fan's website (http://www.ianmcdiarmid.com/)