Who was Clive Revill? Actor known for Star Wars and Batman, dies at 94

New Zealand actor, Clive Revill, best known for voicing Emperor Palpatine in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) passed away on March 11 in Sherman Oaks, California at 94. His daughter Kate, confirmed to Variety that the actor died after a lengthy battle with dementia.

Clive Revill's acting career spanned decades from 1955-2016 and he appeared in around 200 onscreen roles. Revill was also known for his appearances in Star Wars, Transformers, and Batman. Revill was a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company and worked in two films with Billy Walder in the 1970s—The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and Avanti!

---

More about Clive Revill's career

Clive Revill, was born in Wellington to Eleanor May and Malet Barford Revill. Before his acting career took off, Revill originally trained to be an accountant in New Zealand, but went on to make his stage debut as Sebastian in Twelfth Night in 1950 and moved to London to study acting at the Old Vic Theatre.

Revill spent most of his 1960s appearing in Shakespeare productions including, Hamlet, Love's Labour Lost, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, and The Tempest.

The actor made his Broadway debut in 1952 in the role of Sam Weller in The Pickwick Papers and also appeared in Irma la Douce, The Incomparable Max, and Oliver.

In the 1960s and 70s, Clive Revill made appearances as comic eccentrics in British films such as Kaleidoscope, Modesty Blaise, The Double Man, Fathom, The Assassination Bureau, A Severed Head, The Black Windmill, and One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing.

The actor then moved to the United States where he made a series of guest appearances in hit TV shows such as Columbo, Magnum PI, and Murder, She Wrote. The actor was known for his proficiency in mastering accents and lent his voice to feature-length films and animated series including Alfred Pennyworth in the first three episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, Chico in Chico the Rainmaker, and Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious in the original 1980 version of The Empire Strikes Back.

Later, in the DVD release versions of the film in 2004, his voice was replaced by that of Ian McDiarmid. In 2015, while speaking about Star Wars fans approaching him for his voice role, Reville recollected saying:

"They come up to me, and I tell them to get close and shut their eyes. Then I say, 'There is a great disturbance in the Force.' People turn white, and one nearly faitned!"

The actor is survived by his daughter Kate and granddaughter Kayla.