LucasFilmsDarth Vader found Admiral Motti's lack of faith "disturbing," but Richard LeParmentier's arrogant Death Star officer somehow escaped the Empire leader's wrath.
LeParmentier, who had dozens of film and TV roles but remains forever linked to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (or just plain Star Wars), died Tuesday. He was 66.
"Every time we find someone's lack of faith disturbing, we'll think of him," his children said in a statement. LeParmentier, who lived in Bath, England, was visiting family in Austin, Texas, when he passed.
"At age 66, Richard Le Parmentier is one with the Force," the statement continued. "We're deeply grateful to the many devoted fans who have posted personal remembrances of our dad as a warm, genuine person with an unparalleled joie de vivre and gift for friendship (not to mention a mean petanque player). To his fans and friends, his lines were the ultimate power in the universe. He absolutely loved traveling the world and meeting his friends and fellow Star Wars fans—whose tributes have given us all the best lines in this message."
"He was no respecter of convention, except comic conventions," they said. "Richard was a talented actor and director whose career spanned four decades and dozens of projects. He edited another draft of his latest project two days before death, with its sorcerer's ways, took him from us. He has gone to the Stars, and he will be missed. We love you dad, and thank you to everyone."
In addition to Star Wars, LeParmentier was on the big screen in, among other things, Rollerball, Octopussy, Reds, Superman II, The People That Time Forgot and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
He was divorced from Superman actress Sarah Douglas.