Creator of R2-D2 dies

Tony Dyson, the creator of the Star Wars android, R2-D2, died at the age of 68 at his home in Malta on March 3, 2016 (The Telegraph, March 5, 2016).

Dyson built R2-D2 in 1977 for the George Lucas Star Wars film in the same year. R2-D2 starred with the golden robot, C-3PO, the protocol droid. R2-D2 is one of the most famous robots in cinematic history, appearing in all seven Star Wars films with C-3PO.

R2-D2 is an astromech droid, or a thermocapsulary dehousing assister. His squat body enabled English actor, Kenny Baker, to appear as the robot in the first Star Wars film. C-3PO was first portrayed by Anthony Daniels. Tony Dyson had his own studio (The White Horse Toy Company) in England where he created R2-D2 from the artwork of Ralph McQuarrie and John Stears.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/movie-news/star-wars-r2d2-inventor-tony-dyson-dead/

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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