British Actor, Musician. Baker portrayed the character R2-D2 in the Star Wars franchise and also appeared in The Elephant Man (1980), Time Bandits (1981), Willow (1988), Flash Gordon (1980), Amadeus (1984) and Labyrinth (1986). Born in Birmingham, England and educated in Kent, Kenny went to live with his father and relatives in Sussex. Although born to parents of average height, Baker stood at 3 ft 8in (1.12m) as an adult. After being approached on the street in 1951 by a talent scout, he later joined a troupe of dwarfs and midgets, giving his first taste of showbiz. Later, he joined the circus, where he learned to ice-skate and appeared in many shows, forming a successful comedy act called the Minitones with entertainer Jack Purvis. While working with Purvis, Baker was selected by filmmaker George Lucas to operate the robot (droid) R2-D2 in the fantasy feature film Star Wars which released in 1977. He appears as R2-D2 in six of the episodic theatrical Star Wars films, and played an additional role in 1983's Return of the Jedi as Paploo the Ewok. Baker continued his association with the R2-D2 character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens which was released on 18 December 2015 in North America. He was going to be a member of the cast, but he served as consultant for the character instead. On television, he appeared in the British medical drama Casualty. He also had a part in the BBC production of The Chronicles of Narnia. In the late 1990's, Baker launched a brief comedy career. He played Casanova in the 1993 movie UFO. Baker resided in Preston, Lancashire, enjoying married life with actress Eileen Baker from 1970 until her death in 1983. Kenny was a much-loved local legend, and could often be seen driving his specially-adapted Rolls-Royce through the town. He passed away eleven days before his 82nd birthday, following a brief illness.