Mark Hamill, George Lucas and Ewan McGregor lead tributes to Star Wars actor Kenny Baker
The British actor died yesterday after suffering from lung problems over the last few years
Emotional tributes to British actor Kenny Baker who died on Saturday have been posted by his Star Wars colleagues.
Mark Hamill, George Lucas and Ewan McGregor have all paid their respects to Kenny who played R2-D2 in the popular film series.
He passed away at the age of 81 after suffering a long illness.
Writing on Twitter, Mark called Kenny a 'lifelong loyal-friend'.
Goodbye A lifelong loyal friend-I loved his optimism & determination He WAS the droid I was looking for!
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself)
Ewan also took to twitter and said it was 'lovely' to work with Kenny on the sci-fi franchise.
So sorry to hear about this. It was lovely working with Kenny. Kenny Baker, Star Wars R2-D2 actor, dies aged 81
— Ewan McGregor (@mcgregor_ewan)
Lucas, chose to write a touching tribute on starwars.com.
He wrote: “Kenny Baker was a real gentleman as well as an incredible trooper who always worked hard under difficult circumstances.
“A talented vaudevillian who could always make everybody laugh, Kenny was truly the heart and soul of R2-D2 and will be missed by all his fans and everyone who knew him.”
Kenny shot to fame when he first played the robot in 1977's A New Hope.
He returned in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as the three prequels from 1999 to 2005.
3ft 8in tall Kenny also appeared in The Goonies, Time Bandits and Flash Gordon.
He suffered lung problems in his last few years and was confined to a wheelchair in the build-up to his death.
Kenny was found dead by his nephew.
His niece, Abigail Shield, told : "It was expected, but it's sad nonetheless. He had a very long and fulfilled life.
"He brought lots of happiness to people and we'll be celebrating the fact that he was well loved throughout the world. We're all very proud of what he achieved in his lifetime."
Kenny and Abigail's father, Ian, grew up in Birmingham.
She added: "When he was a child, he was told that he probably wouldn't survive through puberty, being a little person in those times, they didn't have a very good life expectancy.
He did extremely well in his life. He was very ill for the last few years so we had been expecting it."