Don't recognize the name Kenny Baker? He's R2D2! Baker was inside the robot for all six Star Wars movies. In honor of his 78th birthday, mental_floss has ten facts you might not know about Baker, whose career has been much more than just the little droid. Link
Kenny's interview at Metro is enlightening:
How did you get the part?
Me and my cabaret partner Jack Purvis were asked to audition and went to 20th Century Fox in Soho Square and walked into the room where George Lucas was sitting. He saw me come in and said 'He'll do' because I was the smallest guy they'd seen up until then. I'd also been in the business for 30 years before the film so I knew what happened on a film set. I turned it down three times because we were doing Opportunity Knocks at the time and I was hoping to get TV work and then take the act round the clubs. Once I'd done it though, and the film was released, it snowballed - when you're part of one of the most famous films of all time, you decide to stick with it. Jack was a bit jealous at first but I persuaded him to make the most of it - our act rode the crest of the Star Wars wave for a while.