(Images: South Wales Evening Post/Lucasfilm)
Assuming that Jabba the Hutt survived the Sarlacc’s digestive tract, where could he, given his professional experience, find employment? At a library, of course!
Toby Philpott, 67, was the operator of the animatronic Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi (1983). That fame gives him a lot of contract with Star Wars fans, but, he adds, “I can go shopping and no-one ever recognises me as Jabba . . .”
Mr. Philpott began his professional career as a street performer in Mexico. Then he was a clown in London and a puppeteer in Jim Henson’s workshop. It was from that contact that he secured a role in the third Star Wars film. Mr. Philpott notes that George Lucas treated him and his three colleagues in the Jabba rig as one performer:
"The challenge was working together so Jabba looked like one sentient creature, and not four guys in a tent.
"So we'd get George Lucas to address Jabba rather than us individually which did freak him out a bit at first."
These days, he teaches computer classes at the central public library in Cardiff, Wales, UK.