Biography

June 29, 1947 · Dumfries, Scotland, UK

Michael Alexander Carter

6′ (1.83 m)

He was cast as "Bib Fortuna" in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) after casting director Mary Selway saw him appearing in the play "The Streets of London" in 1981. It took over eight hours of make-up to first transform him into the character. By the end of his five-week shoot, make-up artist Nick Dudman had streamlined the process down to 58 minutes. Removing the make-up took another 25 minutes. He also wore lifts to make himself appear even more imposing than his actual 6 feet in height.

Also a writer: he made his first foray into screenwriting (as co-scenarist with writer/director Sergio Toledo) for the teleplay One Man's War (1991). His first novel "The UnAmericans" was published in 2013.

Trained at RADA.

His portrayal of the Spirit of Christmas Future in A Christmas Carol (1984) responds to Ebenezer Scrooge (George C. Scott) in the form of an eerie metallic noise sounding similar to the screech of a cemetery's gate.

I was initially surprised by the way people remember me from Return of the Jedi because when I was working on film, I just sort of turned up, did the job and didn't think much about it. But nowadays, I get letters about it all the time, from people all over the place. It's odd because my character, Bib Fortuna, is very famous, but I'm not. It's a very weird situation to be in, but it's definitely something I've gotten used to!