Clive Revill, Original Voice For The Emperor, Has Passed Away At 94

Star Wars

Mar 30

Clive Revill, the voice of the Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back, has unfortunately passed away at age ninety-four. Daughter Kate announced online that he had lost his battle with dementia on March 11th, 2025.

Revill was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and moved to the United Kingdom at the age of twenty to perform at Bristol’s iconic Old Vic theatre. He became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company after a chance meeting with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh while working his day job at a bank.

He crossed the pond in 1952, to Broadway, where he achieved a Tony nomination for his portrayal of Fagin in Oliver! Revill went back and forth between the States and the UK, where he was starting to pick up small parts on the small screen, including a walk on the popular British series The Adventures of Robin Hood.

In 1970 Clive Revill was cast as Rogozhin in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Stephenson and Christopher Lee. Two years later he landed his most plaudited role of Carlo Carlucci. The Jack Lemmon comedy Avanti! earned Revill a Golden Globe nomination.

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Star Wars was Clive Revill’s first attempt at voice acting, and a landmark in his career. Before Ian McDiarmid was cast in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Marjorie Eaton played Palpatine. Director Ivan Irvin Kershner had worked with Revill in 1966 on a small British picture, A Fine Madness, and brought Revill on board for the dialogue. He was replaced by McDiarmid in the 2004 Special Edition, but that doesn’t minimize his contribution or his importance to the fans.

“Those voices are all influenced by this first example, that was 45 years ago. That’s the importance of that legacy. He was the first guy to do it.” Greg Iwinski, writer on Young Jedi Adventures.

Clive Revill was prolific in 80s and 90s kids cartoons. Revill was the voice of Kickback in The Transformers series and animated movie, Galeo from The Snorks, and Alfred in Batman: The Animated Series, and many many more. But he loved performing and found time to work in all mediums.

Trekkies will remember Clive Revill best as Sir Guy of Gisborne in Star Trek: Next Generation, but he’s crossed into many franchises. In his later years, he became popular as a video game voice actor ticking off every major movie series, playing Thorin in The Hobbit Video Game, Doctor Doom in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, and Darth Gravus in Star Wars: Old Republic. Revill also made a return to the Transformers franchise, voicing Jetfire in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Revill is survived by his daughter Kate and granddaughter Kayla.

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