You may not remember him, but a briefly glimpsed character named BoShek played a very pivotal role in the original Star Wars.
When Luke and Obi Wan hit the Mos Eisley Cantina in search of a pilot, the first person they approach is a middle-aged, mutton-chopped man named BoShek. He turns them down, but points them in the direction of a strange giant dog man, who then introduces them to trigger-happy pilot named Han Solo, and history is made. Who knows how the Star Wars saga might have unfolded if BoShek had been up for a trip to Alderaan?
Sure, BoShek is a very minor player in the Star Wars universe, but Lucasfilm bothered to give him a name, and an action figure. You’d expect whoever played him to be hitting up the convention circuit to this day, but no, up until now we’ve had no idea who played this mysterious character. He isn’t in the movie’s credits, and apparently nobody who worked on the movie remembers the actor.
@impressboshek @starwarstraders Here you go! #BoShek #SWCT #StarWars #StarWarsCustoms pic.twitter.com/2qmLYLijJW
— B0BA-FETT (@Vashon42) August 8, 2015
Well, investigative journalist Bill Jensen decided to crack one of Star Wars‘ most enduring enigmas. Jensen teamed up with Star Wars scholar Tom Spina and collector Dave Oldbury, but none of their investigations bore any fruit. Thankfully, Jensen put out enough feelers that the family of the man who played BoShek reached out to him. The daughter of the man who played BoShek revealed his identity…
“My Dad, Mr. Frances Alfred Basil Tomlin played the part of Boshek. Everyone new my Dad as Tom. Unfortunately my Dad passed away over 11 years ago now, but it would be nice if we could get his name recognized as his claim to fame was his part as Boshek and a storm trooper in the first Star Wars film.”
Tomlin’s daughter provided a photo to prove it was her dad who played BoShek, which you can check out here.
Why was Tomlin not credited in Star Wars? Probably no particular reason – the movie didn’t credit a lot of people. That said, the fact that nobody could remember who played BoShek was rather strange. Tomlin passed away 11 years ago, but at least he can now be remembered for his role as an almost-nerf herder.
(via Billy Jensen)
