Peter Mayhew, the 7-foot-3 actor best known for playing Chewbacca in numerous Star Wars films, passed away last month at the age of 74. “Peter Mayhew was a kind and gentle man, possessed of great dignity and noble character,” Harrison Ford said in a statement at the time. “These aspects of his own personality, plus his wit and grace, he brought to Chewbacca. We were partners in film and friends in life for over 30 years and I loved him. He invested his soul in the character and brought great pleasure to the Star Wars audience.”
During Thursday’s episode of The Tonight Show, Ford continued to pay tribute to his late co-pilot. (They last appeared on-screen together in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.) “He was a really sweet man; nice man,” the actor told Jimmy Fallon. “He had a hard time physically. It was really hard for him to do what he did for us, all of us, and he did it with real dignity and class. He was a really neat guy. I miss him.” It was a rare public display of emotion from the typically closed-off Ford, who’s only one of two surviving cast members from this photo.
This is depressing, so to cheer everyone up, here’s a photo of Ford, who plays a character named Rooster in The Secret Life of Pets 2, wearing a dog’s nose.
Ford is everyone’s goofy grandpa.
(Via NBC)
