Entertainment

Star Wars’ Mark Hamill: I used wheelchair to dodge autograph hunters

The Luke Skywalker actor criticised reports of his ill health as “complete fantasy”.
The Luke Skywalker actor criticised reports of his ill health as “complete fantasy”. The Luke Skywalker actor criticised reports of his ill health as “complete fantasy”.

Star Wars’ Mark Hamill has told how he disguised himself using a wheelchair in a bid to avoid autograph hunters.

The Luke Skywalker actor criticised tabloid newspapers’ reports suggesting he was in ill health as “complete fantasy”.

Hamill, 66, was spotted being wheeled through New York’s JFK Airport with a wide-brimmed hat pulled over his face to mask his identity.

“This was just an extreme condition because we had flown red eye and I arrived at 5am – there are guys with 15 posters in each hand. You think real fans are there at 5am? No,” he told the Press Association.

“I was running across the airport because we were really late and we had to be somewhere, so I couldn’t have even stopped if I wanted to.

“So at the last moment my daughter goes, ‘Hey dad, get in the wheelchair, take the dog, put Millie on your lap, pull your hat down, let’s see if we can do it’.

“And of course, click click, it goes all around the world.”

After seeing reports, he tweeted that he was “using the old wheelchair trick” to avoid those who “constantly badger” him by seeking to profit off his signature.

He said news websites reported the pictures as “Mark Hamill on his deathbed”.

“It was a complete fantasy,” The Last Jedi actor said.