Michael John Edward Culver was born June 16, 1938, in London to Daphne Rye, a theater casting director, and Ronald Culver, an actor, according to Bowington.
Culver performed in several Shakespeare plays and worked regularly with British director Anthony Page, his agent said.
Culver is survived by his second wife, Amanda Ward Culver, and his children, Roderic, Sue and Justin Culver. His son Roderic also became an actor, Bowington said.
Later in his life, Culver mostly gave up acting to focus on politics and would have likely pursued a political career had he not been an actor, Bowington said.
He still regularly visited Star Wars fan events, notably one in Chicago in 2019, when “he was lost for words” when he saw nearly 200 people waiting in line to see him, his agency said in its statement.
In a 2023 interview on the Making Tracks podcast, he recalled that he “knew nothing about” the movie before auditioning, and marveled that its extraordinary appeal meant he was still asked about it well into his 80s.
“When I did Star Wars, it just seemed to be, ‘Oh, they’re doing a movie about starships.’ So I did it. I just thought, ‘Well, I hope it’s successful," he said, adding: “You don’t expect 40 years later to be still signing autographs for it.”