Inside Star Wars actor Denis Lawson’s life – from famous nephew to wife’s tragic death a year after wedding
ACTOR Denis Lawson has built an incredible acting career, with little known about the Scottish acting legend’s life.
The TV and film actor is a well known face on our screens, and will be taking to it once again to appear on The Weakest Link.
Lawson, who has held roles in BBC‘s Holby City as well as New Tricks, trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama before stepping into his first role.
The actor, who hails from Crieff in Scotland, landed his big break with a small role in a 1969 stage production of The Metamorphosis in London‘s West End.
Following on from this, he picked up roles in TV and film, including Star Wars films A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi as ace rebel pilot Wedge Antilles which has become one of his most notable roles.
One of his TV roles, in ITV‘s historical drama Victoria, saw him return to Perthshire and near to Crieff where he grew up.
Speaking in an interview with Scottish Field, he revealed that coming back to Crieff is always welcome: “I haven’t lived in Scotland for a long time, but I love coming back.
“I’m very attached to Crieff and I’m up depending on work, three or four times a year.
“I love coming back and the countryside is lovely around there.”
He also explained why he likes to hop from TV to film to theatre and into directing and producing roles, leading to a varied career.
He explained: “What I thrive on is variety in my work. So for me to do something like Victoria, then direct a play and then be in another play is what I enjoy.
“I’ve always been like that. I worked in the theatre a great deal in the first half of my career, but I’ve always enjoyed doing a wide variety of things.
“All the way from pure mime and avant-garde stuff to more conventional thrillers and musicals.
“I’ve always liked to move around a lot.”
The actor’s personal life is kept out of the spotlight. He shares a son with actress Diane Fletcher, after the pair met in a stage production of Twelfth Night.
Lawson then went on to meet his first wife Sheila Gish in 1985, with the pair together for nearly two decades before getting married in March 2004.
Sheila died a year later from cancer in 2005.
Lawson then married current wife Karen Prentice in Italy in 2017.
Lawson also has a Hollywood connection through his nephew, Moulin Rouge star Ewan McGregor, who he is said to have inspired into acting.
“I did inspire my nephew, Ewan McGregor to be an actor,” he told Scottish Field.
“When he was eight or nine, my sister said ‘Ewan has got something to say to you’ and he said very seriously ‘I want to be an actor’. He was very much inspired by me.
“I would come back to Crieff and was very different to everyone else he saw and I think he thought ‘I want to be like that.’
“I’m glad to say we still have a very close relationship, which is something that I value very much.”