What Darth Vader sounded like before James Earl Jones

Everyone's favourite Sith Lord from a galaxy far, far away didn't always sound so menacing and evil. Before American actor James Earl Jones was brought on board as the voice of Darth Vader, the "Star Wars" villain sounded more like... well, a guy from Southwest England wearing a helmet.

On set, it was Bristol-born body builder and actor David Prowse who delivered the dark lord's lines while in costume as Vader. The 6'6"-tall Prowse played Vader in all three original "Star Wars" movies, but while he had the imposing size required to make Vader feel like a real threat, he unfortunately didn't have the voice to match.

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In a clip from the 2004 "making of" documentary "Empire of Dreams," you can hear a few examples of Prowse's original on-set line delivery. The actor's muffled and nasal readings are a far cry from the deep and rumbling Vader voice ultimately provided by Jones. Ah, the power of movie magic!

It was probably a little difficult to pretend to fear Vader when he sounded like that. Some of the actors on set, including Carrie Fisher who played Princess Leia, reportedly even nicknamed Prowse "Darth Farmer" because of his not-very-intimidating rural English accent.

Prowse managed to have some fun with it, though. Knowing that his on-set dialogue wouldn't be used in the movie, the actor has said he delivered joke versions of his lines in "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." The actor figured he would get his due eventually, but audiences never did get to see his face or hear him on screen. Prowse has claimed in the years since that "Star Wars" creator George Lucas promised him that his face and voice would be used at the end of "Return of the Jedi" when Vader is unmasked, but Lucas ended up using actor Sebastian Shaw instead.

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Also, despite playing Darth Vader in the famous "I am your father" scene in "The Empire Strikes Back," Prowse, like much of the cast, didn't even know that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father until seeing the finished film at the premiere. In order to keep the plot twist a secret, "Empire" director Irvin Kershner provided Prowse with a false script that featured no such revelation and only told actor Mark Hamill the truth moments before filming the scene.

Poor Prowse. Lucas and Kershner apparently didn't get the memo saying that it's a very bad idea to lie to a Dark Lord of the Sith.