Question: How old was Ian McDiarmid when he played Sheev Palpatine?

Ian McDiarmid



Ian McDiarmid (/məkˈdɜːrmɪd/; born 11 August 1944) is a Scottish character actor and director. He has appeared in 47 films since 1976. He portrayed Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars film series.[1] He has received an Olivier Award for Best Actor and a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performances.
Early life
McDiarmid was born in Carnoustie, Scotland. He became a theatre aficionado when he was five years old, when his father took him to see an act named Tommy Morgan at a theatre in Dundee. In 2004, he stated, "It sort of fascinated me, and it also scared me. All those lights, all that make-up. I said to myself, 'I don't know what this is, but I want it.'"[2]
However, fearing his father's disapproval, McDiarmid attended Queens College, Dundee, (now the University of Dundee, but then a constituent part of the University of St Andrews), where he received a M.A. in psychology. Soon after, he decided to pursue a career in the theatre instead, and took acting training courses at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. 
In 1968, McDiarmid received a gold medal for his work, the first of many recognitions given to him for his work in the theatre. McDiarmid claimed he became its recipient "by doing all the boring jobs you have to do when you are young, to eke out an existence."[3]
Career
Theatre
McDiarmid has won praise as an actor and director in British theatre. He has starred in several Shakespeare plays, including Hamlet (1972), The Tempest (1974, 2000), Much Ado About Nothing (1976), Trevor Nunn's 1976 Macbeth (television 1978), The Merchant of Venice (1984) and King Lear (2005). He played Ivanov in Tom Stoppard's play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the Mermaid Theatre in 1978.
From 1990, McDiarmid and Jonathan Kent served as the artistic directors of the Almeida Theatre in Islington, London, gaining the commitment of prominent actresses such as Glenda Jackson and Claire Bloom for their productions.[4] The two men resigned in 2001 with the venue in good shape.[5] In 1998, they shared the Special Evening Standard Award for Theatrical Achievement of the Year. Their tenure was marked by a string of highly successful performances involving actors such as Kevin Spacey and Ralph Fiennes.[6] While connected with the Almeida, McDiarmid directed plays such as Venice Preserv'd (1986) and Hippolytus (1991). In 2002, McDiarmid won Almeida Theatre's Critic's Circle Award for Best Actor for his role as Teddy in a revival of Brian Friel's Faith Healer. Five years later in 2006, he reprised this role in his debut on Broadway.[7] Directed by Kent, he performed alongside Ralph Fiennes and Cherry Jones, and won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. From April to June 2012, he played the title role in Timon of Athens at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.[8]
He portrayed Harry Hackamore in Sam Shepard's play Seduced. McDiarmid described Hackamore as a Howard Hughes-type character. To play the part, he was made up in prosthetics, including a false beard and long fingernails. McDiarmid was only 37 at the time, and this convinced George Lucas and Richard Marquand that he could convincingly play a much older character in extreme cinematic close-up, which helped him land the role of Palpatine.[9]
Star Wars

After a minor part in the film Dragonslayer,[10] McDiarmid was cast by George Lucas in Return of the Jedi as Emperor Palpatine, the main villain.[11] Sixteen years after appearing in Return of the Jedi, he reprised the role as the character's younger incarnation of Senator Palpatine and Sith Lord Darth Sidious in the prequel films: The Phantom Menace,[12] Attack of the Clones,[13] and Revenge of the Sith. The prequels had him play two faces to his character; he re-created his diabolical interpretation of Palpatine from Return of the Jedi when playing Darth Sidious, the Chancellor's Sith alter ego, but created a pleasant, charming character in Palpatine's public persona. 
In the 2004 re-release of The Empire Strikes Back, a brief scene between Darth Vader and a hologram of Emperor Palpatine was updated to include McDiarmid. The Emperor was originally voiced by Clive Revill for that scene, and visually portrayed by Marjorie Eaton.[14][15][16] With this addition to The Empire Strikes Back, McDiarmid has now appeared in every live-action film version in which Palpatine appears.
He has also worked with the Star Wars expanded universe as the voice of Palpatine in the video game adaptations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. McDiarmid made a small appearance during Celebration Europe. On 23–26 August 2012, he attended Celebration VI in Orlando, Florida and had his own show titled The Phantom Menace: Ian McDiarmid, hosted by James Arnold Taylor, in which he talked about his experience working on Star Wars and how he landed the role of Palpatine. Ian McDiarmid also voiced a pig version of Palpatine for a promo video on Angry Birds Star Wars II, entitled "Join the Pork Side".[17]
Television and radio
McDiarmid took an early role as Mickey Hamilton, a killer intent on avenging the death of his wife and child in The Professionals for London Weekend Television. In 1990, he starred in the Inspector Morse episode "Masonic Mysteries" as the psychopathic con man Hugo DeVries. In 1997, McDiarmid played the villain, Ronald Hinks, in the Touching Evil two-part episode "Through the Clouds/The Lost Boys". He played the role of police detective Porfiry Petrovich in the BBC's 2002 adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. In 2003, McDiarmid took the role of the Stuart statesman Edward Hyde, in the BBC series Charles II: The Power and The Passion.
In 2005, he portrayed Satan in the 41-part BBC Four radio drama based on John Milton's Paradise Lost, which was subsequently re-broadcast on BBC7.[18] Recently, he played the writer and pioneer of policing, Henry Fielding, in the Channel 4 historical drama series City of Vice and Denis Thatcher in 2009's Margaret.
McDiarmid played intelligence chief LeClerc in a 2009 BBC Radio dramatization of John le Carré's The Looking Glass War.
In 2014, he played a leading role as British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey in the BBC television drama 37 Days, which is about the diplomatic crisis preceding the First World War. He also had a recurring role on series 2 of Utopia, playing the role of Anton.
In September 2016, McDiarmid starred in the audio podcast drama series . He played Cuttings, a ham radio buff who picks up a mysterious voice (Joy McAvoy) coming from an abandoned amusement park.
Work in theatre
Stage appearances

Hamlet, Open Space Theatre, London, 1972
And They Put Handcuffs on the Flowers, Open Space Theatre, London, 1973
In the Jungle of Cities, Place Theatre, London, 1973
Macbeth, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, England, 1973, then Bankside Globe Theatre, London, 1973
Measure for Measure, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-on-Avon, England, 1974
Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1975
Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, England, 1976
Destiny, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976
Dingo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976
Schweyk in the Second World War, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976, then Warehouse Theatre, London, 1977
Much Ado About Nothing, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, 1976, then Aldwych Theatre, 1977
That Good Between Us, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1977
Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1977
The Days of the Commune, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1977
Dingo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1978
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Mermaid Theatre, London, 1978
Mephisto, adapted by Gordon McDougall from the book by Klaus Mann, Oxford Playhouse Company, The Roundhouse Theatre, London, 1981[19]
The Worlds, New Half Moon Theatre, London, 1981
Ezra, New Half Moon Theatre, 1981
Insignificance, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1982
Tales from Hollywood, National Theatre, 1983
The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen, the Royal Exchange, Manchester, 1983
The Merchant of Venice, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1984
The Party, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), London, 1985
Henry V, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, London, 1985
The War Plays, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985
Crimes in Hot Countries, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985
The Castle, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985
Downchild, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985
Edward II, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1986
The Saxon Shore, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986
Creditors, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986
The Danton Affair, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, 1986
Don Carlos, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1987
The Black Prince, Aldwych Theatre, 1989
Volpone, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990
The Rehearsal, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990
Lulu, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991
Hippolytus, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991
The School for Wives, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1993
Hated Nightfall, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1995
Tartuffe, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1996
The Government Inspector, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1997
The Doctor's Dilemma, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1998
The Jew of Malta, Almeida Theatre, 1999
The Tempest, Almeida Theatre, 2000–01
Faith Healer, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 2001
Faith Healer, Gate Theatre in Dublin, 2001–2002
The Embalmer, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 2002
Henry IV, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 2004
Lear, Sheffield Crucible, 2005
Faith Healer, Booth Theatre, 2006
John Gabriel Borkman, Donmar Warehouse, 2007
Jonah and Otto, Manchester Royal Exchange, 2008
Be Near Me, National Theatre of Scotland and Donmar Warehouse, 2009
Six Characters in Search of an Author, Headlong Theatre, 2008–2010
The Prince of Homburg, Donmar Warehouse, 2010
Emperor and Galilean, National Theatre, 2011
The Faith Machine, Royal Court Theatre, 2011
Timon of Athens, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 2012
Life of Galileo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford, 2013
Merchant of Venice, Almeida, London, 2014
What Shadows, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham, 2016

Stage director

Venice Preserv'd, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986
Dom Juan, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1988
The Possibilities, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1988
Scenes from an Execution, Almeida Theatre, 1990
The Rehearsal, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990
Volpone, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990
Lulu, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991
Hippolytus, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991
A Hard Heart, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1992
Venice Preserv'd, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1995

Filmography
Theatrical film

Television

Awards and nominations






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