Eddie Byrne Eddie Byrne ( January 31 , 1911 – August 21 , 1981 ) was an Irish actor who portrayed General Willard in . Eddie Byrne was born in Dublin on January 31st , 1911 . He began acting in the late 1940s , beginning with mostly cameo appearances in 1947 in Brian Desmond Hurst ' s " Hungry Hill " ( uncredited ) , Frank Launder ' s " Captain Boycott " , with Stewart Granger , and Carol Reed ' s " Odd Man Out " , with James Mason . In this first year of work , he made his first role as a seaman - a strange premonition , considering his Star Wars role as a Naval officer . An Irish man and a first - line secondary actor , he continued raising in the billing during the following years : Leslie Arliss ' s " Saints and Sinners " ( 1949 ) , Frank Launder ' s " Lady Godiva Rides Again " ( 1951 ) , Basil Dearden ' s " The Gentle Gunman " ( 1952 ) next to Dirk Bogarde , and then his first starring role : Lewis Gilbert ' s comedy " Time Gentlemen Please ! " ( 1952 ) , where he played a drunkard who dangers the " perfect " 100 % employment rate of his town just before the visit of the Prime Minister . Not an actor to restrict himself to comedy , Byrne also worked in drama in the following years ( Basil Dearden and Michael Relph ' s " The Square Ring " , 1953 ) , as well as returning to comedies ( Herbert Wilcox ' s " Troube in the Glen " , 1953 , with Orson Welles ) and also to war movies ( a new officer , a " commander Brennan " , in " Albert R . N . " , 1953 ) . All this was made in only one year . In the years between 1954 and 1959 , Byrne had parts in no less than 29 films , all of them from Great Britain . - more than four films per year . Historian David Quinlan said of him " seemed to be turning up in every third British film " . As this is no place for an exhaustive analysis of his filmography , only the most important ones will be mentioned : In 1954 , he worked again with Lewis Gilbert and Dirk Bogarde in a war movie , " The Sea Shall Not Have Them " , and also in a Mario Zampi comedy , " Happy Ever After " with David Niven and Yvonne De Carlo ( of " Munsters " fame ) , or with Ginger Rogers and Hebert Lom in the thriller " Beautiful Stranger " . In 1955 , he worked in " Stolen Assignment " under director Terence Fisher , who would later became a famous horror director with Hammer Films . He would also star in Fisher ' s comedy " Children Galore " , and in horror - episodic movie " Three Cases of Murder " . It would also mark his first TV appearance , as a guest in three episodes of the series " Douglas Fairbanks , Jr . , Presents " . In 1956 , he acted in another war drama by Lewis Gilbert , " Reach for the Sky " , as a sergeant . He also appeared in an episode of a TV adaptation of " The Count of Monte Cristo " , starring George Dolenz . For the rest of the 1950s , he continued working in a great amount of movies , covering all the genres , and working with Star Wars actors such as Alec Guinness ( " The Scapegoat " , Robert Hamer , 1959 ) or Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee ( " The Mummy " , Terence Fisher , 1959 ) . He also appeared occasionally in TV series , but clearly preferring mainstream movies . Even though , Byrne starred in 6 - episode comedy series " Call me Sam " ( 1959 ) as the titular Sam Callahan . Older now , Byrne finally debuted in theater , particularly in the Abbey Theater ( Dublin ) with Sean O ' Casey ' s " The Bishop ' s Bonfire " . But this could not stop him from acting in different movies , such as Robert Asher ' s " The Bulldog Breed " and a guest appearance in a TV adaptation of Edgar Wallace ' s " The Four Just Men " . During the first half of the 1960s , he continued with many small roles in different movies , including Lewis Milestone ' s successful " Mutiny on the Bounty " ( 1962 ) , starring Marlon Brando , and again as a Navy officer . He also made guest appearances in different episodes of the series " The Saint " , in different seasons and playing different characters , for all the decade . During the mid 1960s , Byrne is said to have returned to his Irish home , returning only occasionally to movies , more than once in horror movies ( repeating with Terence Fisher and Peter Cushing in " Island of Terror " , 1966 ; or with Christopher Lee in " The Vengeance of Fu Manchu " , 1967 ) . Even though his appearances were subtle in movies , but he had chances to return to theater in England . He played Jimmy Farrell in JM Synge ' s " Playboy of the Western World - A Comedy in Three Acts " at the Old Vic and Olivier Theatres ( London ) , and then in a tour to Birmingham ; the following year , he repeated in the Olivier Theatre with different works such as " Three Repertoire Leaflets : Tamburlaine the Great , Il Campiello , Hamlet , Counting the Ways " . His last role was in ( 1977 ) , a movie where he played General Willard , the officer greeting Leia on Yavin 4 . However , he did provide a voice for the animated film " The Princess and the Cobbler " , released in 1993 , but the part was recorded in 1968 . Eddie Byrne died of a stroke in Dublin at age 70 .