LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Phil Brown, who played Luke Skywalker's loving but doomed Uncle Owen in "Star Wars," has died of pneumonia. He was 89.
Brown died Thursday at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, said his wife, Ginny.
Brown worked in stage and film for more than 60 years, many of them spent in England, but many remember him as Luke's loving uncle in George Lucas' 1977 blockbuster. His character tries to give Luke a normal childhood on a farm and keep him from knowing his Jedi roots. Imperial storm troopers later kill Uncle Owen and his wife, Beru.
He got the role when Lucas, filming scenes for "Star Wars" on a London sound stage, needed an actor with a strong American accent. Brown spent a month or so in Tunisia filming a handful of scenes.