"He said, we need you to practice your 'Darth Vader' signature," recalls Eller. "And I said, what does it look like? He said, 'you tell me.'" Eller sat down to devise the signature that would eventually grace thousands of black and white photographs, album covers, posters, and whatever else fans might bring with them to meet the costumed character. "I came up with this big 'D', with 'arth' almost inserted into the 'D' with a big flair."
When fans met Darth Vader back in the late '70s and early '80s, they were actually making a direct connection to the Star Wars universe. That's because the costume Eller wore to his character appearances literally came from the film sets themselves -- yes, the Vader costume endlessly paraded around malls, toy stores, grand openings, and other public events was one of only a few screen-used prop costumes worn by the actors and stuntmen during the filming of A New Hope and Empire.
Given the elevated prestige these costumes now warrant, it seems unthinkable today to subject such iconic artifacts to the stresses of practical, everyday use. "Don't forget," reminds Eller, "at the time, it wasn't considered any big deal. This was just a science fiction movie that everybody hoped would break even."
Because the Vader costume was originally designed to look good on screen, comfort was not a top priority for the actor or stuntman who donned it on set -- this was especially true of the A New Hope version, which was essentially a "work in progress" that took on some added comfort features for its subsequent incarnations. Eller, of course, was stuck in the first unrefined version, which definitely came with some ergonomic issues.
