[3] Shaw made his acting debut at age eight on the London stage as one of the juvenile band in The Cockyolly Bird at the Royal Court Theatre in Chelsea[2] on New Year's Day of 1914.

[3] After Gresham's, Shaw planned to become a painter and spent two years at the Slade School of Fine Art before switching his interests to acting; regarding the change, his father informed him, "I wondered when you would come to your senses.

In 1925, he performed in London as the Archangel in The Sign of the Sun, and played first Lewis Dodd and then the Major in separate productions of The Constant Nymph.

[5] Shaw made his Broadway debut in 1929, when he played the murderer Wyndham Brandon in Patrick Hamilton's stage thriller, Rope's End.

[1] Other works around this period included productions of Ivor Novello's Sunshine Sisters in 1933, Double Door alongside actress Sybil Thorndike in 1934, J.M.

David Blacklock alongside Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson in The Spy in Black, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's first collaboration.

Some of his fellow airmen hounded Shaw for autographs, while others mocked his posh accent, to which he retaliated with an excellent and unflattering imitation of their less refined speech.

[2] Although he had made twenty films before the war and had already begun to develop a reputation as a strong leading man, in later years he would describe himself as "a rotten actor"[1] in the 1930s who landed roles based mainly on his good looks.

Although his good looks diminished, reviewers felt that he used his florid and weatherbeaten face well in evoking grandeur and self-assuredness in such roles as generals, priests and his familiar Shakespearean parts.

[6] Shaw began a romantic relationship in the mid-1950s with Joan Ingpen, the well-known classical music and opera talent agent who had previously represented him.

[13] There he delivered several performances over the next year, including General Conrad von Hotzendorf in John Osborne's A Patriot for Me; various roles in Ann Jellicoe's Shelley; Sir Francis Harker in N.F.

[3] He mostly appeared in Shakespeare plays, including the title role in Cymbeline, Edmund of Langley in Richard II,[1] the King in All's Well That Ends Well, Ulysses in Troilus and Cressida, and Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing.

[1] He was also noted as possessing a gift for dry comedy during this period of his acting career, exemplified by his roles in Maxim Gorky's plays Enemies and Summerfolk.

[2] During his later years, Shaw suffered a physical disability that made him tremble, which had a negative impact on his television roles, particularly when handling cups or trays of drinks.

Around this time, he also voiced the part of Squire Beltham in a radio production of The Adventures of Harry Richmond, which the Daily Telegraph said was "remembered with affection".

[1] He lent his voice to several radio performances, both Shakespearean and modern, including protagonist John Tanner in the five-hour Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw.

When he appeared in It Happened Here, a 1966 World War II film, he wrote many of his own lines, which the filmmakers later said "gave his dialogue an individual slant which enhanced his performance".

Alice starts to tire of her husband and grow fonder of Madgwick, who experiences mixed emotions in his continued interactions with her and Rodney.

"[1] Shaw originally planned to call the novel The Godfather, but later said he was glad he did not due to the popularity of Mario Puzo's book of that name.

[19] In 1982, Shaw was chosen for the brief but significant role of redeemed, unmasked and dying Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi, the third and final film in the original Star Wars trilogy.

As in the previous films, David Prowse and Bob Anderson played the costumed scenes, while James Earl Jones and Ben Burtt provided the voice and breaths of Darth Vader.

[7] When the film was re-released on DVD in 2004, a few changes were made: the unmasking scene with Hamill remained mostly the same, but Shaw's eyebrows were digitally removed to maintain continuity with the injuries Darth Vader suffers at the end of Revenge of the Sith.

His naturally brown eyes were also colored blue to match those of Hayden Christensen, who portrayed Anakin in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

Star Wars creator George Lucas personally directed Shaw for his appearance in the final scene of the film, in which he is a Force ghost of Anakin.

[7] Shaw remained active in his later years; along with fellow Royal Shakespeare Company actors Ian Richardson, John Nettles, Martin Best and Ann Firbank, he engaged in discussions and workshops with acting teachers and students in the early 1980s.

Barrie, Kingsley Amis and A.A. Milne; artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais; and composer Edward Elgar.

[1] A memorial service was held on 15 February 1995 at St Paul's, Covent Garden, commonly known as the Actors' Church due to its long association with the theatre community.