Biography

Michael Carter was born on June 29, 1947 in Dumfries, Scotland, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), An American Werewolf in London (1981) and The Keep (1983).

He was cast as "Bib Fortuna" in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) after casting director Mary Selway saw him appearing in the play "The Streets of London" in 1981. It took over eight hours of make-up to first transform him into the character. By the end of his five-week shoot, make-up artist Nick Dudman had streamlined the process down to 58 minutes. Removing the make-up took another 25 minutes. He also wore lifts to make himself appear even more imposing than his actual 6 feet in height.

Also a writer: he made his first foray into screenwriting (as co-scenarist with writer/director Sergio Toledo) for the teleplay One Man's War (1991). His first novel "The UnAmericans" was published in 2013.

His portrayal of the Spirit of Christmas Future in A Christmas Carol (1984) responds to Ebenezer Scrooge (George C. Scott) in the form of an eerie metallic noise sounding similar to the screech of a cemetery's gate.

Trained at RADA.

I was initially surprised by the way people remember me from Return of the Jedi because when I was working on film, I just sort of turned up, did the job and didn't think much about it. But nowadays, I get letters about it all the time, from people all over the place. It's odd because my character, Bib Fortuna, is very famous, but I'm not. It's a very weird situation to be in, but it's definitely something I've gotten used to!