I know he’s younger than a lot of the people I’ve covered, but I was in a mood. What’s more, from what I’ve read, he just seems nice, which is something I like to emphasize. I mean, we’re talking about a man who has been talking about the same thing over and over again for nearly forty years and is still willing to do it. He’s been married to his dental hygienist since 1978, and he admits that she makes the “use the floss” joke. And he was utterly convinced that he wouldn’t get his second most famous job because of how typecast he was from the first one.

Mark Richard Hamill. It really does sound like a nice, wholesome Middle American boy. He grew up a Navy brat, traveling to different towns—even different continents, having lived in Yokohama, Japan. He wanted to be Chuck Schulz when he grew up, but he didn’t have that talent. So, to create worlds, he got into acting.

He is of the opinion that, if Lucas could do it, he’d make movies without any actors at all, but let’s be honest. Star Wars works in part because of the connection we have to the moisture farmer boy suddenly thrust into a wider galaxy. We identify with Luke Skywalker not just because of his dialogue but also because of the expressions on his face, the set of his body. I could easily write about his costars, and probably will, but Luke is the emotional core of the trilogy. Hamill may not have done much else of note that isn’t voicework, but Luke is enough.

And, goodness, there’s the voicework. I’ve seen a lot of arguments that he is the best version of the Joker, though he has incredibly sweet things to say about the Ledger version, which he admired quite a lot. Still, no one has played the character longer, and that alone contributes to an argument that he did it best, because you never reach a point, or at least I don’t, where you say, “Oh, this guy again.” And, okay, his Hobgoblin is basically the Joker with a glider, and his Trickster is not much different—though he also played the Trickster live action—but still, there have been other jobs that aren’t quite so similar.

Alas, his episode of The Muppet Show is season four and therefore not available on DVD, a thing I do not understand. But I did, this morning, watch it on YouTube, inexplicably cropped and speeded up, and it’s a ton of fun. He’s obviously enjoying himself, both as himself and as his “cousin,” Luke Skywalker. In fact, it’s an early suggestion of his later fine voicework, since he does decent enough impressions of both Kermit and Fozzie, though they don’t recognize who he’s supposed to be doing. But his Luke on the show is a bit humourless, and as “himself,” he’s mugging a bit. It’s fun.

With Harrison Ford, there are plenty of notable roles to talk about. With Carrie Fisher, there’s her books and her wry sense of humour. But with Mark Hamill, what I keep coming back to is that he just seems like a nice guy who had the good luck to get cast in two iconic roles. There are worse fates.