KENNY BAKER played the lovable droid R2-D2 in the “Star Wars” films, achieving cult status and fans’ adulation without showing his face or speaking any lines.

    The 1.1-meter performer inside the waste-bin-shaped costume has died at 81. Baker’s nephew and caretaker, Drew Myerscough, said he found Baker dead Saturday at his home in Preston, northwest England.

    Myerscough told Sky News that Baker had suffered years of breathing problems, “which he had borne very bravely.” He said the affection of “Star Wars” fans around the world “kept him going, without any doubt.”

    Born to a music-loving family in the central England city of Birmingham on Aug. 24, 1934, Baker started performing at 16 as part of a troupe called “Burton Lester’s Midgets.” Baker later worked as a DJ and circus clown, and as half a comedy-musical duo called the Mini-Tones with Jack Purvis, who also appeared in the “Star Wars” films.

    Fame came when he was cast as the actor inside R2-D2’s cylindrical robot costume in 1977’s “Star Wars.” Baker also appeared in films including “The Elephant Man,” “’Time Bandits,” “Willow” and “Labyrinth.”(SD-Agencies)