Tim Dry played J'Quille - Whiphid and a Mon Calamari Officer in Star Wars Episode VI - Return Of The Jedi. He also played The Alien in the cult Horror / Sci Fi movie XTRO


Thank you Tim for your time for this Interview and the fans.

My pleasure!


-Tim you played in one of the biggest SiFi movies of all time,Star Wars, Can you tell
how you got cast for The Return of the Jedi?

Both Sean Crawford (Yak Face) and I were trained in mime by a teacher named Desmond Jones. In January 1982 we both got a call from him saying that he’d been contacted by the Production team on the new Star Wars movie and they were looking for a number of mimes to play alien creatures in the movie. We’d been working together as the mime duo Tik & Tok for two years so we worked well together. There were about 25 of us auditioning that day in front of Robert Watts, the Co-Producer of the movie and a Casting Director. We did some weird ‘Alien’ type movement and went home. A week later Desmond called and said that we’d both got the job. Yay! We both LOVED the first two SW movies so we were overjoyed. There were 9 mime artists in the film.

You played J'Quille - Whiphid and a Mon Calamari Officer, how many had Star Wars changed your life?

Being in the movie back in 1982 didn’t  change our lives then really. It was an amazing experience for sure and it gave us the money to buy musical instruments so that we could make our own electronic music. It was only in 2002 when we started to do autograph Conventions that we realized that the movie HAD in fact changed our lives because we were, after 30 years, meeting fans and making money from signed pictures and we get to travel all over the world to appear at Conventions.

Your Character is available as action figure, did you holding one of this
 in your hands?

I’ve attached a picture of me with my two Action Figures – J’Quill and the Mon Calamari Officer (not in their boxes). Hope that’s ok for you.

What do you remember most of you work in Star Wars? Is there a special or funny moment?

I remember how hot it was on the Jabba’s palace and Jabba’s sail barge sets once we were in our full costumes. Wardrobe girls would take off the creature heads in-between takes and blow cold air down our costumes with hair dryers so that we could chill out a bit! We had fun playing jokes on visitors to our dressing room, a paper cup with talcum powder in it on top of the half open door, so when they opened it wide they’d get covered in powder! We were like two kids in a toyshop and loved every minute of it. We spoke with Mark Hamill quite a bit as he was about our age, he wanted to know what nightclubs were good to go to in London. We told him about a couple of wild ones! It was great fun to be playing Mon Calamari officers a few weeks later as the costumes were so light and we could actually see where we were going!

Which Star Wars movie is your favorite?

The Empire Strikes Back. It’s darker than the others.I have to admit that the whole Ewok segments in ROTJ spoilt the movie for me. Too cute! Too cuddly!

You told in an other Interview your Motto is: Never say never. Maybe we will see you one more time in a Star Wars Movie?

Oh, I’d be there like a speeding bullet if they asked me but it’s unlikely as I’m now 65 years old and am somewhat ‘Out of the loop’ in terms of being a physical performer like I was all those years ago.

Did you watched one of the Star Wars Movies after The Return of the Jedi?

I saw the ‘Prequels’ when they came out on DVD but to be honest I didn’t really enjoy them at all. Apart from the end of ‘Revenge Of The Sith’! I saw ‘The Force Awakens’ , it was ok but just a bit too similar to ‘A New Hope’. I like ‘Rogue One’ as it was harsh, dark and violent and sets us up for ‘A New Hope’. Episode VIII could be interesting...

I saw on IMDb "Naked Emperor's Nephew ". Whats going on? :-)

Back in 1999 I played that character in one episode of a Cable TV series called ‘The 10th Kingdom’. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0207275/combined Rutger Hauer and Ann-Margret were in it and Warwick Davis and Mike Edmonds too! It was pretty weird wearing only a crown, a wig and a flesh-coloured thong for a week!

Tim you are not only an actor. What can you tell us about Tim Dry The Musician or The Author?

Rather than go into great detail I’d say have a look at: http://www.timdry.co.uk/biography.htm
http://www.timdry.co.uk/biography2.htm Those 2 pages pretty much cover both music and writing.
Have a look here too for more writing details: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tim-Dry/e/B0034Q3UNG/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
I’m also a photographic artist and you can see my work here: http://www.timdry.co.uk/photography.htm

Whats your future projects?

More autograph Conventions, more photographs, more writing, maybe some acting. Who knows? The future has yet to be written!

Thank you Tim and when you would you can say some last words to your fans.

Keep buying real books! Keep looking up instead of down! Listen to proper music! Keep going to the movies rather than downloading! Smile! Enjoy the time you have. Thank you for liking the work that I’ve done and have yet to do. Fans make it all worthwhile.



Feel free to Visit Tim Dry
Homepage: www.timdry.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timdrymusic
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0238691