Star Wars: A New Hope Actress Penny McCarthy Has Passed Away

It looks like the Mos Eisley Cantina lost another one of its regulars this week. It has just been confirmed that Star Wars: A New Hope actress Penny McCarthy has passed away.

The confirmation comes from Elite Signatures and Imperial Signings, who both shared their condolences on Facebook.

"Such a shame to wake up to find that Penny McCarthy has sadly passed away. My condolences goes out to her family, she was such a sweet heart and so glad i got to meet her again in December in LA. R.I.P Penny," the post from Elite Signatures reads.

"Sadly we wake to the sad news of the passing of Penny McCarthy. We were very fortunate in partnership with Steve Grad to bring Penny over to LFCC a couple of summers ago and again to Empire Con in LA last December," Imperial Signings wrote on Facebook. "Our thoughts are with her family."

Good Morning All Sadly we wake to the sad news of the passing of Penny McCarthy. We were very fortunate in partnership...

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Imperial Signings

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Thursday, September 17, 2020

McCarthy may not look familiar but she played several characters in A New Hope. She portrayed one of the Cantina Band members as well as the energetic Jawa in the first Star Wars film. Her most recognizable character in the movie is the Kardue'sai'Malloc, the demonic-looking alien seen in the Mos Eisley Cantina.

Interestingly, McCarthy's roles in A New Hope weren't confined to Mos Eisley. She also stood in as a hand double for Princess Leia in the film. If you remember seeing Leia's hand inserting a disc into R2-D2, you were actually seeing McCarthy at work.

McCarthy's cause of death was not revealed. Goodbye, old friend, and may the Force be with you.

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