— Ch. 1 · A Family Divided By Duty —
Mark Hamill.
~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
Mark Richard Hamill entered the world on the 25th of September 1951 in Oakland, California. His father William Thomas Hamill served as a U.S. Navy captain with English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry. The family included seven children total: two brothers named Will and Patrick plus four sisters including Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. Their mother possessed half Swedish and half English descent while their father identified as a staunch Roman Catholic Nixon Republican.
Hamill described his relationship with his father as troubled from an early age. He could not understand his son's childhood obsession with movies and comic books. The older man viewed these interests as frivolous things that should be outgrown quickly. This disconnect created tension within the household during Mark's formative years.
The naval career of his father dictated a peripatetic lifestyle for the entire family. They switched schools often due to changes of station around the globe. During elementary years he attended Walsingham Academy in Williamsburg Virginia. Later he went to Edgar Allan Poe Middle School in Annandale Virginia. At age eleven he moved to the 5900 block of Castleton Drive in San Diego California.
His education continued at Hale Junior High School before returning to Virginia for James Madison High School. By his junior year his father was stationed in Japan where Hamill attended Nile C. Kinnick High School. He graduated from there in 1969 after joining the Drama Club. He later enrolled at Los Angeles City College majoring in drama.
The Boy Who Became A Hero
Robert Englund walked across a hall while auditioning for Apocalypse Now when he spotted auditions for George Lucas's Star Wars. He realized his friend would be perfect for the role of Luke Skywalker. Englund suggested Hamill audition for the part even though his agent had already set up the meeting. During his screen test Hamill presumed he played a sidekick to Harrison Ford's Han Solo. He remained unsure whether the film was supposed to be a comedy.
Released in May 1977 Star Wars became an enormous unexpected success with huge effects on the industry. Hamill appeared in the less-than-successful Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978. He starred in successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Between the first two films he suffered a serious car accident fracturing his nose and left cheekbone. False rumors spread that plastic surgery fixed his face.
Hamill received the Saturn Award for Best Actor for both sequel films. The Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror Films honored him during this period. In 1980 he made a guest appearance on The Muppet Show as himself and as Luke Skywalker. Anthony Daniels joined him as C-3PO while R2-D2 searched for Chewbacca. Editions of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces used his image on covers after 1977.