Gerald Home


Gerald Home is the actor who played Tessek-Squid Head and the Mon Calamari Officer Captain Verrack in Return of the Jedi.

Early life

He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on October 18, 1950, and emigrated to Australia with his family when he was 16. He finished his education in Australia, and spent three years there as an actor and teacher, before returning to the United Kingdom to train at The Drama Studio London. He graduated from The Drama Studio London in July 1977, and has been an actor ever since.

Career

He has had a wide and varied career as an actor: on the big screen, he appeared in Return of the Jedi, and worked as a puppeteer on Little Shop of Horrors, operating Audrey II the flesh eating plant. Other film work includes London Boulevard and Hideo Nakata's Chatroom.
His many television appearances include: Casualty, The Boot Street Band, Spitting Image, Situation Critical, Jenny's War, Keeping Mum, Harry's Mad, Time Gentlemen Please, Pay & Display, Paul Dreams of Bette, The Scarlet and the Black and Shane.
He was the original Mr. Muscle in the long running series of Mr. Muscle television commercials which were shown around the world, and he has also made television commercials for Holland, Germany, Ireland and Belgium.
He has appeared in theatres all around the United Kingdom in plays, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Christmas Carol, Treasure Island, Alice in Wonderland, The Winter's Tale, Salad Days, Bell, Book and Candle, The Gingerbread Man, Aladdin, SUS, The Country Wife, The Wizard of Oz and Dreams of Anne Frank. He also toured the United Kingdom and France in the mime show Prufrock.
In the West End of London he appeared in No Sex Please, We're British at the Strand Theatre, in The Arabian Nights at the Arts Theatre and in The Blue Angel with the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Gielgud Theatre. He has been in ten plays at the Polka Theatre in Wimbledon, London, where he lives.

Relationship with fans

Gerald has also appeared at many conventions and shows, meeting many Star Wars fans around the globe.
He is an Honorary Member of many fan groups, including the 501st Legion and The Rebel Legion, Star Wars Hungary, the Jedi Outcasts of Italy, Holored Estelar Seville, the Star Wars Club Portugal, the Shadow Legion of Denmark, the Milton Keynes Garrison and the Bydgoski Fanklub in Poland. He was made an Honorary Jedi Master by the Jedi Knights of Cleveland, is "Godfather" to L'Alliance Impériale in Quebec, Canada, and is a Senator on the Galactic Knights Imperial Senate in the United Kingdom.
He has his own club in Spain, The CalamariMen Club, in appreciation of the two characters he played in , and in 2007, he narrated a 30th anniversary concert of Star Wars music, in Spanish, in Valencia, Spain, in aid of local charities. In 2008, he co founded the Star Wars Outer Rim Alliance, an international alliance of many Star Wars fan groups from all around the world.
He attended the Cinefan Festival in Úbeda as well in 2015, where he narrated the introduction from Conan the Barbarian, before the Symphonical Orchestra of Jaén performed the well known theme of the movie.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1983Return of the JediTessek / Captain Verrack, Mon Calamari officerUncredited

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1985Jenny's WarPassport officialTelevision movie
1993–94The Boot Street BandMr Prince11 episodes
2000CasualtyLockEpisode: Marking Time
2002Time Gentlemen PleaseLeprechaunEpisode: Wishing on a Bar