‘Star Wars’ Actor, Peter Mayhew, Who Played Chewbacca, Dies at 74

This is going to be a sad May 4th (a veritable holiday for Star Wars Fans -- "May the fourth be with you"). Star Wars actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca the Wookiee in the original trilogy, died on Tuesday (April 30) his family announced today (May 2).

According to a statement released by his family on Twitter, he died at his North Texas home, surrounded by his family.

The statement from his family mentioned that "He fought his way back from being wheelchair-bound to stand tall and portray Chewbacca once more in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He also consulted on The Last Jedi in an attempt to teach his successor."

Mayhew went on to appear as Chewbacca in The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Revenge of the Sith, The Force Awakens and in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.

As expected, many fans took to social media to pay their respects to Mayhew. Here are some notable reactions:

https://twitter.com/Comic_Con/status/1124089074141286405https://twitter.com/NY_Comic_Con/status/1124090434643529728https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/1124092107877179392https://twitter.com/IMDb/status/1124089966693363714https://twitter.com/etnow/status/1124082925711101952https://twitter.com/elijahwood/status/1124091992596733955https://twitter.com/OriginalFunko/status/1124088857149022214https://twitter.com/jasoncfry/status/1124086079899033600https://twitter.com/JohnFugelsang/status/1124088303668670464https://twitter.com/RiffTrax/status/1124086341715861504https://twitter.com/HotTopic/status/1124087173295349762https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/1124090111505903616https://twitter.com/LynnOlanoff/status/1124091543697145859https://twitter.com/TristanACooper/status/1124092899455590401