Kenny Baker played the lovable droid R2-D2 in the Star Wars films, achieving cult status and fans' adulation without showing his face or speaking any lines.

The 1.1 meter performer - a word he preferred to actor - inside the waste-bin-shaped costume has died at 81. Baker's nephew and caretaker, Drew Myerscough, said he found Baker dead on Saturday at his home in Preston, northwest England.

Myerscough told Sky News that Baker had suffered years of breathing problems, "which he had borne very bravely." He said the affection of Star Wars fans around the world "kept him going, without any doubt."