text:
Ken Russell

Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films were mainly liberal adaptations of existing texts, or biographies, notably of composers of the Romantic era. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he made creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature films independently and for studios.

Russell is best known for his Academy Award-winning romantic drama film Women in Love (1969); the historical drama horror film The Devils (1971); the musical fantasy film Tommy (1975), featuring the Who; and the science fiction horror film Altered States (1980). Russell also directed several films based on the lives of classical music composers, such as Elgar, Delius, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Liszt.

Film critic Mark Kermode, speaking in 2006, and attempting to sum up the director's achievement, called Russell "somebody who proved that British cinema didn't have to be about kitchen-sink realism—it could be every bit as flamboyant as Fellini. Later in his life he turned to making low-budget experimental films such as The Lion's Mouth and Revenge of the Elephant Man, and they are as edgy and 'out there' as ever".

Early life
Russell was born in Southampton, Hampshire, England, on 3 July 1927, the elder of two sons of Ethel (née Smith) and Henry Russell, a shoeshop owner. His father was distant and took out his rage on his family, so Russell spent much of his time at the cinema with his mother, who was mentally ill. He cited the films Die Nibelungen and The Secret of the Loch as two early influences.

He was educated at private schools in Walthamstow and at Pangbourne College, and studied photography at Walthamstow Technical College (now part of the University of East London).

Military service
He harboured a childhood ambition to be a ballet dancer but instead joined the Royal Air Force and the British Merchant Navy as a teenager. On one occasion he was made to stand watch in the blazing sun for hours on end while crossing the Pacific Ocean, as his mentally ill captain feared an attack by Japanese midget submarines despite the Pacific War having ended. He moved into television work after short careers in dance and photography.

Photography
In 1954 Russell started work as a local-interest freelance photographer. His series of documentary 'Teddy Girl' photographs were published in Picture Post magazine in June 1955, and he continued to work as a freelance documentary photographer until 1959.

During this time, he started directing short films: Peepshow (1956), Knights on Bikes (1956), and Lourdes (1959). He received a lot of acclaim for his short Amelia and the Angel (1959), which helped secure him a job at the BBC.

Documentaries
Between 1959 and 1970, Russell directed arts documentaries for Monitor and Omnibus.

He made Poet's London (1959, about John Betjeman), Portrait of a Goon (1959, about Spike Milligan), Gordon Jacob (1959), The Guitar Craze (1959), Variations on a Mechanical Theme (1959), Scottish Painters (1959), Marie Rambert Remembers (1960), The Strange World of Hieronymus Bosch (1960), The Miners' Picnic (1960), Architecture of Entertainment (1960), A House in Bayswater (1960), Shelagh Delaney's Salford (1960), Cranks at Work (1960, about John Cranko), The Light Fantastic (1960), Journey Into a Lost World (1960), Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill (1961), Old Battersea House (1961), Portrait of a Soviet Composer (1961), London Moods (1961), Antonio Gaudi (1961), Preservation Man (1962), Mr. Chesher's Traction Engines (1962), The Lonely Shore (1962) and Watch the Birdie (1962).

Russell's films began to get longer: Pop Goes the Easel (1962) and the much admired Elgar (1962) about Sir Edward Elgar. Elgar was the first time that a television arts programme (Monitor) was dedicated to one artistic figure, rather than having a magazine format. It was also the first time that re-enactments were used. Russell fought with the BBC over using actors to portray different ages of the same character, instead of the traditional photograph stills and documentary footage.

Early features and rising fame
Russell's first feature film was French Dressing (1964), a comedy loosely based on Roger Vadim's And God Created Woman; its critical and commercial failure led Russell to work further for the BBC. For television he made the 16-minute Lonely Shore (1964), the longer Bartok (1964) (about Béla Bartók), and The Dotty World of James Lloyd (1964). In 1964 he planned to make an adaptation of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange (1962) starring the Rolling Stones, but abandoned the film after the British Board of Censors advised it would not approve it.

Russell had a noted critical success with the TV movie The Debussy Film (1965) starring Oliver Reed as Claude Debussy based on a script by Melvyn Bragg. Also well received was Always on Sunday (1965), written by Bragg, about Henri Rousseau.

Russell made Don't Shoot the Composer (1966), a documentary about composer Georges Delerue. He did the highly praised Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (1967), about Isadora Duncan with Vivian Pickles.

Russell's television work prompted producer Harry Saltzman to hire him to direct a feature film, Billion Dollar Brain (1967), the third Harry Palmer movie starring Michael Caine. He wanted to follow it with a biopic of Vaslav Nijinsky but Brain was a commercial disappointment.

He returned to television for Dante's Inferno (1967) with Reed as Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Song of Summer (1968) about Frederick Delius and Eric Fenby. He once said that the best film he ever made was Song of Summer, and that he would not edit a single shot.

Women in Love
In 1969, Russell directed what is considered his "signature film", Women In Love, an adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's novel of the same name about two artist sisters living in post-World War I Britain. The film starred Glenda Jackson, Oliver Reed, Jennie Linden and Alan Bates. The film is notable for its nude wrestling scene, which broke the convention at the time that a mainstream movie could not show male genitalia. Women in Love connected with the sexual revolution and bohemian politics of the late 1960s. It received four Oscar nominations, including his only nomination for Best Director.

The film was BAFTA-nominated for the costume designs of Russell's first wife, Shirley; they collaborated throughout the 1970s. The colour schemes of Luciana Arrighi's art direction (also BAFTA-nominated) and Billy William's cinematography, which Russell used for metaphorical effect, are also often referred to by film textbooks.

Russell returned to television with Dance of the Seven Veils (1970) which sought to portray Richard Strauss as a Nazi: one scene in particular showed a Jewish man being tortured while a group of SS men look on in delight, with Strauss's music as the score. The Strauss family was so outraged by the film that they withdrew all music rights. The film was effectively banned from being screened until Strauss's copyright expired in 2019. It was shown in February 2020 at the Keswick Film Festival.

Three films in 1971
He followed Women in Love with a string of innovative adult-themed films which were often as controversial as they were successful. The Music Lovers (1971), a biopic of Tchaikovsky, starred Richard Chamberlain as a flamboyant Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Glenda Jackson as his wife. The score was conducted by André Previn.

He followed it with The Devils (1971), a film so provocative that the production company, Warner Bros., refused to release it, unless cuts were made. Inspired by Aldous Huxley's book The Devils of Loudun and using material from John Whiting's play The Devils, it starred Oliver Reed as a priest who stands in the way of a corrupt church and state. Helped by publicity over the more sensational scenes, featuring sexuality among nuns, the film topped British box office receipts for eight weeks. In the United States, the film, which had already been cut for distribution in Britain, was further edited but never widely released theatrically in anything like its original state; the original, uncut version has only been shown in the U.S. at film festivals and art houses. In 2017, AMC Networks-owned horror film streaming service Shudder premiered the uncut version of the film for the first time on streaming.

British film critic Alexander Walker described the film as "monstrously indecent" in a television confrontation with Russell, leading the director to hit him with a rolled up copy of the Evening Standard, the newspaper for which Walker worked. The uncut version of the film remains censored.

Russell followed The Devils with a reworking of the period musical The Boy Friend (1971), for which he cast the model Twiggy, who won two Golden Globe Awards for her performance: one for Best Actress in a musical comedy, and one for the best newcomer. The film was heavily cut and shorn of two musical numbers for its American release; it was not a big success.

Mid 1970s
Russell wanted to make Little Sparrow, a film about Édith Piaf, or a biopic of King Ludwig of Bavaria, but neither was made. Instead, he himself provided most of the financing for Savage Messiah (1972). The film is a biopic of the painter and sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, who died fighting for France at age 23, in 1915, in the trenches of the Western Front during the First World War. The film stars Dorothy Tutin, Scott Antony, and Helen Mirren.

Russell announced a biopic of Sarah Bernhardt with Barbra Streisand but it was not made.

He worked with David Puttnam on Mahler (1974) starring Robert Powell as Gustav Mahler.

In 1975, Russell's star-studded film version of the Who's rock opera Tommy starring Roger Daltrey, Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Elton John, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton and Jack Nicholson, spent a record fourteen weeks at the No.1 spot.

Two months before Tommy was released (in March 1975), Russell started work on Lisztomania (1975), another vehicle for Roger Daltrey, and for the film scoring of progressive rock keyboardist Rick Wakeman. In the film, the music of Franz Liszt is stolen by Richard Wagner. Wagner's operas then put forward the theme of the Superman. Tommy and Lisztomania were important in the rise of improved motion picture sound in the 1970s, as they were among the first films to be released with Dolby-encoded soundtracks. Lisztomania, tagged as "the film that out-Tommys 'Tommy'", topped the British box-office for two weeks in November 1975, when Tommy was still in the list of the week's top five box-office hits.

Russell's next film, the biopic Valentino (1977), starring Rudolf Nureyev as Rudolph Valentino, also topped the British box-office for two weeks, but was not a hit in America. After this he said "nobody in Hollywood would give me even a B movie to direct."

Return to television and Altered States
Russell returned to television with William and Dorothy (1978) a look at the life of William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1978), about Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Russell went to Hollywood to make Altered States (1980), a departure in both genre and tone, in that it is Russell's only foray into science fiction. Working from Paddy Chayefsky's screenplay (based upon his novel), Russell used his penchant for elaborate visual effects to translate Chayefsky's hallucinatory story to the cinema, and took the opportunity to add his trademark religious and sexual imagery. The film had an innovative Oscar-nominated score by John Corigliano. The film enjoyed moderate financial success, and scored with critics who had otherwise dismissed Russell's work. Roger Ebert, who had given The Devils "zero stars", and had panned Russell's early composer portraits (he did, however, give three stars to both Tommy and Lisztomania), gave it his highest rating for Russell's work (three-and-a-half stars), praising it as "one hell of a movie!"

Although the film was a financial success, Russell had difficulty making his next film. One project, Beethoven's Secret, was about to start shooting when financing fell apart at the last minute. He was attached to do the film of Evita for over a year, but ultimately left the project when he refused to cast Elaine Paige in the lead. A biopic of Maria Callas with Sophia Loren also failed to get financing. However, Russell found himself artistically rejuvenated when offered the chance to direct some opera. He did The Rake's Progress, Soldiers and Butterfly.

Russell's next film after Altered States was The Planets (1983), about Gustav Holst's orchestral suite of the same name. This 53-minute film was made specially for The South Bank Show, the weekly arts programme on the ITV network in Britain. It is a wordless collage that matches stock footage to each of the seven movements of the Holst suite. John Coulthart wrote "familiar Russell obsessions appear: Nazis, naked women and the inevitable crucifixion." After essentially disappearing for decades, in 2016 the film was re-released on DVD by Arthaus Musik.

For The South Bank Show, Russell also made Vaughan Williams: A Symphonic Portrait (1984) about Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Russell returned to feature films with a sexual thriller, Crimes of Passion (1984), starring Anthony Perkins and Kathleen Turner for New World Pictures. It had moderate critical success and did not perform well at the box office, but was a big hit on video.

Opera and music videos
In the eighties, Russell directed a number of operatic productions. In 1985, he directed Gounod's opera Faust, loosely based on Goethe's play Faust. The production was staged at the Vienna State Opera, conducted by Erich Binder with Francisco Araiza, Ruggero Raimondi and Gabriela Beňačková in the main roles. In 1986, he directed a production of Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele, also based on Goethe's Faust: the production was staged at Teatro Margherita in Genoa, conducted by Edoardo Müller, with Ottavio Garaventa, Paata Burchuladze and Adriana Morelli in the main roles. He also directed successful productions of Puccini's La bohème and Madama Butterfly.

Russell set up a company, Sitting Duck, to make music videos. "Videos are a magic new art form," he said. Among those he made were "Nikita" for Elton John and "Phantom of the Opera" for Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Russell had a legal fight with Bob Guccione over an aborted attempt to film Moll Flanders, which was dramatised in a movie, Your Honour, I Object! (1987).

Vestron Pictures
Russell directed Gothic (1986) with Gabriel Byrne, about the night Mary Shelley told the tale of Frankenstein. It was a hit on video for Vestron Pictures, who signed Russell to a three-picture contract.

Russell did one of the segments for Aria (1987), and for British TV made Ken Russell's ABC of British Music (1988) and A British Picture (1989).

For the Vestron deal, he directed Salome's Last Dance (1988), a loosely adapted esoteric tribute to Oscar Wilde's controversial play Salome, which was banned on the 19th century London stage. The cult movie defines Russell's adult themed romance with the Theatre of The Poor and was also notable for the screen presence of Imogen Millais-Scott as Salome.

He made another two pictures for Vestron: The Lair of the White Worm (1988) with Amanda Donohoe and Hugh Grant, based on a novella by Bram Stoker, and The Rainbow (1989), another D. H. Lawrence adaptation, which also happens to be the prequel to Women in Love. Glenda Jackson played the mother of her character in the previous film.

Russell directed the opera Mefistofele (1989).

Later career
In the 1990 film The Russia House, starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, Russell made one of his first significant acting appearances, portraying Walter, an ambiguously gay British MI6 intelligence officer who discomfits his more strait-laced CIA counterparts. Russell thenceforth occasionally acted.

He directed a segment of Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (1990) and for TV did The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner (1991).

In 1991, Russell directed Whore. It was highly controversial and branded with an NC-17 rating for its sexual content. The MPAA and the theatre chains also refused to release posters or advertise a film called Whore, so for this purpose the film was re-titled If You Can't Say It, Just See It. Russell protested his film being given such a rating when Pretty Woman got an R, on the grounds that his film showed the real hardships of being a prostitute, and the other glorified it.

The film Prisoner of Honor (1991) allowed Russell a further opportunity to explore his abiding interest in anti-Semitism through a factually-based account of the Dreyfus affair in the French Third Republic. The movie featured Richard Dreyfuss in the central role of Colonel Georges Picquart, the French Army investigator who exposed the army establishment's framing of the Jewish officer Captain Alfred Dreyfus.

By the early 1990s, Russell had become a celebrity: his notoriety and persona attracted more attention than his recent work. He became largely reliant on his own finances to continue making films. Much of his work after 1990 was commissioned for television (e.g. his 1993 TV film The Mystery of Dr Martinu), and he contributed regularly to The South Bank Show including documentaries such as Classic Widows about the widows of four leading British composers; dance sections in these were choreographed by Amir Hosseinpour.

Prisoner of Honor (1991) was Russell's final work with Oliver Reed. His final film with Glenda Jackson before she gave up acting for politics was The Secret Life of Arnold Bax (1992).

He directed Lady Chatterley (1993), The Mystery of Dr Martinu (1993), a version of Treasure Island (1995), Alice in Russialand (1995), Mindbender (1995) (about Uri Geller), and an episode of Tales of Erotica.

In May 1995, he was honoured with a retrospective of his work presented in Hollywood by the American Cinematheque. Titled Shock Value, it included some of Russell's most successful and controversial films and also several of his early BBC productions. Russell attended the festival and engaged in lengthy post-screening discussions of each film with audiences and moderator Martin Lewis, who had instigated and curated the retrospective.

Later films include Dogboys (1998), The Fall of the Louse of Usher (2002), and Elgar: Fantasy on a Composer on a Bicycle (2002).

Russell had a cameo in the 2006 film adaptation of Brian Aldiss's novel Brothers of the Head by the directors of Lost in La Mancha. He also had a cameo in the 2006 film Colour Me Kubrick. He directed a segment for the horror anthology Trapped Ashes (2007), which also included segments directed by Sean S. Cunningham, Monte Hellman, and Joe Dante. Prior to his death in 2011 he was reputed to be in pre-production for two films: The Pearl of the Orient and Kings X.

Efforts such as The Lion's Mouth (2000) and The Fall of the Louse of Usher (2002) have suffered from low production values (for example, being shot on video on Russell's estate, often featuring Russell himself) and limited distribution.

In 2003 he was a member of the jury at the 25th Moscow International Film Festival. He also acted in "Final Cut", an episode of the BBC Television series Waking the Dead, playing the role of an aging director of a notorious 1960s crime drama similar to Performance.

From 2004, Russell was visiting professor at the University of Wales, Newport Film School. One of his many tasks was to advise students on the making of their graduate films. He also presented the Finest Film Awards (for graduate filmmakers of Newport) in June 2005.

Russell was appointed visiting fellow at Southampton Solent University and later at the University of Southampton in April 2007, where he acted in a similar capacity to his role at the Newport Film School, until March 2008. His arrival was celebrated with a screening of the rare director's cut of The Devils hosted by Mark Kermode.

He began production of his first full-length film in almost five years, Moll Flanders, an adaptation of Daniel Defoe's novel, starring Lucinda Rhodes-Flaherty and Barry Humphries, but a finished film failed to materialise.

In 2007, Russell produced A Kitten for Hitler, a short film hosted by the Comedybox.tv website. Russell commented that "Ten years ago, while working on The South Bank Show, Melvyn Bragg and I had a heated discussion on the pros and cons of film censorship. Broadly speaking, Melvyn was against it, while I, much to his surprise, was absolutely for it. He then dared me to write a script that I thought should be banned. I accepted the challenge and a month or so later sent him a short subject entitled A Kitten for Hitler. 'Ken,' he said, 'if ever you make this film and it is shown, you will be lynched.' "

Russell joined the cast of the British reality television show Celebrity Big Brother in January 2007, at the start of the series, but left voluntarily within a week after an altercation with fellow housemate Jade Goody. At the age of 79, he was then the oldest person to be a contestant on the programme.

Russell and his wife Elize "Lisi" Tribble were invited by New York film writer Shade Rupe on a six-week journey across North America, beginning with a Lifetime Achievement Award given by Mitch Davis at the Fantasia film festival on 20 July 2010, followed by a screening of Russell's most notorious film, The Devils. The next day, a near complete 35mm print retrospective of Russell's work at the Cinémathèque québécoise including Billion Dollar Brain, Women in Love, The Music Lovers, Crimes of Passion, The Rainbow, Whore, and many more found projection along with an exhibition of several of Russell's photographs from the 1950s. The next stop was Russellmania! at the Lincoln Center, a nine-film overview of Russell's work from Women in Love through Valentino, with Russell present at each evening screening for a nearly sold-out weeklong festival. On 30 July 2010, for the opening night, Russell was joined by Vanessa Redgrave for a 40th anniversary screening of The Devils and the next evening saw The Music Lovers and Women in Love projected with Russell in attendance. Tommy Tune joined Russell the next evening for The Boy Friend and followed the screening with a live stage dance number from the film.

The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles next hosted Russell at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica with screenings of The Devils and Altered States with Charles Haid and Stuart Baird in attendance, and Tommy and Lisztomania at the Egyptian the following evening. Director Mick Garris extended an invitation and Russell, Tribble, and Rupe joined the Masters of Horror for one of their rarified dinners. The tour wrapped up in Toronto at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear and a packed screening of The Devils at the Bloor Cinema hosted by Richard Crouse.

In 2008, he made his New York directorial debut with the Off-Broadway production of Mindgame at the SoHo Playhouse produced by Monica Tidwell, a thriller by Anthony Horowitz and starring Keith Carradine, Lee Godart and Kathleen McNenny.

Towards the end of his life, Russell was planning a remake of the 1976 erotic musical comedy Alice in Wonderland.

Personal life
Russell converted to Roman Catholicism during the 1950s; he described The Devils as being the "last nail in the coffin of my Catholic faith."

He was married four times. His first marriage, to costume designer Shirley Kingdon from 1958 to 1978, produced four sons and a daughter. He was married to Vivian Jolly from 1984 to 1991 (the wedding celebrant being Anthony Perkins, who had been ordained in the Universal Life Church); the couple had a son and daughter. He was married to the actress and former ballerina Hetty Baynes from 1992 to 1997; the couple had a son. His first three marriages ended in divorce. He married American actress and artist Elize "Lisi" Tribble in 2001, and the marriage lasted until his death.

Death
Ken Russell died on 27 November 2011 at the age of 84, having suffered a series of strokes; he was survived by his wife and eight children. Before his death, he left his entire estate to his wife.

Writings
Besides books on film-making and the British film industry, Russell also wrote A British Picture: An Autobiography (1989; published in the US as Altered States: The Autobiography of Ken Russell, 1991). He also published six novels, including four on the sex lives of composers – Beethoven Confidential, Brahms Gets Laid, Elgar: The Erotic Variations, and Delius: A Moment with Venus.

Mike and Gaby's Space Gospel is a science-fiction rewriting of Genesis. His last novel, also science fiction and published in 2006, is called Violation. It is a very violent future-shock tale of an England where football has become the national religion.

At the time of his death, he had a column for The Times in the Film section of times 2.

Photography
Before achieving success in the film industry, Russell was a stills photographer for a period. An exhibition displaying some of Russell's work was on display during the summer of 2007 in central London's Proud Galleries in The Strand, London. The exhibition, entitled Ken Russell's Lost London Rediscovered: 1951–1957, included photos taken in and around London, with many of the pictures being taken in the Portobello Road area of London. An exhibition Ken Russell: Filmmaker, Photographer ran at several galleries in 2010.

Music video
In the late-1980s, Russell directed the music video for "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", a song written and produced by Jim Steinman for his Pandora's Box project. The production featured a range of erotic imagery, including studded bras and spiked codpieces. He had also directed Elton John's video for "Nikita" which featured a scene of John wearing the same boots he wore as the Pinball Wizard in the film adaptation of the Who's Tommy.

Cultural references
Light-hearted references to Russell often allude to sexual and religious (frequently Catholic) images in his work.

In his 1973 novel The Honorary Consul, English novelist Graham Greene includes a passage in which a "Conservative Member of Parliament had described the British entry [in the Mar del Plata Film Festival in Argentina] by some man named Russell as pornographic."

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Ken Russell


text:
Admiral Ackbar

Fleet Admiral Gial Ackbar is a fictional character from the Star Wars franchise. A member of the amphibious Mon Calamari species, Ackbar was the foremost military commander of the Rebel Alliance, and he led the attack against the second Death Star in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983), the final entry in the original Star Wars trilogy. Although his time in the film was brief, Ackbar became a prominent character in other Star Wars media, including novels, comic books, video games, and television shows, and later made appearances in the sequel trilogy films Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and the television series The Clone Wars.

With his distinctive salmon-colored skin, webbed hands, high-domed head, and large fish-like eyes, Ackbar was realized in Return of the Jedi through the use of either a half-body puppet or full-body costume, depending on the camera angle required. In all three films he was portrayed by puppeteer Timothy D. Rose, who originally played other characters, but requested to also play Ackbar after seeing his sculpt on a display stand. Ackbar was voiced by Erik Bauersfeld, who made up the voice on the spot after looking at a photograph of Ackbar. Bauersfeld voiced the character in Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, but died before the filming of The Last Jedi, in which he was replaced by Tom Kane, who had voiced Ackbar in other works of Star Wars media.

Ackbar was originally planned to be more conventionally humanoid, but after Star Wars creator George Lucas decided to make him an alien, he allowed Return of the Jedi director Richard Marquand to pick from various designs. Marquand picked a sketch by concept artist Nilo Rodis-Jamero, over the objections of other members of the film crew who thought the character looked too silly or ugly. Ackbar made his first appearance not in the film, but in a Star Wars newspaper comic strip that ran a few months before Return of the Jedi was released. Lucas was not entirely pleased with the final result of the character in the film and felt it was a compromise. Ackbar's first name, Gial, was not established until April 2012.

Ackbar had just 14 lines of dialogue in Return of the Jedi, and his total screen time across all three film appearances totaled only three minutes and 30 seconds. Nevertheless, he is considered a fan favorite among Star Wars characters, and was ranked No. 16 in a 1998 list of the "Top 20 Star Wars Characters" in the magazine Star Wars Insider. His line "It's a trap!" from Return of the Jedi became one of the most famous, quoted and beloved lines from the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as a popular Internet meme.

Backstory
Admiral Ackbar was best known for his appearance in the film Return of the Jedi, the final entry in the original Star Wars trilogy. However, before the May 1983 debut of that film, the character made his first chronological appearance in the Star Wars newspaper comic strip by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson. Published by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, the strip ran in newspapers across the United States from November 1982 to January 1983. In the comic, Ackbar was portrayed as the leader of the Mon Calamari, an alien species of fish-like, amphibious humanoids with salmon-colored skin, webbed hands, high-domed heads, and large fish-like eyes, and who can breathe both on land and underwater. They are allies of the Rebel Alliance in their conflict with the Galactic Empire. In the comic, which is set before the events of the film The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Ackbar and his crew are stranded on the planet Daluuj after an Imperial attack, and they are rescued by Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia Organa in the Millennium Falcon. Ackbar demonstrates his tactical abilities by agitating water monsters in a ploy to raise the sunken Falcon from a mud swamp.

Ackbar's backstory was not explained in Return of the Jedi, but has been established in Star Wars books and other media since the film was released. He is from the planet Mon Cala,  a world almost entirely covered by water, where his species built giant floating cities. Ackbar is the leader of his home town, Coral Depths City, when forces from the Galactic Empire invade and nearly destroy the planet. Despite the Mon Calamari's attempts to make peace, the Imperial forces destroy several of their cities, steal their technology, and enslave its population. Ackbar is one of the first to be enslaved, and becomes an interpreter and personal servant to Grand Moff Tarkin, a secondary antagonist from the first Star Wars film. During this time, Ackbar learns much about both the Empire and military tactics in general, as well as about the Rebel Alliance and the Death Star, a moon-sized superweapon Tarkin is developing at the time. Ackbar takes detailed notes about what he observed with the hopes of eventually escaping back to his people and using the information against the Empire.

Ackbar is freed from captivity during a failed attempt by Rebel forces to capture Tarkin. He joins the Rebel Alliance, where the knowledge he obtained during his captivity made him indispensable. Ackbar returns to the Mon Calamari people and, after leading them through numerous conflicts, convinces them to formally support the Rebel cause, bringing with them the massive Mon Calamari cruisers that drastically improves the strength of the Rebel fleet. Starting with the rank of Commander, Ackbar helps design the B-wing, a powerful line of starfighters. This success prompts Rebel leader Mon Mothma to promote him to Admiral, news he reacts to heavily due to the weight of the responsibility. Following events in the film Star Wars, including the destruction of the Death Star, Ackbar helps the other Rebel leaders establish new bases of operation and manage a Rebel mobile task force in starships spread across the galaxy. He rises up the ranks until Mothma promotes him to commander of the entire Rebel fleet and head of military operations, as well as one of her top advisers.

Return of the Jedi
Admiral Ackbar was the first character not resemblant of a human shown in a leadership position in the Star Wars films. In Return of the Jedi, when Rebel spies discover plans for a partially constructed second Death Star, Ackbar and Mon Mothma plan a surprise assault on the battle station as it orbits the forest moon of Endor. The attack, known as the Battle of Endor, involves General Han Solo leading a strike team on the moon's surface to destroy the Death Star's energy shield generator, while Ackbar and General Lando Calrissian lead a battle against the station itself. Ackbar personally leads the assault from his flagship, the Mon Calamari cruiser Home One. The attack does not go as planned, however, because Emperor Palpatine was expecting the assault and had in fact allowed the Death Star plans to fall into Rebel hands. On Palpatine's order, Imperial forces launch a massive counterattack against the Rebel fleet with TIE starfighters and Star Destroyer capital ships, which leads Ackbar to realize that the fleet is heading into a trap. He initially calls for a tactical retreat, but Calrissian convinces him to move forward with the attack and give Solo's team more time to destroy the energy shield. The Rebel forces suffer heavy casualties, but ultimately succeed in destroying the second Death Star and defeating the Empire.

The Clone Wars
Ackbar appeared in the first three episodes of the fourth season of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which is set roughly 20 years before the events of the first Star Wars film. In the show, Ackbar is a chief adviser of the Mon Cala king, Yos Kolina, and captain of the Mon Calamari royal guard, where he hones the abilities that later serve him as an Admiral. The fragile peace between Mon Cala's two primary species, the Calamari and the Quarren, is disrupted after King Kolina is assassinated by Riff Tamson, an agent for the Confederacy of Independent Systems, also known as the Separatists, one of the primary antagonists of the series. Attempting to spark a civil war on the planet, the Separatists use Quarren insurgents to obstruct Mon Cala Prince Lee-Char's succession to the throne, and Ackbar attempts to protect Lee-Char and rally the Mon Calamari people as a battle for the planet begins. The battle is lost, despite the assistance of the Jedi Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, and Kit Fisto. Ackbar is captured, leaving Ahsoka and Lee-Char to fend for themselves. However, after learning that Tamson plans to install himself as the new king, the Quarren betrays the Separatists at Lee-Char's public execution ceremony. Afterwards, Ackbar is freed and helps lead a counterassault to retake the planet. Tamson is killed by Lee-Char, who is crowned the new king.

Dave Filoni, supervising director on The Clone Wars, said he had planned on featuring Ackbar in the series since the second season due to the character's relevance to the original trilogy, and because he was old enough in those films to have been alive when The Clone Wars was set. Keith Kellogg, animation supervisor for the series, said of the character: "To see him as his younger self commanding an army in the field was really fun, and to be able to see him mentor Lee-Char was great."

Sequel trilogy

Admiral Ackbar appeared in the first two films of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, which were distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures after The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm in 2012. His character is retired from military service before the events of the films, but Leia Organa convinces him to come out of retirement to fight against the First Order, a military dictatorship that was formed from the remnants of the original Empire. He regains his prior rank of Admiral and serves as one of the leaders of the Resistance, a paramilitary organization led by Leia, who is now a General. Ackbar is in command of the Resistance fleet, with the Mon Calamari cruiser Raddus as his flagship. Ackbar is widely respected by the Resistance personnel as one of the few living commanders to have faced the Empire during the height of its power. In the first film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Ackbar appears at the headquarters of the Resistance, and helps develop the plan to destroy the First Order's new superweapon, Starkiller Base. He later monitors the successful attack against the weapon alongside Leia from the Resistance base on the planet D'Qar.

Members of the cast and crew were particularly excited to film a scene with Ackbar. Ben Rosenblatt, a co-producer with The Force Awakens, said having Ackbar on the set was "the moment that meant the most to me, personally", adding: "Security has been so tight, we're not allowed to take pictures or anything, but I had to take a picture of Ackbar on set and show it to my brothers because we loved Ackbar." Actor John Boyega, who portrayed Finn, said of performing with Ackbar: "as a Star Wars fan, it doesn't get any cooler than that." Gary Whitta, a writer who has worked on several Star Wars projects, said: "When I went to the set of The Force Awakens, the first thing I had to do was put on the Admiral Ackbar mask, and I did. It was a big deal, and I've always loved that character."

In the trilogy's second film, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Ackbar leads the Resistance as they evacuate their base on D'Qar, and orders the ships to jump to hyperspace to escape the First Order. The First Order fleet pursues the Resistance, sending Kylo Ren and other TIE fighters after the MC85 Star Cruiser Raddus, on which Ackbar and other senior Resistance leaders are aboard. First Order TIEs open fire on the main bridge of the Raddus, causing a massive explosion and blowing all occupants into the vacuum of space. Ackbar is killed, along with everyone else on the bridge except for Leia, who is saved by her use of the Force. Although Ackbar had no lines of dialogue during his death scene in the film, the comic book adaptation of The Last Jedi revealed that his last words were: "Torpedoes inbound. It's been an honor serving with you all." Whitta, who wrote the comic book adaptation, said he was saddened Ackbar died so quickly in the film, so he wanted to give him "a little bit of a moment before he dies".

Ackbar's total screen time across all three of his Star Wars film appearances totaled only three minutes and 30 seconds. He was originally planned to appear in Rogue One (2016), a standalone anthology film separate from the sequel trilogy. During the initial screenwriting process, he appeared leading a space fleet during the climactic space battle at the end of the film. However, he was removed in later script revisions and his part replaced by Admiral Raddus, who, in an homage to Ackbar, was also a member of the Mon Calamari species. Whitta, who co-wrote the story of the film, said he wanted Ackbar included, but since he was already featured in The Force Awakens, the team behind Rogue One decided the character should not appear in two films released so closely together.

Ahsoka
Ackbar makes a non-speaking appearance at Hera Syndulla's disciplinary hearing on Corusant.

Other Star Wars media
Although his role in the Star Wars films was relatively brief, Admiral Ackbar became a prominent character in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, which encompasses all licensed stories in the Star Wars universe outside of the nine main feature films, such as novels, comic books, video games, and television shows. With the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film Star Wars were rebranded as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the franchise in April 2014. As a result, Ackbar has two separate storylines and character histories outside of the feature films: one in the Legends canon encompassing all Star Wars media before April 2014, and one in the official Disney canon for all media after April 2014.

Legends continuity
Ackbar was a central character in Strike Force: Shantipole, an adventure book for use with the Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game released in June 1988 by West End Games. Set before the chronological events of Return of the Jedi, the book portrayed Ackbar's secret development of the B-wing starfighters and his efforts to recruit the Verpine, the alien species building the ships, into the Rebel Alliance. In the storyline, the B-wings are designed in a research facility on an asteroid named Shantipole, and the project is nearly compromised by an Imperial spy, forcing Ackbar and other characters to repel an Imperial attack and escape. Ackbar appears in Dark Empire, a six-issue comic book series that detailed the resurrection of Emperor Palpatine, as well as Luke Skywalker's brief conversion to the dark side of the Force. In the comics, Ackbar and Mon Mothma attempts to lead the Rebel Alliance through the crisis, and Ackbar later organizes a response when his home world is attacked by the Empire's new superweapons, the World Devastators.

In the Star Wars novels written between 1991 and 1998, following the events of the Return of the Jedi, Ackbar maintains a key position in the command hierarchy of the Rebel Alliance, as well as that of the New Republic, the government established to replace the Empire. He was a signatory on the formal declaration of the New Republic and one of nine individuals to join the New Republic Provisional Council, the initial governing body of this new form of government. Ackbar is part of the many mop-up operations that targets the Empire's dwindling territories, including the defeat of Grand Admiral Peccati Syn during the liberation of the Wookiee planet Kashyyyk, and the defeat of Imperial warlord Zsinj. Before his death, Zsinj brainwashes several aliens and forces them to make assassination attempts against several high-profile Rebel leaders, including Ackbar.

Ackbar appeared in the Heir to the Empire trilogy of books written by Timothy Zahn and published from 1991 to 1993, which were widely credited with rejuvenating interest in Star Wars at the time. In those books, which are set five years after Return of the Jedi, Ackbar is instrumental in working with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Mon Mothma in reestablishing the New Republic and defeating Grand Admiral Thrawn, the new leader of the remaining forces of the Empire. In the second novel of the series, Dark Force Rising, Thrawn attempts to frame Ackbar for treason by placing stolen money into his personal accounts. Borsk Fey'lya, a political rival of Ackbar, exploits this and has him arrested and placed on trial, but Han Solo and Lando Calrissian obtain evidence that proves his innocence, and he is restored to his military position. Ackbar plans a raid against Thrawn on the planet Bilbringi, seeking to severely damage the Grand Admiral's shipbuilding capability and steal Imperial technology. Thrawn learns of the raid and sets a trap for Ackbar and his forces, but the New Republic ultimately win the battle after Thrawn is assassinated by his own bodyguard.

Ackbar played a prominent supporting role in the Star Wars: X-wing series of novels, which detailed Ackbar leading the successful campaign to recapture the capital planet of Coruscant, among other events. This series also portrays the death of Ackbar's niece, Jesmin Ackbar, a Rogue Squadron starfighter pilot who is killed in action. Ackbar played a supporting role in the Jedi Academy Trilogy, a set of novels by Kevin J. Anderson released in 1994 and set two years after the Heir to the Empire trilogy. In those novels, Ackbar's personal starfighter crashes on the planet of Vortex in an incident that kills numerous innocent aliens and nearly kills Ackbar himself. In disgrace, he resigns from his post and retires to his home planet. It is later revealed that the crash was the result of Imperial sabotage, and Leia tries to persuade Ackbar to return to military service. During that time, Mon Calamari is attacked by Imperial Admiral Natasi Daala, one of the primary antagonists of the Jedi Academy trilogy. Ackbar leads the successful defense of his planet and defeats Daala, and later returns to his military post.

Ackbar retires from military service before the beginning of The New Jedi Order series of Star Wars novels, which were first published in 1999 and were set about 25 years after the original trilogy. However, even as his body begins to fail him due to his advanced age, he comes out of retirement when the Yuuzhan Vong attempt to conquer the galaxy in a bloody war that nearly destroys the New Republic. He appeared in the book Destiny's Way (2002), and upon his return to military service, the message "Ackbar is back!" is transmitted to the entire Defense Force, inspired by a similar real-life transmission "Winston is back!" reportedly issued to the British fleet about Winston Churchill during World War II. In the book, Ackbar serves in a command post in the newly formed Galactic Alliance government, where he formulates strategies that result in a major victory against the Yuuzhan Vong, the Battle of Ebaq, ultimately helping turn the tide of the war. It is revealed in The Unifying Force (2003), the final novel of the New Jedi Order series, that Ackbar dies of old age shortly before the end of the war,  after which he receives a grand memorial service. His death, which occurs 29 years after the events of the first Star Wars film, does not occur within the prose of the novel; rather, the characters are notified that his death occurred. A Galactic Alliance Star Destroyer is named in his honor; the Admiral Ackbar first appears in the novel The Unseen Queen (2005), set several years after the character's death.

Ackbar has appeared in several Star Wars video games, starting with the 1993 LucasArts space simulation computer game Star Wars: X-Wing, in which he provided military briefings for the pilot character controlled by the player. Ackbar made an appearance in Star Wars Galaxies, an MMORPG developed by Sony Online Entertainment and first released in 2003. The game is set shortly after the events of the first Star Wars film, and Ackbar has a rank of Captain. Ackbar also appeared in the 2007 video game Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, in which he was kidnapped by the bounty hunter Boba Fett and handed over to the Empire, who imprisoned him aboard an Imperial cruiser. In the game, the player is a member of Renegade Squadron, a military unit formed by Han Solo composed of pirates and smugglers, and the rescue of Ackbar is one of the game's playable missions. Ackbar can be played as a hidden character in the Nintendo Wii version of the 2008 video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed if the player entered the cheat code "ITSATWAP". Ackbar also appears in the 2015 mobile Role-Playing Game, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, as an unlockable character.

Official canon
Admiral Ackbar appeared in Star Wars: Aftermath, a 2015 canon novel by Chuck Wendig set immediately after the events of Return of the Jedi. During one passage, Ackbar made an impassioned speech, warning his fellow officials in the newly formed New Republic that while the Empire suffered a heavy loss with the death of Emperor Palpatine and the destruction of the Death Star II, the Empire was still a threat and the war was not yet over. In the novel, Ackbar participated in the New Republic's efforts to seek out the remnants of the Empire hiding in the Outer Rim region of the galaxy, and he communicated with his colleague Wedge Antilles before Antilles' disappearance on the planet Akiva, where much of the book's story was set.

Ackbar appeared in Aftermath two sequel books, Life Debt (2016) and Empire's End (2017), also written by Wendig. In Life Debt, Ackbar led the successful assault against Kuat Drive Yards, a major starship manufacturer that had previously been supplying the Empire. In Empire's End, Ackbar commanded the New Republic fleet during the Battle of Jakku, a decisive victory that resulted in the destruction of the Empire and the end of the Galactic Civil War. In an interview with USA Today, Wendig said Ackbar was his favorite established Star Wars character to write for in the novel: "One of the great things about the universe is that we have all of these characters who get a small amount of screen time but who impact us in huge ways. .. Ackbar for me was always this amazing, grizzled war veteran, and getting to inhabit him and his voice for the new book made me pretty giddy."

Ackbar has a minor part in the novel Star Wars: Bloodline (2016) by Claudia Gray, which focused largely on Leia Organa prior to the events of The Force Awakens. The novel included the public disclosure that Organa is the daughter of Darth Vader, which nearly destroyed her reputation and led many to condemn her. Ackbar, however, sent her messages of support after the public revelation, an indication of his respect for her. In a storyline that crossed over between the comic book Star Wars: C-3PO and the Disney XD television series Lego Star Wars: The Resistance Rises (both released in 2016), it was established that Ackbar was captured by the First Order some time after his recruitment into the Resistance. In the story, the droid C-3PO obtained information that Ackbar had been imprisoned aboard an Imperial battlecruiser, and the droid worked with fellow Resistance operatives BB-8 and Poe Dameron to infiltrate the ship and rescue him from Captain Phasma.

Ackbar played a supporting role in the "Burning Seas" story arc from the comic book series Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, which was released in 2018 but was set about one year after the events of Revenge of the Sith, the final movie in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. In the story arc, entitled "Burning Seas", Ackbar was a commander and Chief of Security for Mon Cala King Lee-Char, and Darth Vader and his forces visited the planet to strengthen the Empire's influence there. Ackbar set a trap for the Empire by luring their aerial landing platforms closer to the planet, then firing special undetectable missiles at them once they were in range. The victory proved temporary, however, as Grand Moff Tarkin escalated hostilities as a result and ultimate overtook the planet, resulting in King Lee-Char's capture and eventual death.

Ackbar appeared briefly in the 2017 Star Wars Battlefront II video game developed by EA DICE. During the prologue of the story mode, in which Imperial agent and the game's protagonist Iden Versio has infiltrated a Mon Calamari cruiser, a hologram of Ackbar discussing the Rebel Alliance's plans to attack the second Death Star is briefly visible.

A Mon Calamari named Aftab Ackbar, Admiral Ackbar's son, was created to appear as a minor character in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), the final film in the sequel trilogy. He was created as a result of early script conversations between The Rise of Skywalker co-writers J. J. Abrams and Chris Terrio, who provided the voice for the character. Terrio was a fan of Admiral Ackbar and said he "went into mourning a bit" when the character was killed. Prior to the film's debut, Aftab first appeared in comic book miniseries Star Wars: Allegiance released in October 2019. The miniseries is set after the events of The Last Jedi, and features Leia Organa and her allies visit Mon Cala to seek allies and resources for the Resistance. Aftab assists her, and it is revealed that Admiral Ackbar was seldom present for Aftab's childhood due to his military career, but Aftab studying all of his battle tactics and still felt a strong connection to his father. Aftab is a Colonel with the Resistance in The Rise of Skywalker, He appears in several scenes, including a Resistance meeting to discuss the resurrection of Emperor Palpatine, and the final space battle over Exegol, during which he pilots a B-wing starfighter.

Characterization
Ackbar is portrayed as a military genius, with a masterful grasp of warfare tactics and strategy,   a forward-thinking vision, and a prowess for organizational, administrative, and technical details that make him a highly effective commander. Across all his appearances in the Star Wars franchise, he possesses tactical intelligence and strong leadership skills, and is widely admired and respected by his troops. Ackbar has a methodical style, and tends to be cautious and conservative, as demonstrated by his initial call for a tactical retreat during the Battle of Endor upon learning that it was a trap. He prefers to personally lead major assaults, fearlessly flying into the battlefield along with his soldiers. Ackbar is resourceful and uses outside-the-box methods to improve himself as an officer. For example, in the novel Aftermath, Ackbar practices with melee weapons against holograms of Imperial stormtroopers. Though he acknowledges that he is unlikely to face melee combat as a high-ranking officer, he engages in the practice because he feels staying proficient in fighting techniques helps him stay sharp, flexible, and ahead of his enemies. Ackbar also studies various forms of weaponry and fighting, and has strong design skills, made evident by his role in designing the B-wing starfighter.

Ackbar is also regularly portrayed as wise, with a noble personality and a quiet but firm temperament. Rising from humble beginnings, he is a peaceful being who is forced to learn war due to tyranny of the Empire, and never stops working for peace despite understanding the necessity of war. Despite his success as a warrior, his actions are usually shown to be tempered by justice, honor, and concern. In the Star Wars sequel trilogy and other media set around that time period, Ackbar is portrayed as more gruff in his older age, during which he commands officers many years or even decades younger than him, sometimes referring to them as "fry". His dedication to his career and duty left little time for a personal life or romances, and as a result he does not have a family of his own, with the exception of two nieces.

Conception
In the original script for Return of the Jedi, Ackbar's appearance was more conventionally humanoid, with blue skin and more physically attractive;  the second draft of the screenplay described him as a "pale blue nonhuman". Star Wars creator George Lucas later decided he should be an alien creature instead, and gave the film's director, Richard Marquand, the option to pick a look for Ackbar from a collection of about 50 alien designs, despite Marquand's initial insistence that Lucas himself make the choice. Marquand picked a painting by concept artist Nilo Rodis-Jamero of an anonymous alien with no established backstory or personality.

Rodis-Jamero's first Ackbar sketch was created in the fall of 1981, two years before Return of the Jedi was released, and was known at the time simply as a "Calamari man". The original image mostly resembled how Ackbar ended up in the final film, except with a larger chin, slightly more misshapen head, and a hunchback. The hunch was inspired by Industrial Light & Magic technician Stuart Ziff, who regularly joked about his own slightly hunched posture. Marquand said he "picked the most delicious, wonderful creature out of the whole lot, this big wonderful Calamari man with a red face and eyes on the side". Others working on the film opposed the choice, believing the character looked too silly or ugly and would be mocked, but Marquand insisted upon the choice and their objections were rejected. Marquand said of those concerns: "I think it's good to tell kids that good people aren't necessarily good-looking people and that bad people aren't necessarily ugly people."

Ackbar's first name, Gial, was not established until the April 2012 release of the Star Wars reference book The Essential Guide to Warfare. Co-author Paul R. Urquhart told the website TheForce.net said the name was taken from Gial Gahan, a Mon Calamari Senator character who played a minor role in the Star Wars: Legacy comic book series. While the name Gial was established in material that has since been rebranded as part of the Legends canon, the first name is still considered part of the official canon, and has been re-confirmed as Ackbar's name in canon reference books like Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need To Know, as well as other canon Star Wars novels.

Costume and puppet
Ackbar's appearance in the film was created using a combination of either a half-body puppet or a full-body costume, depending on the camera angle required for the shot. The puppet and mask were created by the "Monster Shop" of Industrial Light & Magic, the motion picture visual effects company founded by Lucas. In close-up scenes of Ackbar that required dialogue, puppeteer Timothy M. Rose sat inside the chest of the character and operated the head like a traditional hand puppet from below. Rose moved the mouth using his hand,   while Mike Quinn operated the eyes via cables. The jumpsuit of that version of the costume was cut off at the waist, and each sleeves included additional access points where a puppeteer could insert his or her arm to control Ackbar's hands.

For wider shots that showed Ackbar's full body, Rose wore the mask and costume while Quinn operated the mouth via remote. Though most other Rebel officers in the Return of the Jedi briefing room scene wore earth tones, Rodis-Jamero felt Ackbar's costume should be more crisp and distinctive: "He was an admiral. He was more military. His costume looks hard." Costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers helped create the Ackbar costume, for which Rose wore a beanbag-like piece around his belly to create Ackbar's distinctive silhouette. Rose wore a white nylon jumpsuit over it, which had a pattern loosely based on ski jumpsuits used in costuming other background characters, as well as yellow striping down the side of the legs. The artificial fabric used on the jumpsuit made a distinct scratching sound whenever the actor walked, which Rodgers said was a nuisance for the film's sound crew.

Over the jumpsuit, Rose wore a vest made of white felt, along with a white plastic utility belt, a rank badge on the left side of his chest, and a large collar to accommodate the unique profile of Ackbar's head. The white boots Ackbar wears in the film are the same design as those worn by Imperial stormtroopers. A white helmet with an elongated back to accommodate Ackbar's large oval-shaped head was featured in original character sketches and was created for Ackbar. However, it created too many complications with the operation of the puppet head, so it was worn by another Mon Calamari character instead. Edwina Pellikka, a textile artist who handled the breakdown and aging of costumes in the film, said she was unhappy with the final result of Ackbar's costume. She later reflected that the all-white costume could have used more aging, saying: "I had to airbrush it, which was done very fast and it does look kind of like it's outlined. Not enough was done with that."

Filming
Ackbar has 14 lines of dialogue in Return of the Jedi, and the character's scenes took six weeks to shoot. Due to uncertainty whether the mouth about movement Ackbar puppet would look realistic while delivering dialogue, alternative scenes were shot with General Crix Madine, a human character portrayed by Dermot Crowley, delivering Ackbar's most important lines, in case they had to be used instead. None of these shots ultimately had to be used in the final film. Occasionally, members of the film crew jokingly referred to the Ackbar character as "Ernie Ackbar", and his name appeared that way on some of the film's progress reports. When the inside of the costume became hot, visual effects artist Phil Tippett, who designed most of the film's creatures, would use a hair dryer to blow cool air through the mouth of the Ackbar mask to keep Rose comfortable.

Although the character was created with the best available puppetry technology at the time, Lucas was not entirely pleased with the final result and felt it was a compromise. According to the book Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy, published in 2014, the original masks used for the Ackbar costumes are "in a fragile state today." During filming of the 2005 Star Wars film Revenge of the Sith, Lucas was so impressed with the animatron mask used on the Mon Calamari character Meena Tills that he briefly considered reediting Return of the Jedi and replacing footage of Admiral Ackbar with an improved mask. This ultimately never occurred.

Timothy Rose
Timothy Rose had been a puppeteer working on several projects for The Jim Henson Company (including The Dark Crystal), when Jim Henson directed him and others from the company to work on Return of the Jedi. He was not originally hired to portray Admiral Ackbar, but instead to help build and operate the Sy Snootles puppet for the Max Rebo Band, which performs at the palace of the alien crime lord Jabba the Hutt. While backstage at the workshop where several alien puppets were stored, Rose saw Ackbar's sculpt on a display stand and asked Phil Tippett if he could play the part. Tippett told him it was a background character, and Rose did not know Ackbar would play a major supporting role in the film. He only asked to portray him because he liked the look of the character, and said he was "thinking he was going to be in the third row in a new cantina sequence or something". Rose was not required to audition for the part of Ackbar before being given the role.

Rose returned to portray Ackbar in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. Each day he was provided with pages from the script only for the specific scenes that were being shot, so he knew little about the final role Ackbar would play in the films until shooting took place. Rose was frustrated by the amount of secrecy on the set, which he felt prevented him and the other actors from having everything they needed to do their jobs as well as possible. Many of Ackbar's scenes were cut from the first film, which Rose said was a disappointment to him "after waiting 30 years to reprise Ackbar". After the character's scenes in The Last Jedi were complete, the crew took footage of Rose in the Ackbar's costume saying "It's a wrap", a reference to the character's death and his famous "It's a trap" line. That shot was featured in behind-the-scenes footage shown at the 2017 D23 Expo. Although intended as a joke, Rose found the gesture offensive and said he was "in tears in the suit".

Erik Bauersfeld
The voice of Admiral Ackbar in Return of the Jedi was performed by Erik Bauersfeld, a radio dramatist who also voiced the alien character Bib Fortuna in the film,  and had unsuccessfully auditioned to voice Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back. He was cast after Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt approached him in 1983, while Bauersfeld was producing a radio drama with Lucasfilm sound designer Randy Thom and suggested he audition for the part of Ackbar. The recording session took one hour, and Bauersfeld made up the voice on the spot after looking at a photograph of Ackbar, without having any other information about the character. According to Bauersfeld: "I saw the face, and I knew what he must sound like."

Bauersfeld did not receive an on-screen credit for his roles as Ackbar and Bib Fortuna, and his association with the characters was unknown for years after the film was released. In a 1999 interview, Timothy Rose said he did not know who provided the voice, and thought it was possible that it was his own voice modified with a synthesizer. Eventually fans learned Bauersfeld played the parts and he began to receive multiple fan letters every week, which continued for the rest of his life. Bauersfeld said he appreciated the passion of fans and responded to every autograph request, but that he was not particularly knowledgeable about Star Wars himself; in 2011 interview, he said he had not seen Return of the Jedi since it first came out, still had not seen the first Star Wars film, and had trouble imitating Ackbar's voice because he could not remember what it sounded like.

Bauersfeld reprised the role in the 1993 computer game Star Wars: X-Wing. Film director J. J. Abrams requested that Bauersfeld once again play Ackbar in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It was Bauersfeld's final role before his death in April 2016.

Other performers
Bauersfield was replaced by Tom Kane in The Last Jedi. Kane has portrayed Ackbar in several other works of Star Wars media, including the 2004 and 2015 versions of Star Wars: Battlefront, the video game Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2016), and the Disney attraction Star Tours – The Adventures Continue. Voice actor Artt Butler, who was a fan of Ackbar ever since watching the Star Wars films as a child, portrayed the character in the television series The Clone Wars. Dave Filoni, supervising director for the series, said the staff debated whether the younger version of Ackbar would still have the same "iconic voice" as in Return of the Jedi or whether he would sound different on the show, but they ultimately went with a similar-sounding voice.

Breckin Meyer portrayed Ackbar in the Robot Chicken: Star Wars series, a Star Wars-themed version of the stop motion sketch comedy television series Robot Chicken on Adult Swim dedicated entirely to Star Wars parodies. Meyer, who also wrote for the series, called voicing Ackbar "my favorite (experience) in the history of the world". Meyer said he tries to mimic Ackbar's voice from Return of the Jedi as best he can, but that the humor comes through because "the actual voice is just funny". Robot Chicken co-creator Seth Green said of Meyer's performance: "When Breckin does Ackbar, it splits me every time. No matter what he says, it's always funny."

Critical reception
Despite his small role in Return of the Jedi, Admiral Ackbar is considered a fan favorite among Star Wars characters. Dave Filoni, a Lucasfilm animation producer who has worked on several Star Wars television shows, said of the character: "Ackbar has a crazy level of fame for the amount of time he's spent onscreen. It's the Boba Fett phenomenon, where you've got a character who doesn't really do a lot, but is so beloved that it eventually spreads outside the realm of fandom." He was ranked No. 16 in a 1998 list of the "Top 20 Star Wars Characters" featured in the magazine Star Wars Insider. That same issue included a separate list ranking the characters based on an index that accounted for their popularity ranking in proportion to the number of lines they speak in the films, to "take into consideration the amount of dialogue a character had to make an impression on fans". With only 14 lines in Return of the Jedi, Ackbar ranked third on that list, behind only Boba Fett and Wedge Antilles. Ackbar was also ranked No. 12 in The Daily Telegraph ranking of 66 characters from the franchise, No. 14 in The Huffington Posts ranking of 93 characters, and No. 21 on IGNs list of the Top 25 Star Wars Heroes.

Scott Chernoff, a writer for Star Wars Insider, called Ackbar's character "one of the most visually striking and memorable characters introduced in the final installment of the saga". Chernoff added that Ackbar performer Timothy Rose was one of the most-requested subjects by readers for his magazine column interviewing Star Wars actors. The Independent writer Christopher Hooton called Ackbar "easily the best character from the original Star Wars films". Jonathan Wilkins, editor at large for Star Wars Insider, called Ackbar "an iconic figure in the Star Wars universe, despite the fact that he had just a handful of lines in Return of the Jedi. Steve Tilley of The Edmonton Sun wrote, "He was so funny-looking yet somehow authoritative and almost regal, though, that he was impossible not to love." Rebecca Hawkes of The Daily Telegraph credited Erik Bauersfeld in particular with "bringing the much-loved Ackbar to life, imbuing the fish-eyed orange monster with a voice, a forceful personality, and a lasting cult appeal". During the 2000 United States presidential election, several websites were established jokingly proposing Admiral Ackbar as a write-in candidate for president.

"It's a trap!"
Admiral Ackbar's line, "It's a trap!", which he says during the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi, became one of the most famous and beloved lines from the original Star Wars trilogy. The line has become a popular Internet meme,    with The Independent calling him "perhaps the franchise's most memed character". More than 1,000 fan videos have been created on the video-sharing website YouTube featuring or parodying Ackbar and that line of dialogue, including trap music and techno remixes built around it. The line did not appear in the original script for Return of the Jedi, and instead was first written as "It's a trick!", but it was changed in post-production after the filmmakers decided it was not as effective a line as they had originally hoped.

Erik Bauersfeld said of the line: "The fans who write say they'll never forget 'It's a trap!' I don't even remember how I said it." International Business Times writer Amy West said the line has "become somewhat cult-like in the eyes of the Star Wars fanbase". Ben Sherlock of Screen Rant called the line "one of the most memorable quotes in the saga's history, for reasons that are unknown yet somehow obvious, and it immortalized what could've been a forgettable character". Renaldo Matadeen of Comic Book Resources called the line "a pop culture touchstone".

Footage of Ackbar reciting the line was featured on both Comedy Central comedy shows The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on February 11, 2010, alongside clips of various Republican Party politicians insisting a White House invitation by President Barack Obama was a trap. "It's a Trap!", the 2011 episode of the animated comedy series Family Guy spoofing Return of the Jedi, took its name from Ackbar's famous line; Ackbar himself makes an appearance in the episode, portrayed by the character Klaus Heissler – a talking goldfish – from the animated series American Dad!. Additionally, a smartphone app was developed with the sole purpose of playing Ackbar's "It's a trap!" line whenever the user pushes a button.

In 2018, the comic strip story in which Ackbar made his debut in 1982 was retroactively titled after the character's famous line.

Response to Ackbar's death
Several fans expressed disappointment with Ackbar's sudden death in The Last Jedi, calling it abrupt and unceremonious. Fans particularly criticized that Ackbar was only featured in the background of the shot where he dies, with the camera focused primarily on Leia Organa, and that his death is mentioned only in passing by other characters later. Screen Rant writer Ben Sherlock wrote of Ackbar's death: "It was such a fleeting moment that many fans didn't even realize it had happened. They looked down for one second to get a handful of popcorn, and when they looked back up, Ackbar was gone". Nate Jones of New York magazine's website Vulture, called the death scene "disrespectful" and "unfathomably rude", and that Ackbar "deserved better than to go out in a throwaway moment".

Ackbar actors Tim Rose and Tom Kane also said they were disappointed with how the character's death was handled. Rose hoped Ackbar would have a more substantial role in The Last Jedi than he had in the latter film, and was unhappy the character again received little screen time and was abruptly killed. Rose said: "Each day I would come to work going, 'Is today the day when Ackbar gets something a bit more involving?' And I looked at my script and I went, 'Oh, Ackbar's going out of the window. Well, that's that then!'". Kane likewise thought the death scene was poorly handled, and believed Ackbar should have been given the larger role in The Last Jedi that went to Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo, a new character played by Laura Dern. The Last Jedi editor Bob Ducsay said he was also disappointed with how the scene was handled, saying it was "slightly incidental", though he said the scene was intentionally designed that way and he did not come to have second thoughts about it until after watching the completed film. Gary Whitta, who co-wrote the story for the film Rogue One and wrote several other Star Wars projects, said he was saddened by how quickly Ackbar died.

Others defended the way Ackbar's character was killed. Alex Leadbeater, features editor of the website Screen Rant, felt the scene was widely misunderstood by fans and served to advance the storyline, particularly to establish the ensuing conflict between Holdo and Resistance pilot Poe Dameron. Leadbeater wrote: "Ackbar had no place in The Last Jedi's narrative. ... You can argue he should have had a greater send off (but) it must be said that to do so would undercut the entire set piece." In The Last Jedi episode of the comedic animated webseries How It Should Have Ended, which parodies and reimagines aspects of popular films, Ackbar's character survives the bridge attack after claiming he has to go to the bathroom at the time the bridge is shot, and he assumes control of the Resistance afterward.

Cultural references
The first Admiral Ackbar action figure was released in 1983, the same year as Return of the Jedi. In 1996, Ackbar was one of the Star Wars characters to receive its own Micro Machines mini-transforming playsets by Galoob. The toy line included miniature versions of the head of each character, which opened to reveal a small set from the film and a figurine of the character itself. The Ackbar playset was sold as part of a collection that also included an Boba Fett and a Gamorrean guard. A Lego figurine of Ackbar was created and released as part of multiple Lego Star Wars toy sets, including with the Lego Home One Calamari cruiser in 2009, the Lego A-Wing Starfighter in 2013, and the Lego Resistance Troop Transporter in 2015. Ackbar's full-sized costume from Return of the Jedi was featured in a 200-piece exhibition of Star Wars costumes, props, and other memorabilia at the Smithsonian Institution called "Star Wars: The Magic of Myth". The exhibit opened at the Washington, D.C. museum complex in 1997 and later went on a national tour that lasted until 2002 and visited various museums, including the San Diego Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Toledo Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum.

Ackbar has repeatedly appeared in the Robot Chicken: Star Wars series, most prominently featured in a sketch portraying a commercial for "Admiral Ackbar Cereal", with Ackbar presenting the breakfast cereal to two children and declaring, "Your tongues can't repel flavor of that magnitude!", a spoof of his line from Return of the Jedi. Several additional Ackbar skits were conceived but never completed, including one in which he is a Costco greeter, and another in which he contracts gonorrhea from a stripper and is told by a doctor "It's the clap!", in reference to Ackbar's famous line "It's a trap!" The "It's a trap!" line was also referenced on the television comedy show The Big Bang Theory. Ackbar was featured in a 2009 CollegeHumor video called "Ackbar! The Star Wars Talk Show", where he played the host of a talk show similar to The Jerry Springer Show. Morgan Phillips, an independent hip hop musician and disc jockey, included a song about the character called "Admiral Ackbar Please" on his album Star Wars Breakbeats.

In 2010, when the University of Mississippi began a process to find a new mascot to replace Colonel Reb, students Matthew Henry, Tyler Craft, Joseph Katool, and Ben McMurtray started a campaign to have Admiral Ackbar selected. Although their efforts started out as a joke, some students began to seriously push for the idea, while others strongly opposed it and felt it was an embarrassment for the university. Some students went so far as threatening to transfer out of the school if he was chosen, and some prospective parents said they would not let their children attend there. The campaign quickly went viral and received national news media attention. Lucasfilm ultimately declined to give the school the rights to use the character, and issued a tongue-in-cheek statement about the matter which read: "The last time we checked in with Admiral Ackbar he was leading the Rebel Alliance Fleet on a critical mission so it will be difficult for him to show up for the games." A black bear was instead chosen as the new mascot.

title: Admiral Ackbar


text:
Talk:Kimjongilia

Heres a link for the Korean Lyrics: http://www.big.or.jp/~jrldr/w/pg16.html

그리워 달려가는 우리의 마음처럼 이강산에 붉게붉게 피여난 꽃송이 아-... 붉고붉은 충성의 김정일화 송이송이 어려있네 따르는 한마음

꽃잎을 바라보면 그 열정 안겨오고 푸른잎새 바라보면 그 정기 어려오네 아-... 붉고붉은 충성의 김정일화 송이송이 그 모습을 가슴에 안고 살리

아-...아-...

온 세상 사람들의 간절한 축원담아 천만송이 곱게 피는 향기론 꽃송이 아-... 붉고붉은 충성의 김정일화 무궁토록 만발하라 내 나라 강산에

Anyone can translate them so we might have all the lyrics of the song?

-- Can anyone find information on kimjongilia cultivated in the United States?

172

This is what really got them on the Axis of Evil!

What is the source for Many North Koreans believe... claim? --Uncle Ed 22:41 Apr 3, 2003 (UTC)

The Korean writing on the card (on the close-up photo) seems to say Kim Jong Il Hwa. Interesting. --Uncle Ed

"Dear Leader"
In 1988, Kim Jong-Il would not have been "Dear Leader", but "Dear Comrade". He didn't become "Dear Leader" until suceeding his father in 1994. - Keith D. Tyler ¶ (AMA) 22:59, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Not so!  Prior to 1994,  Kim Il-sung was the "Great Leader"  and  Kim Jong-il  was the "Dear Leader" already for about 15 years.Eregli bob (talk) 14:48, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

"kimjongilia" (literally, "flower of Kim Jong-il")
It would be better to write this, I think, as "kimjongilia" ([flower of] Kim Jong-il). The Neo-Latin word has nothing of the word "flower" in it; it is an adjectival form to be construed either as an adjective either neuter plural (as in "Americana" or feminine singular modifying an understood but absent "flora". --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 18:18, 24 December 2014 (UTC)
 * I also wonder if someone can give the technical botanical name of this plant. A hybrid is not the same as a cultivar, and there are rules in botanical nomenclature for capitalization, which would hope make this article uniform.  --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 18:22, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

title: Talk:Kimjongilia


text:
Pullman

Pullman may refer to:

Places in the United States

 * Pullman, Chicago, Illinois
 * Pullman, Michigan
 * Pullman, Texas
 * Pullman, Washington
 * Pullman, West Virginia
 * Pullman Lake, a lake in Minnesota
 * Pullman neighborhood, in the city of Richmond, California

Surname

 * Alberte Pullman (1920–2011), theoretical and quantum chemist, wife of Bernard
 * Alfred Pullman (1916–1954), a British soldier and airman
 * Bernard Pullman (1919–1996), theoretical and quantum chemist, husband of Alberte
 * Bill Pullman (born 1953), American actor
 * George Pullman (1831–1897), founder of the Pullman Company
 * Joe Pullman (1876–1955), Wales international rugby union player
 * Lewis Pullman (born 1993), American actor
 * Philip Pullman (born 1946), English writer
 * Simon Pullman (1890–1942), violinist and founder of the Warsaw Ghetto Symphony Orchestra

Road

 * Humber Pullman, a large automobile manufactured in central England between 1930 and 1954
 * Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman Guard, German armoured limousine
 * Pullman automobile by Pullman Motor Company, maker of automobiles in York, Pennsylvania, U.S. from 1905 to 1917
 * Pullman Coaches, a bus operating company in Wales acquired by Veolia Transport Cymru, now Crossgates Coaches
 * York Pullman, a bus operating company in Yorkshire, England, UK

Rail

 * Pullman Company, maker of Pullman rail cars
 * Pullman porter, a man hired by the Pullman Company to work as porter on sleeping cars
 * Pullman Strike, a major American railroad strike in 1894
 * Pullman train (UK), mainline luxury railway services in Great Britain

Both

 * Pullman (car or coach), luxurious railway cars, cars, buses or coaches

Other uses

 * Pullman (architecture), a long, narrow room
 * Pullman (band), an American band formed in Chicago in the 1990s
 * Pullman F.C., Pullman Company soccer team
 * Pullman Hotels and Resorts, a brand part of the French AccorHotels group
 * Pullman loaf, a long, square-edged loaf of bread
 * Pullman Memorial Universalist Church, Albion, New York
 * S. J. Pullman Stakes, a horse race at the former Cheltenham_Park_Racecourse in Adelaide, South Australia

title: Pullman


text:
Talk:Robert Mugabe

Misspellings
Page is protected but the name "Tsvangirai" is misspelled in different ways throughout the article. Can someone fix this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.172.68.237 (talk) 22:31, 6 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done Corrected the two errors I saw. If there are others, please re-open this edit request (change |answered=yes to |answered=no) and state where they are in the article. Thanks! NiciVampireHeart 14:57, 7 September 2019 (UTC)

In the first paragraph of the "Economic decline: 1995–2000" section, tripled is spelled "trebled". - 67.80.164.161 (talk) 20:37, 14 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: that is not an error. Elizium23 (talk) 22:51, 14 December 2019 (UTC)

Guccwasressive? Hahaha lol SalineBrain (talk) 08:41, 3 February 2020 (UTC)

New main image
Proposed new main image

 * Support; I think that the 1979 image is more appropriate than the (established) 2015 image. The latter features Mugabe leaning towards the right, away from the viewer and the text and thus is perhaps not the best image for this location. Also, I think it makes sense to depict Mugabe in his 'prime' as it were, just on the cusp of becoming Prime Minister, rather than as a frail old man. It was in the 1970s and 1980s that he was arguably a far more important figure on the world stage so depicting him at this stage in his life might be more appropriate. Moreover, going for the 2015 image might simply be WP:Recentism Midnightblueowl (talk) 22:07, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Support; A very great image, composed well. Would fit the infobox. Lochglasgowstrathyre (talk) 17:10, 16 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Comment; It is an alright image, and will do for now, though it is in black and white. I suggest finding a decent resolution of the most recent official state photograph as seen here and uploading it to the Commons for use on all the various language versions of Wikipedia, as under Zimbabwean law it is not copyrighted as an official government document. It makes most sense to have the official presidential portrait of him as the main image, just as the American presidents and other world leaders have, for example.  Mangwanani  (talk) 18:46, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

What happened to the "Sir" in Sir Robert Mugabe's name?
Censorship like the aforesaid truly cheapens the truthfulness of wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.5.239.132 (talk) 01:05, 22 December 2019 (UTC)
 * The late President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, GCB, received an honorary knighthood, Knight Commander of the Order of Bath. Because it is an honorary knighthood, the late President was not allowed to be addressed as Sir Robert. 83.84.100.133 (talk) 16:42, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

Removing references to "white"
White is a colour, not a politically associated group of people. I recommend removal of colour-associated identification as this is considered racially defamatory and a breach of United Nations Bill of human rights to which most nations in earth are signatory. In line with UN human rights objectives, I suggest that racial identification not be colour coded but rather use political heritage identifiers instead. Ashattock (talk) 23:07, 12 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Hang on there a moment, what do the sources say? If the sources are unanimous about using "white" to describe the minority and opposition, then you do not get to reinterpret them to say "European" and things like that. What do the sources say? Have you read them? Elizium23 (talk) 23:27, 12 January 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 7 May 2020
Robert Mugabe is the Former President of Zimbabwe and he WAS the former prime minister of Zimbabwe. Please edit Robert Mugabe- Former President of Zimbabwe on the cover page that appears first before you enter Wikipedia. Thank you --105.184.50.19 (talk) 18:08, 7 May 2020 (UTC)Dr G Macherechedze 105.184.50.19 (talk) 18:08, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: The article lede already says he served as president. Not sure what "cover page" you are referring to.  If you mean the Google Knowledge Graph that shows up in searches, then that is a Google issue not a Wikipedia issue.  RudolfRed (talk) 18:19, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

New Main Infobox Image
We should change the lead infobox image to this. It’s relatively clear, it has the Zimbabwean flag in the background, it’s in color, and it was his first official portrait as Prime Minister. The current image has motion blur, it’s in B&W, and it was taken nearly a decade before he actually became Prime Minister. Thoughts? The Image Editor (talk) 18:10, 3 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Oppose: bad colors, damaged photo, not actually identifiable as Zimbabwean flag, not an improvement. Elizium23 (talk) 21:53, 3 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Oppose - Much poorer quality. No blur in current image. And what will it take to get you to understand that color is not always better? Sundayclose (talk) 19:20, 3 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Support - this is an official photo of him as head of state, and it's in color. For an infobox, I think this better represents who Robert Mugabe was to the average person reading about him (i.e. he was much more notable for his 40-year tenure as prime minister than for his previous actions). I don't see how it's poorer quality. The current picture is higher resolution, sure, and it belongs in the article, but in the infobox? I dunno. jp×g 23:13, 8 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Support / Oppose - I have made this observation above in this section. I also suggested that this photo is the ideal photo to use, as it is his official portrait as President. However, I agree with the comments above, that this rendering is of poor quality and the colours are off. If someone still has a copy of the portrait from a public building from before he was ousted, can they scan it in and upload it, using the copyright tag?  Mangwanani  (talk) 16:21, 5 May 2021 (UTC)

Distracting and misleading wording. Edit request
If I have missed the correct way to suggest editing, please put these suggestions in the correct place. 1. "he met a number of Jewish South African communists" Since there is no discussion of Jews or Jewish influence, the adjective "Jewish" here is a distraction, and for some, a disparagement. The text should be: "he met a number of South African communists" 2. "ordered a number of Marxist tracts—among them Karl Marx's Capital" "Tracts" makes the publications sound insubstantial and ephemeral. They are books. The text should be: "ordered a number of Marxist books—among them Marx's Capital" 3. "second degree by correspondence, this time a Bachelor of Administration from the University of London International Programmes through distance and learning." Wordy. A correspondence degree is distance learning. The text should be: "second degree by correspondence, this time a Bachelor of Administration from the University of London International Programmes. Mwalimu0 (talk) 18:39, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

Proposed Main Infobox Photo

How about this main Infobox photo proposal for the article of Robert Mugabe? Got any thoughts? 2001:D08:D2:1FC9:298E:639D:B47D:B0C4 (talk) 14:38, 15 April 2023 (UTC)

New mainbox image
I think this particular photograph would be better for the infobox than the current one. Firekong1 (talk) 04:33, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

 * Oppose per MOS:PORTRAIT, It is often preferable to place a portrait (image or representation of a person) so that they "look" toward the text, but do not achieve this by reversing the image, which creates a false presentation. (Faces are never truly symmetric even in the absence of scars or other features.). ‑‑Neveselbert (talk · contribs · email) 15:37, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

Find a Grave website article which claims Robert Mugabe was buried in National Heroes Acre cemetery is false and should in no way be considered a reliable source
Zimbabawe government plans, which may or may not have have been the basis for this erroneous Find a Grave article, were later altered. The former Zimbabwe leader would instead be buried in his Kutama home.Speakfor23 (talk) 18:34, 5 June 2024 (UTC)

It is good that Wikipedia has the Template:Find a Grave article which notes why Find a Grave can be an unreliable source.Speakfor23 (talk) 18:45, 5 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Robert Mugabe