Star Wars (1977)

An original 1977 20th Century-Fox Black and White Publicity Still, unframed.

Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader face down Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia aboard the Death Star, in the scene where she tells Tarkin she recognised his foul stench as soon as she was brought on board.

Cushing was already a legend from two decades of Hammer horror, and George Lucas wanted his gravitas to make the Empire feel real. Famously, the costume boots were too small, so he played many of his scenes in carpet slippers and was shot from the waist up. Stills like this were sent to newspapers and magazines in 1977, and the line-up here, Tarkin, Vader and Leia in one frame, is the whole conflict of the film in a single picture.

• Year: 1977
• Nationality: United States
• Type: Original Black and White Publicity Still
• Size: 8 x 10 inches
• Framed Size: 13 x 15 inches
• Condition: Unframed
• Product Code: T7411