Claire Davenport

Claire Davenport played the Empress in the Season 1 Doctor Who story Marco Polo. This was her first known television acting credit.

Born on 24 April 1933 in Sale, Cheshire, England, Ms. Davenport became known for her "junoesque" form and was often cast in character roles which highlighted her large physique. Outside her early role on Doctor Who, she may perhaps be most recognised as the Swiss masseuse who grapples with Inspector Closeau for control of a vacuum cleaner in The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), as the circus fat lady in The Elephant Man (1980), and especially as Yarna d'al' Gargan, the rotund dancer who shakes, shimmies, and kicks in the court of Jabba the Hutt's palace in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). Sadly, Claire Davenport died from renal failure on 4 March 2002.