How tall was the “Star Wars” actor, Peter Mayhew, who played the character Chewbacca?

Peter William Mayhew (May 19, 1944 – April 30, 2019) was an English-American actor born in Barnes, Surrey, England, who is best known for portraying the 'Wookiee' Chewbacca in the “Star Wars” film series. He played the character in all of his live-action appearances from the 1977 original to 2015's “The Force Awakens” before his retirement from the role.

When casting the original “Star Wars” (1977), director George Lucas needed a tall actor who could fit the role of the hairy alien Chewbacca. He originally had in mind 6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m) bodybuilder David Prowse, but Prowse chose to play Darth Vader. Mayhew, who was working as an orderly in the radiology department of King's College Hospital, London, became aware of a casting call for “Star Wars” which was filming at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire. The 7-foot-3-inch (2.21 m) tall actor was immediately cast as Chewbacca after he stood up to greet Lucas. Mayhew continued working as an orderly—at Mayday Hospital (now Croydon University Hospital)—in between filming the original "Star Wars" trilogy.

Mayhew modelled his performance of Chewbacca after researching the behaviour of bears, monkeys and gorillas he saw at London Zoo. Lucas said Mayhew was "the closest any human being could be to a 'Wookiee': big heart, gentle nature and I learnt to always let him win". The character did not have any lines, the sounds he made being derived from sound recordings of animal noises.