Hamill didn't get messed up in a motorcycle crash.
It was a car crash.
He lost control of his BMW on the Antelope Freeway 14 in So Cal.
Mark Hamill's scars - the truth:
Mark Hamill was in a car accident in his BMW while driving on Highway 14
(Antelope Valley Freeway) to film sequences for Star Wars on January 11,
1977. He had reconstructive plastic surgery on his nose and face. The
recovery scene after the Bacta tank in ESB do show the real scars of this
accident. The Wampa attack scene was created because of Mark's accident.
You can also see the scars covered up with makeup in the SW Christmas
Special and Corvette Summer.
Original posting of Mark Hamill's scars - the truth!
Okay, I've seen a lot of wrong information about Mark Hamill on this
newsgroup and I'm here to set the record straight about one of the
subjects -
the scars on that sexy face! If you are wondering about how I got all of
my
information, I did extensive research about Mark Hamill for a report in a
drama class in high school and I have kept the collection of interviews
updated through today (the interviews begin in 1977 through 1994).
According to the book "Skywalking," Mark Hamill was needed for some desert
shots in Death Valley when Lucas got the call from Gary Kurtz that Mark
was
in a terrible car accident. Mark went through the windshield of his car.
From Los Angeles Times article titled "Stardom - Science or Fiction?" May
7,
1977: Before signing for "Star Wars," Hamill had played in a Lorimar
Productions' pilot, Eight is Enough, which ABC picked up as a midseason
replacement. Coincidentally, the night before the series was to go into
production, Hamill was in an automobile accident, one factor which
necessitated his replacement in the series. From People Magazine July 18,
1977 article: By then, it also occurred to Lucas' kid (Hamill) that he
was starring in what could be his career breakthrough, but he happened to
be committed for seven years to the ABC sitcom Eight is Enough. When he
asked out, Hamill reports, "they decided to nail me to the wall as a test
case. They threatened to cancel the series and sue me for damages. I
felt desperate." Then he recounts a possibly Freudian misadventure. In a
rage he catapulted his new BMW off a 30' incline on the Antelope Valley
Freeway (California State 14 just north of Los Angeles, where the
Northridge earthquake occurred). "My nose was wiped right off, and my
face had to be rebuilt." While his older brother, a shrink, kept his
battered head together, doctors sculptured a nose from ear cartilage.
From Los Angeles Herald Examiner, October 13, 1977 " 'Star Wars' shoots
Hamill into Hollywood heavens,": Mark had "six glorious months" without a
car earlier this year after a terrible accident sent him to the hospital
for six weeks. "I was bashed and battered," he says. "It's something I'd
like to forget. There I was lying
in a hospital bed, enduring three separate operations on my face and this
big
movie I had a leading part in was about to open. My career had just taken
off and I might never work again."
Quoted:
Mark Hamil wasn't very good in A New Hope either. He really got better after the motorcycle crash tore up his face for RotJ. quote]