Sick Bay for R2-D2

Fri., Apr. 11, 2008 10:23 AM PDT by Joal Ryan

R2-D2's in the shop.

Kenny Baker, the 3-foot, 8-inch actor who climbed inside the droid's circuitry for all six Star Wars movies, has been hospitalized with a chest infection, according to British media reports Friday.

"It's going to take a bit of time, because it's a pretty bad infection," Baker's son Kevin Baker told Britain's Lancashire Evening Post. "He's all right—that's the problem. He just wants to get up and get cracking, and he needs to lie down and take it easy."

The elder Baker, 73, a chronic sufferer of asthma, suffered a flare-up during a recent convention stop in Chicago, the paper said. The British-born Baker fell ill on the plane ride home to England, and was taken to the hospital directly from the airport.

According to his son, Baker is loath to turn down a con, no matter what.

"He just loves going to these conventions and meeting his fans," Baker said in the Evening Post. "He gets on so well with the other guys from Star Wars and hates turning down any opportunity to appear."

An earlier report said Baker could be out of the hospital as early as this weekend, but an update Friday made that prognosis sound less certain.

Baker is nothing if not a survivor, having braved temperatures as high as 127 degrees while inside the Artoo unit.

Though best known for the Star Wars movies, Baker has a host of other credits, including appearances in Time Bandits, Amadeus and Willow.