Lando Calrissian

Lando Calrissian, a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, is a former smuggler and friend of Han Solo who owns and runs a floating city and Tibanna Gas mine on the planet Bespin. After betraying Solo when threatened by Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, Calrissian joins the Rebel Alliance, and in Return of the Jedi rescues Solo, and leads the Rebel starfighter fleet (in the Millennium Falcon previously owned by him) into the Death Star to destroy the massive space station.

Lando Calrissian was the only character in the original Star Wars trilogy to be overtly played by an African-American actor, Billy Dee Williams (though James Earl Jones supplied the voice of Darth Vader). Lucas was heavily criticised for this perceived omission (and indeed his policy of using ethnic dialects to identify classes of characters, such as giving some - though not all - senior Imperial officers British accents).

See also : Star Wars