Star Wars star Mark Hamill ditched a promotional appearance for The Force Awakens this week in order to visit sick children at a London hospital.
The 64-year-old actor, who plays Luke Skywalker in the space adventure films, visited children at the Great Ormond Street Hospital while the rest of the cast of the new Star Wars film taped a promotional appearance on the Graham Norton Show.
According to the Independent, Hamill visited with patients including four-year-old London native Jake Morgan, who is recovering a from a kidney transplant, and a young boy named Oscar, with whom the actor shared a photo on Twitter.
“Star Wars movies are meant to be a couple of hours of diversion from reality, and we need that. They are optimistic and hopeful stories,” Hamill told the Independent. “But in comparison to what we can do with this (the hospital), last night [the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens] is very trivial.”
Hamill added that it feels “wonderful” to be able to give back to sick children.
“It can be harrowing emotionally because your heart goes out to these children but it’s also very uplifting,” the actor said. “You walk away thinking being an actor is so trivial compared to helping needy children.”
The hospital issued a tweet thanking Hamill for the visit:
Earlier this month, Hamill threw on a Stormtrooper outfit and took to Hollywood Boulevard to promote a fundraising effort for Omaze’s Star Wars: Force for Change charity drive.
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