Esteemed actor Warwick Davis broke down in tears on stage as he remembered his late wife in a moving award acceptance speech. The star left BBC viewers in tears when he delivered an emotional tribute to his late wife Samantha while accepting a prestigious award at the 2025 British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards. Davis, who is known for appearing in Star Wars, Willow and the Harry Potter film, received Bafta’s highest honour on Sunday at the Royal Festival Hall, London for his "outstanding and exceptional" contributions to the screen. and advocacy work.
On accepting his award Davis said: “This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I’ve been in Star Wars.”. He added that “life has been pretty tough” since losing his wife Samantha aged 53 last March. “She was always so supportive of my career, encouraging me to grab every opportunity with both hands,” he said. “Since then life has been pretty tough for me. “Thanks to the support of our wonderful children I’ve been able to continue working and engaging in life.”.
Here is all we know about the family:. Samantha Davis was also an actor, and the pair were married for 33 years. Samantha was also the co-founder of the dwarfism charity Little People, and had worked on films including Labyrinth and Willow, and it was on the set of Willow, released in 1988, that she met Warwick. She was born into an acting family, and her father was actor Peter Burroughs who also appeared in Star Wars and Willow. Peter and Warwick set up a talent agency together in 1995.
Willow Management specialises in representing actors under five feet as well as performers over seven feet tall. Samantha passed away on March 24 last year, and although no official statement was made, it is believed she contracted the deadly bacterial infection, sepsis, after undergoing decompression surgery on her spine. The mum-of-three first fell ill with sepsis in 2019, which led to intensive care treatment.
Sepsis is a bacterial infection which is difficult to identify which, without prompt treatment, can lead to multiple organ failure and death. The couple married in 1991 and went on to have three children: Lloyd, Harrison, and Annabelle. Lloyd sadly died just nine days after he was born. Warwick was born with Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (SED), an extremely rare genetic form of dwarfism, which has been inherited by both their daughter Annabelle and son Harrison.
He said: “I think it brings you closer together, or something like that. But it’s an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone. It’s devastating.”. Annabelle is 27 and also works as an actress. She played the role of Sasha Bellman in the CBBC series The Dumping Ground from 2015 to 2022, and in 2023, played Lacey Lloyd in Hollyoaks. Harrison also is an actor and joined his father as Pommet Warrick the Ewok in the final film in the Skywalker saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
