He was best known for a small part in the 1977 space opera film Star Wars, in which he played the role of insane Dr. Evazan, a criminal with a heavily scarred face who violently confronts Luke Skywalker in the Mos Eisley Cantina scene. Curtis's character states "I have the death sentence on twelve systems!" In the brief bar brawl, Evazan's partner, Ponda Baba, is injured by Obi-Wan Kenobi, the first use of a lightsaber in combat in the Star Wars franchise.