John Rhys-Davies, who plays warrior dwarf Gimli in the blockbuster trilogy, has been spearheading a BNP campaign without his knowledge following an interview in which he claimed Western civilisation was under threat because white Europeans produce fewer babies than Muslims.

The actor said Europe faced a 'demographic catastrophe' in the next 20 to 30 years when indigenous populations are outnumbered by Islamic immigrants. His remarks have been seized on by the BNP, which has distributed a leaflet that hijacks J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, recently voted the nation's favourite book, as a parable for the 'great real-life battle to save the West'.

Only weeks after Robert Kilroy-Silk was dropped by the BBC for attacking Arabs in a newspaper column, Rhys-Davies last night stood by his remarks, demanding: 'Are we willing to be part of a Muslim-controlled Europe?' - but disassociated himself from the BNP.

The Welsh actor, who also appeared in the Indiana Jones films and the Bond movie The Living Daylights, made his original comments in an interview with American journalists at the time of the latest film's premiere. 'There is a demographic catastrophe happening in Europe that nobody wants to talk about, that we daren't bring up because we are so cagey about not offending people racially,' he said.

'By 2020, 50 percent of the children in Holland under the age of 18 will be of Muslim descent. Western Europeans are not having any babies. The population of Germany at the end of the century is going to be 56 per cent of what it is now. The population of France, 52 per cent of what it is now. There is a change happening in the very complexion of Western civilisation in Europe that we should think about at least and argue about.

'If it just means the replacement of one genetic stock with another genetic stock, that does not matter too much. But if it involves the replacement of Western civilisation by a different civilisation with different cultural values, then it is something we really ought to discuss - because, goddammit, I am for dead white male culture.'

In a later interview, Rhys-Davies added: 'I do not want to see a society where, should I ever have any, my granddaughters have their fingernails pulled out because they are wearing nail varnish. Do not brand me a racist because I am certainly not. But I will stand by this: Western Christianised Europe has values and experiences worth defending.'

His views were rapidly appropriated by the BNP for a leaflet downloaded and distributed via its website. It quotes Rhys-Davies beside a picture of him as Gimli and urges: 'Whether you think of yourself as a Rider of Rohan, as an Elf or as a simple, fun-loving Hobbit, the dark days that Tolkien foresaw are almost upon us, and your duty is clear: Join the British National Party and our great real-life battle to save the West!'

Speaking from Los Angeles yesterday, Rhys-Davies shrugged off the row and stuck to his guns: 'There is a radical plunge in indigenous populations unequalled since the Black Death. The baby-boomers are ageing and the families are not producing enough children. The immigrant population, being younger and committed to family life, are having a higher proportion of babies. If you project these lines into the future, we're talking about a Europe that will be predominantly Muslim in the next two to three decades.'

He continued: 'You can only welcome it if you're a fundamentalist Muslim, not even if you're a moderate Muslim. I have a lot of respect for aspects of Islam but I would not choose to live in a theocratically organised Muslim society.'

Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain said: 'John Rhys-Davies's remarks are distressing because what's needed is not further polarisation between people. It's almost a mirror image of remarks by extremists in our community who can only see evil in the West. It can only be seen as trying to incite people against the Muslim community. Muslims have come to love this country as much as anyone else. They are proud to be British. Mr Rhys-Davies has done Muslims a disservice by portraying them as invading barbarian hordes. His status as a star of The Lord of the Rings will give him credibility and it's a shame the BNP have been so quick off the mark to exploit his remarks. He might not be a racist but his comments will be used by racists.'

Chris Myant, director of the Commission for Racial Equality in Wales, said: 'This way of talking is reminiscent of Enoch Powell, whose words give a veneer of seeming respectability to racist and hateful ideas.'

Ian Collier of the Tolkien Society said: 'The Tolkien Society does not in any way condone the use of his works to support messages of racial hate, just as Tolkien himself objected strongly to the Nazis. We are saddened to see this kind of misrepresentation.'