Astor Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 Bob Anderson, the stunt swordsman who played Darth Vader in the Lightsaber duels in the Original Trilogy died on 1st January aged 89. The British Academy of Fencing confirmed Anderson died on 1 January. It was Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars trilogy, who revealed Anderson was behind the fight scenes in a 1983 interview with Starlog magazine. "It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George (Lucas) - the director - I didn't think it was fair any more," he said. "Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It's ridiculous to preserve the myth that it's all done by one man." In addition to Star Wars, he worked with Errol Flynn, and worked on films such as the Princess Bride, Zorro, several Bond films, and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. RIP.
adamqd Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 RIP Bob, you choreographed the greatest fights ever filmed. R.I.P
Marius Fett Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 Some of my earliest and best childhood memories are of sitting on the living room floor with a bucket of chicken pieces and some cans of Coke with my father, watching this man kick arse in the OT. R.I.P
Shem Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 Slowly, but surely we're losing great men. RIP Bob!
mimartin Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 You had me at Princess Bride. Empire and RotJ, may be two of my favorite movies, but it isn't because of the saber battles. Not Mr. Anderson fault there, he was just limited in what he could do because of the characters involved. Princess Bride on the other hand had some great choreographed fights, so did LotR for that matter. RIP Mr. Anderson. no matrix jokes please.
Darth Avlectus Posted January 4, 2012 Posted January 4, 2012 Farewell Mr. Bob Anderson, even my fencing and SCA groups talked about you. More for Errol Flynn than any of the other though the LOTR nerds in the group definitely felt inspiration from him...Obviously the SW nerds got their inspiration from him as well. You shall be missed, Bob Anderson!
DarthParametric Posted January 4, 2012 Posted January 4, 2012 I hadn't actually heard of him until I read the news of his death on theforce.net earlier today. Given that he worked on LOTR, and thus was still active in the industry around that time, it's odd he didn't get the gig for the pre-trilogy. Gillard's Maul fight was certainly flashy, but none of the PT fights best the ESB and ROTJ fights IMO. All perhaps a good deal of that is to do with the emotional weight of the OT scenes, something the PT lacked by and large.
Q Posted January 4, 2012 Posted January 4, 2012 The sword fight in Die Another Day actually made that film worth watching. RIP
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