Man Responsible for Darth Vader’s Swordsmanship Has Died

When STAR WARS fans think of the men behind Darth Vader, the first people that come to mind are James Earl Jones (voice) and David Prowse (body).  But there is one person who also deserves credit: the man behind the lightsaber.

Olympic swordsman Bob Anderson was the man who wielded Darth Vader’s lightsaber during all the original trilogy’s fight scenes.  And this morning, the British Academy of Fencing announced that Anderson had passed away.

A statement on the organization’s website read,

“He was truly one of our greatest fencing masters and a world-class film fight director and choreographer and both the fencing community and film world will miss him.”

Years after the original STAR WARS came out, it was actually Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker himself) that spread the name of Bob Anderson.  In an interview with Starlog magazine in 1983, Hamill said,

“It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George (Lucas) I didn’t think it was fair anymore…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.”

Anderson was 89 years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kpHK4YIwY4&feature=player_embedded