Robert James Gilbert Anderson, the man behind Darth Vader’s fighting prowess has died at the age of 89. His death was confirmed in January 1st, 2012 by the The British Academy of Fencing.
In a 1983 interview with Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars films, Hamill revealed that Bob Anderson was responsible for staging the legendary battle scenes in two of the three films.
Anderson had a history of serving in the Royal Marines as well as an extensive background in fencing techniques. He represented the UK in the 1952 Olympics as well as the 1950 and 1953 World Championships.
The expertise of Anderson’s fencing techniques were soon in high demand and Bob went on to work on well-known films including Die Another Day, The Princess Bride, and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
He also appeared as Darth Vader’s stunt double during Vader’s light sabre battles in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Darth Vader continues to be one of the world’s best-known villains of all time.
The Fencing Academy Director was quoted on their website saying “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.”
The details of Anderson’s funeral have not yet been announced.
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