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Bob Anderson, the Man Behind Vader's Lightsaber, Dies at 89

Posted by timothy on from the sad-news-for-the-new-year dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Australia's ABC News: "Bob Anderson, an Olympic swordsman who staged fights for films including the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings trilogy, has died at the age of 89. ... Anderson donned Darth Vader's black helmet and fought light-saber battles in two of the three original Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but his role was not initially publicized." The accompanying video clips are great; I never thought about anyone being in the Vader suit besides David Prowse.

6 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Not just Star Wars by NorbrookC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He was the swordmaster behind LOTR and the Princess Bride. His skill was not just being able to do it, but to teach others to do it so it looked right on screen. RIP, Bob Anderson.

    1. Re:Not just Star Wars by aslagle · · Score: 5, Informative

      He took the line in The Princess Bride that went something like 'they had the best swordfight ever', and turned it into the best sword fight on film I've ever seen.

      Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin practiced constantly for that fight scene, during breaks in filming, and it shows. Nothing beats doing something for real. Saying "we'll fix it in post" using CGI has become a crutch, I think.

    2. Re:Not just Star Wars by DaViking · · Score: 5, Informative

      The great thing about the "Chatty Duel" in the Princess Bride is how simple the blade work actually is. Besides the acrobatics and tossing of swords the fencing is relatively simple and well executed. That scene has generated more interest in fencing than any of our recent Olympic achievements can hope to. Nearly every student I've taught has been influenced to seek out the sport in part by that film and after 6 months or so I will tell them to re-watch it and see all the actions they just learned. As was said above, he was able to create such elegant choreography and able to teach the actors to perform it with such skill he was able to create so many of the great and memorable film duels.

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  2. Re:Meanwhile... by paintballer1087 · · Score: 5, Funny

    the real guy behind Darth Vador

    -5 Nerd points

    the real guy behind Darth Vader

    FTFY

  3. Re:I disagree. by RogueyWon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ep 4 is a bit clunky, yes. As other posters have noted, that was made before they brought in the expertise they needed - so you get a fight which is basically two untrained old(ish) men taking swings at each other.

    But what you get in Eps 5 and 6 is a sense of story to the fight. In 5, when Luke fights Vader, he's clearly lost the fight before it even begins. He's distracted and off-balance. Vader's the older, smarter and more skilled fighter. Luke tries gamely enough to begin with, but every swing he takes is turned against him. Vader's not going all out; he doesn't want to kill, so he bides his time and breaks down his opponent before going for a disabling blow.

    In Ep 6, the battle in the throne room begins much the same way. Luke is, once again, at a disadvantage (though he's more aware of it this time). However, once he "snaps" and charges Vader (culminating in him chopping Vader's hand off), his style changes completely. He leaves himself wide open and goes for all-out attack. To use an analogy from fighting games; he's button-mashing. And it catches Vader off guard. Vader's probably still more skilled, but he's also older and slower. He can't keep up with Luke, let alone counter-attack.

    In Eps 5 and 6, the fights help to tell the story. The genius of the choreography of the fights is that it takes place at a pace which allows the average viewer to actually pick up on that.

    By contrast, the eps 1-3 fights have very little sense of story to them. They're more concerned with "wow factor" and, to put a cynical hat on for a moment, with making sure that everybody gets a chance to look cool to boost the toy sales. I never got a sense that a character's emotional state is being reflected in how they fight.

  4. Re:I disagree. by Endo13 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wish I could mod you up.

    So many people seem to forget that Star Wars (original trilogy at least) wasn't action film, nor sci fi - it was space opera. The drama is the real point of the films. Realism in small details is pretty much irrelevant. That's what they lost in the prequels, which is why so many Star Wars fans despise them.

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