TheOneRing.Net has announced the sad news that Bob Anderson, the legendary sword master who worked on the sword fights in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has died aged 89.
Anderson began his career alongside the likes of Errol Flynn, but lists The Princess Bride, Highlander, First Knight, the recent Zorro films and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl amongst his credits. All of those films had memorable swordplay, and Anderson was the man to thank for it.
Of course, he was most famous for two of the biggest film franchises of all time. Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy benefitted from his wisdom, and it was to Anderson that George Lucas turned when he was making a little film that we now know as Star Wars.
According to Empire Online, Mark Hamill has noted in a 1983 interview: “Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader’s fighting. It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George I didn’t think it was fair any more. 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.”
The former champion British fencer died peacefully on 1 January 2012, and his IMDB listing credits him as having worked on The Hobbit. His legacy will go on yet.
