English Olympic fencer Bob Anderson dies
The famous English Olympic fencer, Bob Anderson has died at the age of 89.
Philip Bruce, who is the president of the British Academy of Fencing, confirmed the death of the aged fencer. Anderson met his death in the early hours of the New Year’s day while he was in an English hospital.
England was represented by Anderson at the Olympics way back in 1952. Anderson did not give up the sport even after that and went on to take part in the world championships twice after that. The first of these championships were held in 1950 while the second
one was held in 1953. After Anderson quit from pursuing the sport professionally, he did not abandon it altogether and turned towards coaching the national fencing team by taking up the position of the national fencing coach. It was only after coaching the
national fencing team that Anderson became interested in entering another field that could make use of his talent as a swordsman.
Anderson was not only a successful Olympian, he was also a fight director and a stunt performer for the Hollywood film industry. The successful career as a professional swordsmen propelled Anderson into the film industry where he made his mark by contributing
in two of the original Star Wars films, James Bond films, Antonio Banderas’ ‘The Mask of Zorro’ and ‘The Legend of Zorro’ as well as all three of the Lord of the Rings films.
Anderson was responsible for all the sword fighting scenes of Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films. However, it was not known to the general public that Anderson was the man behind them until it was confessed by Mark Hamill, the actor who played Skywalker.
Hamill spoke of Anderson’s capability and skill in the following words while talking to the Starlog magazine, “It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George (Lucas) 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.”
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