Bob Anderson, Star Wars Sword Master, Has Died

[Rutabaga]

Any time you saw Darth Vader dueling in the OT, it was Bob Anderson, not David Prowse, in the black suit. He died yesterday at the ripe old age of 89.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2081266/Bob-Anderson-sword-master-played-Darth-Vader-dies-89.html

I watched the last 20 minutes of TESB on Spike yesterday, and even after 30 years, I still marvel at the Vader/Luke duel. I've always loved the touch of having Vader fencing with Luke at the beginning because he assumes Luke is completely outmatched. It's pure poetry. :)

[Atreyu]

Any time you saw Darth Vader dueling in the OT, it was Bob Anderson, not David Prowse, in the black suit.
Not quite - only in ESB and ROTJ. Prowse himself did the duel with Obi-Wan in ANH (Anderson was there, but only as a fight coordinator - he didn't don the suit until the next 2 films).

Still a sad loss. The duel between Vader and Luke in ESB is also my favourite, particularly the 2nd half where Luke is creeping up the corridor and then Vader suddenly lunges at him from out of nowhere. :ohno

[Nínim]

Bob Anderson also choreographed the swordfights in The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Princess Bride. One of his first swordfight students in the filmbusiness was Errol Flynn.

[Dasquian Belargic]

:( He seemed like a really talented, hard-working guy.