The man who 'killed' Obi-Wan Kenobi is dead

I'm sure almost every one of my readers has seen the original Star Wars movie. Here's the scene where Obi-Wan Kenobi is killed in a light saber duel with Darth Vader.

I'd always assumed that the actor playing Darth Vader in that scene was David Prowse, who usually portrayed the character in the first three Star Wars movies. However, an article in the Daily Mail informs us that in the light-saber fencing scenes, his character was played by British Olympic fencer Bob Anderson, who has just died. Here's an excerpt.

Bob Anderson, 89, was a former Olympic swordsman who worked on many of the best known films of the past seven decades - but very few people are aware of the influence he had on some of our favourite movies.

He is most famous for donning Darth Vader's black helmet and fighting lightsaber battles in the original Star Wars trilogy - most famously with Obi Wan Kenobi.

Anderson also worked as a sword master or trainer on movies including the James Bond film From Russia With Love, The Legend of Zorro and the first Pirates of the Caribbean film.

He also worked on the Lord of the Rings in which he was responsible for crafting fighting moves for some of the characters.

But it was announced today by The British Academy of Fencing that Mr Anderson died early on New Year's Day.

There's more at the link.

I guess we owe Mr. Anderson our thanks for some classic moments in cinematic fencing. May he rest in peace.

Peter