Lacking confirmation yet, but Daniel Logan (@Daniel_Logan) has tweeted that legendary swordmaster Bob Anderson has died (via Big Shiny Robot) and it has been posted at aintitcool. Hope it's not true, but 89 is long in the tooth.
ETA: Confirmed at British Academy of Fencing.
Last edited by Peach; 01-01-2012 at 10:45 PM.
Morituri nolumus mori
We who are about to die, don't want to.
From The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett.
Sad news for fencers and friends of fencing:
Bob Anderson passed away peacefully at 4 am in a hospital. Sword master for Star Wars movies, Lord of the Ring, By The Sword, Princess Bride, Legend of Zorro, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Three Musketeers, Highlander, Die Another Day, etc. Teacher of Errol Flynn, coach of Sir Richard Cohen. Stunt double for Darth Vader, and the Imperial Officer in Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back.
He shared our passion. He inspired our dreams.
When you have three Romulan Warbirds blocking the escape route, Worf has an emotional breakdown about his childhood toy, Riker announces he's gay, Data's positronic brain gets a virus, and Geordi quits because he's had just one too many imminent warp core breach.... Just sit back, breathe, and follow these simple steps:
"He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad. And that was all his patrimony."
Rafael Sabatini - Scaramouche
http://www.facebook.com/SwordSportPR
Sad. And he makes the second, after Gaugler. Wonder who will be #3?
Use the Shift key, people! Keyboard manufacturers everywhere are ineffably saddened when you ignore what they made just for you!
Obi Wan? Oh, no he is already dead. (but that made him stronger)Originally Posted by Inquartata
Sad. And he makes the second, after Gaugler. Wonder who will be #3?
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WON'T YOU BUY MY TACTICAL WHEEL!!!????
Sadly enough both were hit by a carSad. And he makes the second, after Gaugler. Wonder who will be #3?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Carpaneda
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Modzalevsky
"He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad. And that was all his patrimony."
Rafael Sabatini - Scaramouche
http://www.facebook.com/SwordSportPR
You forgot 'Olympic Fencer'.
http://espn.go.com/olympics/fencing/story/_/id/7413351/british-fencer-bob-anderson-darth-vader-stand-star-wars-dies-89
(...No wonder the light sabre scenes looked so awesome.)
It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not.
--Andre Gide (1869-1951)
This is horrible tragedy
Morituri nolumus mori
We who are about to die, don't want to.
From The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett.
Although I preferred Hobbs' style over Anderson's it is still a great loss.
Agreed, Hobbs provided a much better verité to his sword fights than the overly operatic Anderson fights. I think Anderson gave the directors what they wanted, more than what the viewer might want to see or more than what would look as "good" sword fighting.
=)=///
Go in love my brother,.
..there are other worlds than these
What's with the past tense? Hobbs is still alive as far as I know.
Anderson's reach is far outside of his fight choreography. One of the first books I ever read on fencing was written by him (which I lost a long time ago). I've seen footage of him demonstrating fencing (70s as I recall) on a children's TV show.
Let's not forget it's very rare for a fencer to receive the sort of general acclaim that Anderson gained.
Very very sad day for us fencers.
Well...remember that Hollywood doesn't care about accuracy...they want what looks good on camera.
The swordplay is, ideally, a part of the storytelling process. The ebb and flow of the duel can add or release tension and add drama to what in real life might be a very short fight. A good fight choreographer understands this and goes beyond "ants and airplanes" or simply slapping steel around in a 4 to 4 4 to 4 to 4 to 4 ad nauseum pattern.
Bob understood this, which is why he;s one of the greats.
Need fencing equipment? See me at H.O.M. Fencing Supply
Going to your first tournament? Read "Choose yer weapon, Laddie (or: Dude, where's my foil?)"
Just read the news this morning. Killer swordplay choreographer and a very talented swordsman in his own right. Through his work, he may even be the reason some of us started fencing, whether or not we knew it. He will be missed.
"I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it."
Both were great. I agree that Hobbs' injects a little more intensity, realism, and the feeling of danger into his duels. The fight at the end of Rob Roy is probably the greatest sword fight ever filmed, for my money.
That fight WAS probably pretty realistic...bigger actions (because you really wanna keep that sharp thing away from you!), Rob Roy getting tired faster due in part to the size/weight difference of his weapon vs his opponent's, frequent break-off to rest and evaluate -- much like some of The Duellist scenes.
Reflecting a different time, however, was Fred Craven's work in The Mark of Zorro (1940) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McDfLkLqJAE A bit flashier perhaps...realism wasn't really what they were going for in those days (I remember one pirate film where one guy cut through a hawser on board ship with a FOIL blade).
Need fencing equipment? See me at H.O.M. Fencing Supply
Going to your first tournament? Read "Choose yer weapon, Laddie (or: Dude, where's my foil?)"
That was Basil Rathbone as the Capitain, correct? He knows fencing there. He can't do it because, well, he might actually kill the other guy (being that fencing is trying to actually hit the other person as opposed to just flailing away). But you can tell that he knows his quarte and sixte and prime positions. The director wanted more blades banging and he and Diego de la Vega gave that in spades. (Who was Diego? Tyrone Powers?)
=)=///
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