Bob Anderson, an Olympic swordsman who staged fights for films including the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings trilogy, has died at the age of 89.

The president of the British Academy of Fencing, Philip Bruce, says Anderson died early on New Year's Day at an English hospital.

"He was truly one of our greatest fencing masters and a world-class film fight director and choreographer and both the fencing community and film world will miss him," he said in a statement.

"My heartfelt sympathies and thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time."

Anderson donned Darth Vader's black helmet and fought light-sabre battles in two of the three original Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but his role was not initially publicised.

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Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, revealed Anderson's role in a 1983 interview, saying it was always supposed to be a secret but he did not think that was fair to Anderson.

"It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told [director George Lucas] I didn't think it was fair any more," Hamill told Starlog magazine.

"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."

Anderson was born in Hampshire, southern England, in 1922. He served in the Royal Marines during World War II and represented Britain in fencing at the 1952 Olympics.

Aside from Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings series, he worked on movies including the James Bond adventures From Russia With Love and Die Another Day, The Princess Bride and The Legend of Zorro.

Anderson is survived by his wife and three children.

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ABC/AAP