Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg didn’t bring many possessions to the Silicon Valley home where he moved what was then his start-up website in 2004. He did, however, bring his fencing equipment, which he tossed in a pile on the floor. According to David Kirkpatrick’s The Facebook Effect, Zuckerberg was known to grab a foil and swish it around for emphasis when speaking, but the tip got a little close to his pal’s faces, and fencing was eventually barred from the Facebook house.
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From wearing viles of blood around her neck to doing her own action movie stunts, actress Angelina Jolie has always seemed to live on the dangerous side. As a teenager, she was an avid boxer and fencer, partially because she “could never do team sports,” as the then16-year-old explains in a photo shoot video InTouch obtained two years ago. “I love it,” she explained, adding that it caused some interesting fights with her boyfriend. Jolie also explained she collected Celtic swords and said she hoped to one day have a weapon room. Seemingly, the fondness for sharp objects is hereditary—her four-year-old daughter Shiloh has been seen carrying a wooden sword as of late.
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Will Smith learned to fence from his friend Tom Cruise. Along with David Beckham, the guys reportedly formed a man-date playgroup for some sword swinging. “We wanted an activity that was strenuous, but we’re getting older—we have to think about slowing down,” the aging Smith explained. “We’ve got to watch our joints.”
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The Knight and Day star is the founder of the unofficial trio of A-list fencers, rounded out by fellow actor Will Smith and soccer star David Beckham. Cruise reportedly has a special space in his house for fencing with his celebrity friends. Smith told The Daily Mirror, “Tom has a room for training… David and I go to his home and just do fencing. It’s a lot of fun.”
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Soccer legend David Beckham’s athletic prowess doesn’t stop on the field. He also spends some of his free time fencing with friends Will Smith and Tom Cruise. "”We don't get enough time to hang out, just us three guys, so this is his way of getting together and bonding,” Smith added.
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To make her swordplay more convincing for the 1956 film The Swan, Grace Kelly took fencing lessons from French acting legend Louis Jourdan at the University of Southern California. According to an unauthorized biography on the late Princess of Monaco, the experience on The Swan not only gave her instructions on fencing, but also lessons on kissing with “regal restraint.”
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Paul Rudd was well-prepared for his fencing scene in the 2009 hit comedy I Love You, Man, having practiced as a kid. Even better, Rudd had “seen most of Errol Flynn's movies,” he told Parade. “I actually fenced before this film,” Rudd told The Cinema Source, “In fact, the guy who oversaw the fencing in this film was my fencing teacher twenty years ago. Whoa. So en garde that! That was one of my favorites, that locker room talk with fencing terminology.”
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Neil Diamond was such an excellent fencer at Brooklyn’s Abraham Lincoln High School that he was offered a free ride at New York University. "I fell in love with the sport,” Diamond said. During his time at the college, the NYU Violets won two national fencing championships. “We had the greatest fencing team in the country,” Diamond said, according to a biography. “ Fencing made me feel, for the first time, like a winner.” But he gave it all up to be a pop star. Still, the sport holds special meaning for Diamond. “This really tiny fencing medal sits beside my Grammy and Golden Globe awards,” he told The Daily Mail. “It has been a good omen for me. I do believe in luck, and I somehow think this medal brings me such good fortune.”
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On the set of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, veteran actor Robert Redford fenced his director, George Roy Hill, a story hilariously detailed in the film’s DVD extras.
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In 2002, Die Another Day sparked a surge of interest in fencing after the queen of pop Madonna instructs James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) in the art of the sport. “I see you handle your weapon well,” Madge says saucily in the scene. “I’ve been known to keep my tip up,” Bond cleverly retorts. After the cameo, one British fencing club saw a 25 percent increase in registration.
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