Yakima Canutt was famously John Wayne's stunt double, and in the Western movie 'Stagecoach,' there is a fantastic scene where there are some horses thundering along, pulling a carriage. He climbs out onto the horses and drops down underneath them, so he's being dragged along, and then he lets go.
I really love Evel Knievel, what he stood for.
They call me Fearless Felix.
I'm not a stunt man. I'm not a dare devil...I'm an explorer.
I have a stunt double. His name is Glen Levy, and he has the hardest punch in the world. Seriously - it's actually been recorded by National Geographic. He calls it the Hammer Fist. And he's my stunt double! He makes me look awesome.
That James Bond movie? The one where Bond skis off a cliff, shucks his skis, and parachutes to the ground? That's for me. That's what I want to be. A stuntman in a Bond movie.
Yeah, I'm a physical kind of guy. I've always liked being physical. It takes a stuntman to really say, 'Look, we don't want you to do this. No, no, I'm serious, you're not going to do this' to get me not to do my stuff.
I love doing stunts.
There was one I did called 'The Phantom,' and we did a sequel to that called, 'Return of the Phantom.' I thought there was wonderful stuff in that. There was another show I love called 'Man Beast,' where I was the star, and I turned into a Beast; one of those things. It was great fun because I didn't let the stuntman work at all.
Actors aren't fighters. They don't know how to throw a punch. So, there's a lot of hitting in the face. I'd much rather fight with a stuntman than another actor. I don't like fighting with other actors because somebody always ends up getting hurt.
I worked as a stuntman on the 'Star Trek' TV series pilot.
Frankfurt, discussing a stuntman: He missed being killed in that shot be literally half an inch.
I didn't want to be a storyteller when I grew up; I wanted to be stuntman.
I chose to dive into a pool of cold water in 'Ooty' though the director suggested that we use a stuntman. I was pleased with the applause but I took precautions.
I was a regular on 'Holby City,' and I did daytime; that's how I started off. Off in Hong Kong doing stuntman stuff, then coming back to England doing daytime soap operas.
I loved acting and wanted to be a leading man. But I decided I'd rather be a big fish in the stuntman pond than a little acting fish. I guess I must have made the right decision.
I thought, 'Wow. Look at all of the money I made. I think I will change jobs.' And that's how I decided to be a stuntman instead of a tree-topper.
Connery made Bond real through his physicality. He did most of his own stunts and fights, and the audience knew it was him.
With every action oriented or adventure film, there's going to be a moment when every actor becomes a stuntman and every stuntman becomes an actor. You try to do as much of it as you can, but inevitably the studio wants you to finish the movie. So you've got to slow down and you're really got to defer to your team to make sure you do.
I was an athlete growing up. I was a wrestler, I played football, so I can take a fall. I actually wanted to be a stuntman when I was kid, so I would practice falling down the stairs. It's just something I like to do.
There's a standard pay scale for stunts. The more difficult the stunt, the more money involved. But if I'm the only stuntman who can do a particular gag, there's usually a little more in it for me.
My life has been being a daredevil. I am Evel Knievel. I am a daredevil.
One thing I got to do that was awesome was hang off the side of this Ferris wheel and do that stunt myself.
That would have been a great ticket, Reagan and Ford - an actor and a stuntman.
Guys like O.J. Simpson and Tony Dorsett can take the ball and run through the line, but I defy them to follow me over a 70-foot cliff or let a horse drag them a few hundred feet. Nobody can beat a stunt man for overall athletic ability.
