19. Sharon Lucas (1928–2006) doubled Jane Russell in Paleface; in the 1960s she did stunts in The Great Race and Once You Kiss a Stranger. In the 1950s her sister Shirley Lucas (ca. 1924–) worked on The Cisco Kid, Blood Alley, and The Story of Will Rogers.
20. Chuck Roberson with Bodie Thoene, The Fall Guy: 30 Years as the Duke’s Double (Vancouver, BC: Hancock House, 1980), 41. Roberson (1919–1988) was an actor, stuntman, and expert rider on his famous horse Cocaine; he doubled John Wayne, Clark Gable, and Robert Mitchum.
21. Lucille House (1910–2008) also doubled Maureen O’Hara in Flame of Araby and McLintock! Her other credits include The Great Gatsby, It’s Great to Be Alive, and Spencer’s Mountain.
22. Robeson, Fall Guy, 41–44.
23. Hal Needham, Stuntman! My Car-Crashing, Plane-Jumping, Bone-Breaking, Death-Defying Hollywood Life (New York: Little Brown, 2011), 42.
24. Roberson didn’t know that Polly had no children.
25. Roberson, Fall Guy, 149–50.
26. Instead of The Tall Men, Polly Burson worked on The Rains of Ranchipur and Some Like It Hot.
27. Muir, “They Risk Their Necks,” 27.
28. Regis Parton (1917–1996) appeared in Night Passage, Planet of the Apes, Hooper, The Stunt Man, and Alien Nation. His daughter, Regina Parton, became a stuntwoman in the mid-1960s.
29. See also Finn interview in SAG, “Stuntwomen’s Oral History Project,” 1.
4. Stunt Performers Organize
1. Richard Setlowe, “Hollywood’s Hitmen,” Variety, July 23, 1992.
2. Saul David, The Industry: Life in the Hollywood Fast Lane (New York: Times Books, 1981), 129. Saul David (1921–1996) produced Fantastic Voyage, Von Ryan’s Express, In Like Flint, Skullduggery, and Logan’s Run.
3. Loren Janes has appeared in 500 movies and more than 2,200 television shows. He qualified for two Olympic teams in the pentathlon and raised two children as a single parent. In 1964 and 1990 he ran for Congress. He is a member and past president of the Adventurer’s Club of Los Angeles and the Explorers Club of New York. He was a board member of the Hollywood Screen Actors Guild and national chair of the SAG Stunt and Safety Committee. The many credits of actor-stuntman Dick Geary (1925–2000) include Bullitt, The Great Race, Hopscotch, Star Trek, Mannix, and The Rawhide Trail.
4. Everything’s Ducky (Barbroo Productions, Columbia Pictures, 1960).
5. Nathaniel Freedland, “The Danger Biz,” Los Angeles Times, June 29, 1969, 21.
6. Sara Terry, “Stuntwomen Go Full Throttle,” Christian Science Monitor, April 25, 2003.
7. Marilyn Moe Stader (Mission Impossible, The Poseidon Adventure) was an expert swimmer and diver like her husband, Paul Stader.
8. Patty Elder’s (1936–1984) credits include Highpoint, Ice Castles, Hooper, Paint Your Wagon, and Quick before It Melts. Eddie Hice, a stuntman and stunt coordinator, worked on Get Smart, Dante’s Peak, Sweet Justice, and Repo Man. Their son, Freddie, is a stuntman and second-unit director today.
9. Regina Parton worked on the TV shows Charlie’s Angels, The Rockford Files, Hart to Hart, and Legal Eagles. See Karen E. Willson, “Stuntwomen the Invisible Superheroes of Hollywood,” Starlog 30 (January 1980).
10. Julie Johnson’s early credits include Star Trek, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Dr. Doolittle, Gone with the West, Eye of the Cat, Magnum Force, Caprice, and Nickelodeon.
11. The Stuntwomen’s Association announced its formation on February 12, 1969, with twenty-four charter members. Its first board of directors consisted of Regina Parton, president; Sharon Lucus, Stevie Myers, and Helen Thurston, vice presidents; Marilyn Moe Stader, secretary; and Patty Elder, treasurer. Board members at large were Polly Burson, Lila Finn, and Donna Hall. Information courtesy of papers from Paula Dell’s collection.
12. Edward Smith (1924–2005) worked on Halls of Anger, The Dogs of War, M*A*S*H*, Dirty Harry, and Scarface; he was stunt coordinator for Youngblood, Roots, Across 110th Street, and Do the Right Thing.
13. Helen Thurston doubled Ethel Merman in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; other stuntwomen who worked on the movie were May Boss, Carol Daniels (her credits range from Gunsmoke to Desperate Housewives), and Stephanie Epper.
14. Quoted in Tod Longwell, “Breaking Bones and Barriers,” Los Angeles Times, June 7, 2002.
15. Calvin Brown’s credits include I Spy, The Split, Will Penny, and Mission Impossible; he was stunt coordinator for Exiled, Across 110th Street, Man and Boy, and Live and Let Die. Marvin Walters worked on RoboCop 2, Star Trek, Glory, What’s up Doc? Blazing Saddles, and The Front Page; he was stunt coordinator for The Dogs of War, The River Niger, Magnum P.I., Keaton’s Cop, Heart of Darkness, Eve’s Bayou, and Shaft’s Big Score!
16. Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Film (New York: Continuum, 1973), 195.
17. Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future of Los Angeles (London: Verso, 1990), 42–43. Chester Hines’s books are If He Hollers Let Him Go and Lonely Crusade.
18. Screen Actors Guild, “History,” www.sag.org.
19. Longwell, “Breaking Bones,” 3.
20. “Edward Smith, Stuntman,” obituary, June 2005, www.lastlinkontheleft.com.
21. Longwell, “Breaking Bones.” Henry Kingi’s many credits include R.P.M., Predator 1 and 2, K-9, Daniel Boone, The A-Team, and Action Jackson; he stunt-coordinated Let’s Do It Again, In the Heat of the Night, and Matter of Justice. He won a Taurus Award in 2004 for Bad Boys II and worked on Taxi in 2005, performing an add-on sequence doubling Queen Latifah.
22. Evelyn Cuffee’s credits include The New Centurions, Hooper, Melinda, Mandingo, The Nude Bomb, Paris Blues, Roots: The Next Generation, The Learning Tree, The Great White Hope, Mission Impossible, Mannix, and Room 222. Louise Johnson worked on Mandingo, Halls of Anger, D.C. Cab, Hooper, Earthquake, and Coffy. The Harvey Parry Collection (folder 35), Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, contains two circa 1970s directories for the Stuntwomen’s Association.
23. Longwell, “Breaking Bones,” 3.
24. Tod Longwell, “Real Double Troubles,” Hollywood Reporter, May 18–20, 2001.
25. “Edward Smith, Stuntman.”
26. Longwell, “Real Double Troubles.”
27. Among other films, Polly Burson worked on Heller in Pink Tights, The Last Train from Gun Hill, and El Dorado; she doubled Jean Simmons in Elmer Gantry, Guys and Dolls, and Spartacus.
28. Gone with the West (Synergy Entertainment, 2007), DVD. It was also titled Man without Mercy or Little Moon and June McGraw.
29. According to Julie Johnson, she and Polly were both “nondescript” characters and were not specifically doubling anyone; in the roster of cast members, they are listed as “townswomen.” Boyd Stockman is credited as stunt coordinator.
30. Screenwriter Marguerite Roberts’s (1905–1989) credits include 5 Card Stud, The Bribe, Ivanhoe, The Rampage, and Norwood. Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the screenplay for the 2010 remake of True Grit.
31. The 1969 version of True Grit employed twelve stuntmen and one stuntwoman—Polly Burson; no stunt coordinator was listed. The 2010 remake used seventeen stuntmen and three stuntwomen—Cassidy Hice, Jennifer Lamb, and Ruth Morris; the stunt coordinator was Jery Hewitt.
5. Social Turmoil Brings New Opportunities for Women and Minorities
1. Quoted in Jerry Roberts, “Fall Girls Getting the Drop on Stuntwomen,” Torrance (CA) Daily Breeze/News-Pilot, April 25, 1986.
2. Jadie David’s credits include Friday Foster, Drum, Convoy, Hooper, Bustin’ Loose, The Star Chamber, Legal Eagles, Colors, Grand Canyon, Zooman, Escape from New York, Hunter, Car Wash, Logan’s Run, Earthquake, Mambo Kings, Above the Law, Exit to Eden, and The Color Purple. Denise Nicholas appeared in Room 222, Ghost Dad, The Cosby Show, and One Day at a Time. Fred Williamson acted in Julia, Black Caesar, Fast Track, Police Story, and Life Outside; he was director-producer of South Beach, On the Edge, and Steele’s Law, a
mong many others.
3. Bob Minor worked as a stuntman on 2 Fast 2 Furious, Blues Brothers 2000, Come Back Charleston Blues, Buffalo Soldiers, O. J. Simpson Story, Ocean’s Eleven, Without a Trace, and National Treasure; as stunt coordinator for Glory, Set It Off, Unlawful Entry, Love Field, Boyz in the Hood, Poetic Justice, and Mo’ Money; and as second-unit director for Posse, Lord Help Us, Body and Soul, Dirty Tricks, and Crunch. On Magnum P.I. Minor stunt-doubled for Roger E. Mosley, and from 1982 to 1988 he was stunt coordinator and second-unit director of the series.
4. Melvin Van Peebles’s Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song was released by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in April 1971. In July 1971 Gordon Parks directed Shaft, for which Isaac Hayes composed the score. “Theme from Shaft” won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a Grammy.
5. “NY Beauty Gets Kicked, Slugged,” Jet, August 26, 1954, 60–61. One of Jones’s credits was an episode of Studio One (CBS), “Man behind the Badge.”
6. Films from the 1970s featuring blacks include The Great White Hope (starring James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander; directed by Martin Ritt), Cotton Comes to Harlem (written by Chester Himes; directed by Ossie Davis), They Call Me Mister Tibbs! Lady Sings the Blues, Sounder, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Conrack, Claudine, Buck and the Preacher, Super Fly (directed by Gordon Parks Jr.; score by Curtis Mayfield), Black Caesar, and Saturday Night.
7. Quoted in Isaac Julien’s TV documentary Baadassss Cinema (IFC, Minerva Picture Co., 2002), starring Jim Brown, Larry Cohen, Tamara Dobson, Pam Grier, and Fred Williamson. Julien is an award-winning director whose credits include Derek, Looking for Langston, Black and White in Color, and The Dark Side of Black.
8. Gloria Hendry’s 1980 repertory group was called Women in the Performing Arts. Her film and TV credits include Black Kissinger, Seven Swans, Doing Time on Planet Earth, Black Caesar, Love American Style, and Falcon Crest.
9. In the early 1960s, before the BSA was formed, Wayne King Sr. was probably the first black stuntman to become well known and in demand; he worked on Omega Man and Cleopatra Jones. Calvin Brown doubled Bill Cosby on I Spy and Jim Brown in The Split. Jophery Brown worked on I Spy, Coffy, and Live and Let Die; he became Morgan Freeman’s regular double. Stunt coordinator Alan Oliney worked on or coordinated Die Hard and High Crimes and doubled Eddie Murphy. Marvin Walters coordinated Shaft’s Big Score, The Dogs of War, Heart of Darkness, and Eve’s Bayou. Stuntman Tony Brubaker worked on There Was a Crooked Man, Melinda, Escape from New York, and Midnight Run; he stunt-coordinated Slaughter’s Big Rip-off, Sugar Hill, and Devil in a Blue Dress. Wayne King Jr. worked on Blue Knight, Wholly Moses! D.C. Cab, Glory, Rush Hour, and Minority Report. Henry Kingi Jr. worked on Man Called Hawk, Baywatch, Money Train, Dante’s Peak, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith; he stunt-coordinated V.I.P. and directed Redemption.
10. Hill’s comments on Foxy Brown (MGM Home Entertainment, 2001), DVD.
11. Among Pam Grier’s first roles were Women in Cages; Black Mama, White Mama; Greased Lightning; and Cool Breeze. Jadie David doubled Grier in Coffy, Foxy Brown, Drum, Friday Foster, and other films.
12. Quoted in Julien, Baadassss Cinema.
13. Mabel Normand’s movie was Mabel at the Wheel (1914); Mary Pickford’s was A Beast at Bay (1912).
14. The stuntwomen in Coffy and Foxy Brown included Jadie David, Stephanie and Jeannie Epper, Peaches Jones, and Louise Johnson.
15. Richard Washington’s stunt credits include Glory, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Blown Away, The Abyss, Seven Hours to Judgment, Mississippi Burning, Disorderlies, and The Goonies; he stunt-coordinated Fortune Dane, Some Kind of Hero, The Nude Bomb, The Deep, Sheba Baby, Fox Style, and The Sword and the Sorcerer.
16. Peaches Jones (1951–1986) also worked on Halls of Anger, The Strawberry Statement, Melinda, Black Samson, Buck and the Preacher, Freebie and the Bean, and Earthquake.
17. David Lamb, “Stuntwomen Stand on Feats,” Los Angeles Times, November 29, 1971, D1–D3. Lamb estimated there were 200 stuntmen, but not all of them belonged to the Stuntmen’s Association.
18. Minutes of the Stuntwomen’s Association, February 5, 1972, from the collection of Julie Johnson.
19. The March 1977 directory of the Stuntwomen’s Association of Motion Pictures lists the following members: Susan Backlinie, Pam Bebermeyer, Paula Crist, Evelyn Cuffee, Paula Dell, Rita Egleston, Lila Finn, Donna Garrett, Donna Hall, Rosemary Johnson, Marilyn Moe, Stevie Myers, Audrey Saunders, and Kim Ward. Honorary life members were Polly Burson, Babe DeFreest, Sharon Lucas, and Helen Thurston. Not all stuntwomen were members of the Stuntwomen’s Association, the new Professional Society of Stuntwomen, or the Black Stuntmen’s Association. Janet Brady and Kitty O’Neil were the only female members of Stunts Unlimited.
20. Needham, Stuntman! 169.
21. Jock Mahoney (1919–1989) was an actor, stuntman, and stunt coordinator from the 1940s to 1980s.
22. Richard Setlowe, “Biz’s Fall Guys Join Hands,” Variety, December 6, 1996.
23. Needham, Stuntman! 169–70, 181. In 1980 stuntman Alan Gibbs left Stunts Unlimited to organize the International Stunt Association, which currently has forty-four male members and one female member. In 2010 Stunts Unlimited had fifty-three members. In 1992 stuntman Tony Epper formed the National League of SAG Stunt Performers to unite all the groups, including the Stuntwomen’s Association and Drivers Inc., under one umbrella to achieve common goals, such as safety.
24. A third organization was founded in 1984, the United Stuntwomen’s Association (USA). In 2002 Darlene Ava Williams and Gloria O’Brien Fontenot formed V10 Women Stunt Professionals.
25. Janet Chase, “Women Daredevils,” Cosmopolitan, July 1980.
26. Author interview with Dave Robb.
27. Dave Robb, “Okay on the Job, but No Room for Women in Two of Three Stuntmen’s Orgs,” Daily Variety, December 28, 1983.
28. Robb interview.
29. Robb, “Okay on the Job.”
30. Suzanne Stone, “Numbers Don’t Lie,” American Premiere [ca. 1981], 13.
31. Washington was hired to stunt-coordinate a Universal production: a remake of Two Minute Warning. His other coordinating credits include The Nude Bomb, Bustin’ Loose, the TV series Buck Rogers, Seven Hours to Judgment, Fortune Dane, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Sheba Baby, and The Deep.
32. Bob Minor served on the board of the Stuntmen’s Association and was a second vice president. In 2010 the fifty-member association had black, Asian, and Hispanic members. When Minor stunt-coordinated Glory (1989), he hired seventy-two stunt people; thirty-two were African American.
33. Kim Fellner, “Stuntwomen: Breaking Through,” Screen Actor 23, no. 1 (Summer 1981).
34. Quoted in Robb, “Okay on the Job.”
35. Quoted in Longwell, “Real Double Troubles.”
36. In 1973, after serving several terms, Kathleen Nolan became the first woman to serve as first vice president on the SAG board.
37. Gregory, Women Who Run the Show, 114; “SAG-WGA Joint Women’s Committee Goals,” archives of Kathleen Nolan. The Directors Guild formed its Women’s Steering Committee in 1979; not until 1994 did it establish the African American Steering Committee.
38. The Black Stuntmen’s Association and the Hollywood branch of the NAACP pressured studios to hire black stunt doubles for African American actors in the TV miniseries Roots in 1977. Members of the SAG-AFTRA EEO and Diversity Committee and the Coalition of Black Stuntmen and Women (headed by Maria Walters), which succeeded the BSA in the 1980s, won a settlement when a studio violated the agreement to hire more minorities.
39. See also the Forty-Second Anniversary Issue of Variety, November 1, 1974, 130, covering the release of a new SAG survey revealing that men held a three-to-one lead over women in prime-time roles on television.
40. Stone, “Numbers Don’t Lie,” 13–14. This study revealed that each succeeding age group had similarly unequal jobs and earnings.
41. Robb, “Okay on the Job.”
42. St
one, “Numbers Don’t Lie,” 14.
43. Gregory, Women Who Run the Show, 123.
44. William Panowsky, “Irish Street Fighter Wanted SAG to Be Part of the Cultural Revolution,” Los Angeles Herald Examiner, November 27, 1975.
45. Gregory, Women Who Run the Show, 123–24.
46. Gloria Henry said she did some of her own stunts in Black Belt Jones, “but I also had the privilege of a stuntwoman. I think it was Evelyn Cuffee.”
47. Robert Clouse (1928–1997) was a writer, producer, and director (Enter the Dragon, Ironheart, The Game of Death).
6. The Women’s Movement and Female Action Heroes
1. Molly Haskell, From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1973), 1–2, 370–71.
2. Honey West was the first prime-time TV series with a female detective as its main character. Sharon Lucas and Marilyn Moe doubled Anne Francis.
3. Rita Egleston worked on Blade Runner, Dallas, Cliffhangers, Big Foot, When Time Ran Out, Cutter’s Way, Tron, and Ghost Story. Other stuntwomen of the 1970s included Pam Bebermeyer, Janet Brady, Dottie Catching, Ann Chatterton, Denise Cheshire, Jean Coulter, Paula Crist, Kerrie Cullen, Debbie Evans, Marneen Fields, Glory Fioramonti, Dorothy Ford, Leslie Hoffman, Marcia Holley, Louise Johnson, Rosemary Johnston, Debbie Kahana, Mags Kavanaugh, Kay Kimler, Wendy Leech, Joyce MacNeal, Beth Nufer, Kitty O’Neil, Mary Peters, Diane Peterson, Sherry Peterson, Lee Pulford, Glynn Rubin, Tanya Russell, Audrey Saunders, Victoria Vanderkloot, and Sunny Woods.
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