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Phil Ahim  b: - d: B: 1904 D: 1954

Five Graves To Cairo"(1943), "O.S.S"(1946), "Joan Of Arc"(1948), "Where Danger Lives"(1950), "The Las Vegas Story"(1952).
Marc Akerstream  b: - d: B:1954 D:1988

(Died when struck in the head with debris from an explosion, while filming the TV show "The Crow") "Killer"(1994), "Double Cross"(1994), "Red Scorpion 2"(1994), "Rumble In The Bronx"(1995), "Cyberjack"(1995), "Underworld"(1997), "The Invader"(1997), "Mr. Magoo"(1997), "The Hunted"(1998).
Al Allebom  b: - d: B: 1892 D:1968

"The Patent Leather Kid"(1927)
Kenneth Allen  b: - d: B:1903 D:1976



Denny Arnold  b: - d: B:10/24/1939 D:12/31/2001

Passed away peacefully at MSA Hospital in Abbotsford British Columbia near family and friends.

Denny Arnold has worked in more than 350 films as an Actor, 2nd Unit Director, Stunt coordinator and Stuntman in an adventuresome and successful 28 year career ranging from Hollywood to other film continents worldwide.

Born in Canada but moved south to Texas and, after high school gained an education on a football scholarship to the University of Mississippi. After a brilliant college career as a receiver and running back, his professional career in the NFL was shortened by a knee injury.

His adventuresome spirit let him to Texas and California, and careers as a professional rodeo cowboy, pilot, race car and drag boat driver. His mechanical abilities and his many experiences have provided him the ability, knowledge, and physical attributes to open the door to Hollywood and an illustrious film career. He has invented and developed many of the modern day stunt and safety equipment. Denny also served on the Screen Actors Guild Stunt Rules and Safety Board.

He also performed created and executed action and scenes for many of the world’s greatest directors. Denny’s action has been likened to that of Sam Peckinpah and Walter Hill.

Denny has appeared on the Academy Awards screen twice, as an action in Bound for Glory and Chinatown when these films were announced as nominated for motion picture of the year.

He is the first, and only Canadian inducted into the Stuntmen’s Hall of Fame for his lifetime achievement.

Being well rounded, experienced, and trained gives Denny the upperhand as 2nd Director, Actor, Stunt Coordinator, and Stuntman in films ranging from eastern to western, period to contemporary.
Mario Arteaga  b: - d: B:1923 D:1990

"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"(1962), "Bite The Bullet"(1975)
Odile Astie'  b: - d: B:5/22/41 D:11/14/80

She died doing a high fall on "Treasure of Winter Ball") First stunt women in France. She did 167 films in France, Including "The Great Race" "French Connection 2" She doubled - Bridget Bardot, Claudia Cardinal, Ursalla Andrews Jeanne Moreau.
Emile Avery  b: - d: B:1908 D:1985

"It Grows On Trees"(1952)
John Bagni  b: - d:

(Died of a heart attack) "Flash Gordon"(1936), "Adventures Of Captain Marvel"(1941), "The Perils Of Nyoka"(1942), "The Phantom"(1943), "Captain America"(1944), "The Pretender"(1947), "Captain China"(1949).
A.J. Bakunas  b: - d: B:10/23/1950 D:9/22/1978

(Died performing a high fall for the film "Steel") "Dog Day Afternoon"(1977), "The Car"(1978), "Go Tell The Spartans"(1978) "Hooper"(1978), "The Warriors"(1979), "The Stuntman"(1980), "Steel"(1980)

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/

Highest movie stunt jump without a parachute

Who: A.J. Bakunas

When: 1978

Where: United States

What: 232 ft

----------------------------------------------------------

The highest jump made by a movie stuntman without a parachute is 70.71 m. (232 ft.), by A.J. Bakunas doubling for Burt Reynolds in Hooper (USA, 1978). He fell onto an air mattress. Born in 1950, A.J. Bakunas was regarded in Hollywood as one of the best stuntmen around. Specializing in high falls, he appeared in Dog Day Afternoon (USA, 1977), The Car (USA, 1978), Go Tell The Spartans (USA, 1978) Hooper (USA, 1978), The Warriors (USA, 1979) and The Stuntman (USA, 1980). On September 9, 1980, when doubling for the actor George Kennedy during the filming of Steel, Bakunas fell from the top of a construction site in Lexington, Kentucky, but the jump resulted in the stuntman’s tragic death when the air bag he landed on split. .
While still a toddler, AJ lived in Cliffside Park, NJ, after which he lived in Fort Lee, NJ (one town north of Cliffside Park). At his death, his parents still lived at the same residence in Fort Lee. Lee Majors
attended the funeral and visited with the family attheir Fort Lee home.
He had five sisters. There were six children, AJ being the only boy.
There is no AJ the third. After AJ's death, a sister named her next born AJ, much later another sister's son named his child AJ. AJ had no children. (AJ's name was not AJ, but Albert John, as was his father's.)
AJ did other major movie stunts as well as TV stunts and TV commercials not listed in his bio.

Here is an interesting e-mail I received from Gary Violette who was at the scene of AJ's death back in 1978. I have copyed Gary's e-mail just as is.

Thanks for the GREAT web site!
It's obvious that you care about its content.

I witnessed the stunt that killed A.J. Bakunas.
Was it a real movie shoot or a publicity stunt?
Either way, it went fatally wrong.

Two or three small "test" bags of sand were dropped in advance and the air bag re-inflated.
I questioned using such concentrated projectiles on the bag's skin as I watched from the crowd. I remember thinking "these guys must know what they are doing".

Bakunas' dive was extremely animated.
He was good. He tucked at the last moment.
The bag's vents opened and a low pop was heard as he hit.
The crew moved in quickly.
One (his father?) started pulling the fabric and yelled "He went THROUGH the bag!"
It was obvious that the top chamber was split..
For only a moment, I hoped it was a part of the "show".
It soon became obvious that the bottom chamber did not save him.

Afterwards there was some confusion about whether or not the jump was really necessary for the movie.
Majors may have once said the scene would not appear in "Steel"..
I believe part of it was in the final cut.
The camera angle was very close to my viewpoint -- I can still see his face.

When the movie debuted, Bakunas' name was mis-spelled "Bakunis" in the final credit.

Reading your memorial brought out a couple of details I had forgotten.
1. Kincaid Tower was nearing completion when the scene was shot. Listing it as a "construction site", though technically accurate, misleads the casual reader as if the "construction site" somehow contributed to a "fall" that caused his death.

2. I do not think the jump was from the top of the tower. The top is listed as 333 feet here: http://www.lexingtonskyscrapers.com/page6.html . Another viewing of "Steel" will be necessary to see where the jump began and whether or not the tower construction had topped out.

Some of the confusion springs from the story line of the movie about a building under construction. (Most of the high shots were made on the roof of Patterson Tower using plywood I-beams as set ans props.)

I suggest that the words " fell from the top of a construction site " be changed to "jumped from Kincaid Tower nearing completion" or similar phrasing. This would clarify that the bag's split was the critical failure. His "fall" was not a construction site accident.

Whether you change it or not, your memorial is more appropriate than the film's.

Thanks again,
Gary Violette





IMDB.com on AJ Bakunas.
Joseph Balch  b: - d: B:1898 D:1967



Bertle Baron  b: - d: B:1900 D:1956

"Daredevils Of The Red Circle"(1939), "Spy Smasher"(1942), "Captain America" (1944), "King Of The Rocket Men"(1949), "Carbine Williams"(1952), "Scaramouche" (1952).
George Barrows  b: - d: B:1914 D:1994

"Joan Of Arc"(1948), "Robot Monster"(1953), "Gorilla At Large"(1954), "First Travelling Saleslady"(1956), "Frankenstein's Daughter"(1958), "Panic In The City" (1967), "F.I.S.T"(1978), "The Frisco Kid"(1979).
Bobby Bass  b: - d: B:6/8/1936 D:11/7/2001

Bobby Bass 65, was a stuntman whose daring feats appeared in more than 40 films; during a career spanning 35 years he crashed cars, jumped off buildings and took punches for numerous Hollywood actors including John Wayne, Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone.

Bobby Bass was born in California in 1936 and from an early age showed an interest in martial arts, particularly judo. As a teenager, he competed in judo championships, where he met Gene LeBell. He followedLeBell into the stunt business and demonstrated an aptitude for setting himself on fire and landing on cardboard boxes and airbags.

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bass was doing stunts for a number of high-profile Hollywood films, including Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Close
Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Scarface (1983), and the crime film To Live and Die in LA (1985), for which he he was awarded a Stunt Man Award for best vehicular stunt in 1986.

Bass was regarded as a master of every technique from unarmed combat to high falls. Besides performing the stunts, he forged a lucrative career as a stunt co-ordinator and taught many actors stunt tricks such as headbutting - demonstrated by Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon films - martial arts, weapons handling and fist-fighting. Occasionally, he would both co-ordinate and perform stunts, as in Thelma and Louise (1991), which ended with a spectacular car dive off a cliff.

Bass campaigned for many years for safer conditions for stunt men and women. In 1980, when Heidi von Beltz, was paralysed during a stunt-car crash on the set of Cannonball Run. Two years later, the actor Vic Morrow and two children died during the making of Twilight Zone: the Movie. After these and other accidents, Bass helped set up a safety council.

In later life he kept performing inventive and athletic stuntsand played minor tough guy roles. Bass was always courteous and kind in his private life. He gave up doing stunts after the onset of Parkinson's disease, although he still co-ordinated them.

He is survived by his wife, Norma, whose daughter is the actress Bo Derek.

End of Days (1999),Desperate Measures (1998), Money Talks (1997),Batman & Robin (1997),Eraser (1996), Mulholland Falls (1996),Executive Decision (1996)... aka Critical Decision (1996),Village of the Damned (1995),
... aka John Carpenter's Village of the Damned (1995) (USA: complete title)
Terminal Velocity (1994), True Lies (1994),Baby's Day Out (1994),Rising Sun (1993),Last Action Hero (1993),Falling Down (1993)..aka Chute libre (1993/II) (France),Bodyguard, The (1992),Dracula (1992),..aka Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) (USA: complete title),Patriot Games (1992),Lethal Weapon 3 (1992),Dutch (1991)..aka Driving Me Crazy (1991) Thelma & Louise (1991) (stunt co-ordinator),Perfect Weapon, The (1991)(as Bob Bass),Rocky V (1990) (stunt co-ordinator),Black Rain (1989) (stunt co-ordinator),Action Jackson (1988),Tequila Sunrise (1988) (stunt co-ordinator),Twins (1988) (stunts)
Rampage (1988),Wild Pair, The (1987)..aka Devil's Odds, The (1987),Predator (1987),Lethal Weapon (1987) (stunt co-ordinator),Let's Get Harry (1986) (stunt co-ordinator)..aka Rescue, The (1986) Wraith, The (1986),8 Million Ways to Die (1986),Legend of Billie Jean, The (1985) (stunt co-ordinator)
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985),Warning Sign (1985) (stunt co-ordinator), Doctor Detroit (1983),Scarface (1983),Star Chamber, The (1983),Osterman Weekend, The (1983),Independence Day (1983)..aka Follow Your Dreams (1983)
Stroker Ace (1983),Sting II, The (1983),Sharky's Machine (1981),Incredible Shrinking Woman, The (1981),Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)..aka Smokey and the Bandit Ride Again (1980) (UK),Hunter, The (1980),Blues Brothers, The (1980),When Time Ran Out.(1980),..aka Day the World Ended, The (1980)..aka Earth's Final Fury (1980),Corvette Summer (1978) (stunt co-ordinator) ..aka Hot One, The (1978),Hooper (1978) (stunt co-ordinator) (stunts),Who'll Stop the Rain (1978) (stunt co-ordinator)..aka Dog Soldiers (1978),Bound for Glory (1976)
Kay Bell  b: - d: B:1914 D:1994

(Died from cancer) "Everybody Does It"(1949), "Those Redheads From Seattle"(1953), "The Ten Commandments"(1956).
Spencer Bennett  b: - d: B:1893 D:1987

"The Masked Marvel"(1943), "Brick Bradford"(1947), "Superman"(1948), "Batman And Robin"(1949), "Atom Man Vs Superman"(1950), "Captain Video"(1951), "Lost Planet"(1953), "The Atomic Submarine"(1950), "Requiem For A Gunfighter" (1965).
Joe Benson  b: - d: B:1916 D:1989



John D. Benson  b: - d: B:1916 D:1997

"Joan Of Arc"(1948), "The Rainmaker"(1956), "Around The World In 80 Days" (1956), "Fear Strikes Out"(1957), "The Buster Keaton Story"(1957), "Gunfight At The OK Corral"(1957), "Vertigo"(1958), "The Blob"(1958).
Jaiom Berger  b: - d:

(Killed in a motorcycle accident in Hawaii)
Monte Blue  b: - d: B:1890 D:1963

"Birth Of A Nation"(1915), "Intolerance"(1916), "The Intruder"(1932), "Lives Of A Bengal Lancer"(1935), "Juarez"(1939), "Dodge City"(1939), "Sullivan's Travels" (1941), "Casablanca"(1942), "Key Largo"(1948), "Apache"(1954).
Greg Boniface  b: - d: B:3/4/70 D:12/24/2000

Greg Boniface, 30, of Sherman Oaks passed away along with his brother in a car accident on December 24, 2000. I met him in 1991, in Florida when we were both trying to get a foot in the door with this business. We dated for almost 4 years and he was one of the kindest men I had the pleasure to have been invloved with. Although our differences caused us to part ways and we didn't have much contact afterwards, I feel his passing as a great loss to all who have known him and to whomever would have met him. He will be missed. ... Joanne Lamstein
Joe Bonomo  b: - d: B:1901 D:1978

"Iron Man"(1924), "Perils Of The Wild"(1925), "Sea Tiger"(1927), "King Of Kings"(1927), "The Chinatown Mysteries"(1928), "Noah's Ark"(1929), "Sign Of The Cross"(1932), "Murders In The Rue Morgue"(1932), "Island Of Lost Souls"(1933)
Geof Brewer  b: - d: B:1958 D:1989

Died as a result of injuries sustained in a helicopter crash in the Phillipines, on "Delta Force 2." "Lords Of Discipline"(1983), "Invasion USA"(1985), "Overboard"(1987), "The Hidden"(1987), "Midnight Run"(1988), "Roadhouse"(1989), "Delta Force 2"(1990).
Jerry Brown  b: - d: B:1915 D:1979

"Ben Hur"(1959), "Spartacus"(1960), "El Cid"(1961), "Oklahoma Crude"(1973).
Loren Burton Brown  b: - d: B:1917 D:1989



George Bruggeman  b: - d: B:1904 D:1967

"I'm No Angel"(1933), "Cleopatra"(1934), "Drums Of Fu Manchu"(1940), "O.S.S"(1946), "Father's Little Dividend"(1951), "What Price Glory?"(1952), "Bachelor Flat"(1961).
Dick Bullock  b: - d: B:1939 D:1971

"Hell's Belles"(1968), "Molly And Lawless John"(1972) Died returning home from "The Green Beret" in a car accident.
Wayne Burson  b: - d: B:1920 D:1997

"The Phantom Rider"(1946), "Cattle Queen Of Montana"(1954) Cowboy star Jimmy Wakely discussing stunt with Wayne Burson.
Enos Edward Canutt  b: - d: B:1896 D:1986

"Two Fisted Sheriff"(1925), "Riders Of The Storm"(1929), "Lonesome Trail" (1930), "Last Of The Mohicans"(1932), "The Three Musketeers"(1933), "Charge Of The Light Brigade"(1936), "Stagecoach"(1939), "Gone With The Wind"(1939), "Dark Command"(1940), "They Died With Their Boots On"(1941), "Ivanhoe"(1952), "Mogambo"(1953), "Ben Hur"(1959), "Spartacus"(1960), "El Cid"(1961), "Fall Of The Roman Empire"(1964), "Cat Ballou"(1965), "Khartoum"(1966), "Where Eagles Dare" (1969), "A Man Called Horse"(1970), "Breakheart Pass"(1976).
Born in Washington state, Canutt became active in rodeos and wild west shows as a teenager. Purportedly, he picked up the moniker of "Yakima" during rodeo days because he billed himself as "The Man from Yakima". Supposedly he met Tom Mix during these rodeo performances and wound up in Hollywood, where he began doubling for various performers. Later, he made the transition as a star in silent westerns. But an illness or injury caused his voice to have a gravely sound, and this basically ended his starring career when talkies arrived. It was during the sound westerns and serials of the 1930s that Yak Canutt honed his skills and gained his reputation as a premier stuntman and stunt coordinator. Canutt is credited with the development of the choreographed screen brawl (where, in earlier films, the hero and baddie threw unrealistic punches at each other and wrestled around). The Canutt fight scene involved the positioning of the camera at angles to the participants (rather than straight on), and the camera would often face one of the brawlers. These camera angles gave the perception of bone-crushin' punches landing on the jaw. Many writers and fans also note that Canutt did much of this development during his many appearances with John Wayne in the Wayne waters for Paul Malvern's Lone Star productions of the 1930s. Wayne and Canutt would remain friends for life.
Bartlett A. Carre  b: - d: B:1887 D:1971

(Died from a respiratory ailment) "Texas Tornado"(1932), "Fighting Cowboy"(1933), "Lightning Range"(1934), "Cheyenne Tornado"(1935), "Circle Of Death"(1935)
Gordon Carveth  b: - d: B:3/16/1897 D:5/6/72

He was stuntman in the twenties thru the forties; He was a diver in the Olympic in the teens or 1920s. In Steve McQeen's film, Nevada Smith, a pre-quel to The Carpetbaggers, the producers used a film clip of a man and horse leaping off a high cliff into a lake. That was Gordon, and they paid him for the footage. Milkman, The (1950) (uncredited) .... Man, Chicago Deadline (1949) .... Marty, Wild Harvest (1947) .... Madigan crew,Baby Take a Bow (1935) (uncredited) .... Double, Stunts filmography
1.365 Nights In Hollywood (1934) (stunts)
Jack Casey  b: - d: B:1888 D:1956

(Died of a heart attack) "The Saddle King"(1929), "Ghost Patrol"(1936), "Renegades Of Rio Grande" (1945).
Fred Cavens  b: - d: B:1882 D:1962

"The Black Pirate"(1926), "King Of Kings"(1929), "Count Of Monte Cristo" (1934), "Captain Blood"(1935), "The Three Musketeers"(1935), "Man In The Iron Mask" (1939), "Tower Of London"(1939), "Adventures Of Robin Hood"(1939), "The Sea Hawk" (1940), "Mark Of Zorro"(1940), "Forever Amber"(1947), "Adventures Of Don Juan" (1948), "Cyrano de Bergerac"(1950), "Around The World In 80 Days"(1956)
Al Cavens  b: - d: B:10/01/06 D:12/17/85

"Clash By Night"(1952), "The French Line"(1954), "The First Travelling Saleslady"(1956), "Around The World In 80 Days"(1956), "The Boy And The Pirates" (1960).
Olga Celeste  b: - d: B:1887 D:1969

"Cleopatra"(1934)

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