Mickey Gilbert, the fearless stunt performer who jumped off a cliff for Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and doubled for Gene Wilder in films including Blazing Saddles, Silver Streak and The Frisco Kid, has died. He was 87.
Gilbert died Monday of natural causes at his home in Camarillo, California, his oldest son, Tim Gilbert, also a stunt performer, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Early in his career, Gilbert was a horse wrangler in William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) and a bank robber in Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969). Years later, he took the lumps for Lee Majors’ Colt Seavers on the 1981-86 ABC action show The Fall Guy.
Though they weren’t friends at the time, Gilbert and Redford were in the same class at Van Nuys High School, graduating in 1954. They got together on George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) when Redford...
Gilbert died Monday of natural causes at his home in Camarillo, California, his oldest son, Tim Gilbert, also a stunt performer, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Early in his career, Gilbert was a horse wrangler in William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) and a bank robber in Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969). Years later, he took the lumps for Lee Majors’ Colt Seavers on the 1981-86 ABC action show The Fall Guy.
Though they weren’t friends at the time, Gilbert and Redford were in the same class at Van Nuys High School, graduating in 1954. They got together on George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) when Redford...
- 2/6/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The car chase was one of many innovations of the New Hollywood era, where on-location authenticity supplanted studio backlot fakery. Yes, there were car chases in movies before Peter Yates' "Bullitt," but they tended to be laden with process shots featuring actors at the wheel while the image projected behind them veered out of control. Even an A-plus production like Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" settled for soundstage-bound sequences that manufactured the sensation of high-speed vehicular mayhem.
Perhaps they were thrilling to people at the time because they had nothing quite so thrilling as a comparison. In any event, once Yates unleashed his 11-minute, practically shot pursuit through the perilously hilly streets of San Francisco in 1968's "Bullitt," there was no going back. If you weren't filming real cars barrelling at unsafe speeds through city streets or country roads, you were wasting everyone's time.
And it is only right...
Perhaps they were thrilling to people at the time because they had nothing quite so thrilling as a comparison. In any event, once Yates unleashed his 11-minute, practically shot pursuit through the perilously hilly streets of San Francisco in 1968's "Bullitt," there was no going back. If you weren't filming real cars barrelling at unsafe speeds through city streets or country roads, you were wasting everyone's time.
And it is only right...
- 10/23/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
2021 marks the 60th Anniversary of the Stuntmen’s Association.
Founded in 1961 by Loren Janes, a stunt double for Steve McQueen, and Richard Geary, a double for Robert Vaughn, the idea was to professionalize the world of stunts.
Janes and Geary wanted a space for stunt performers to speak with a single voice and share ideas and concerns. Soon, 50 stuntmen gathered and the Stuntmen’s Association was born.
Bob Herron, one of the charter members with over 342 credits to his name, joined Alex Daniels, president of the Stuntmen’s Association, Terry Leonard and Conrad Palmisano to celebrate 60 years of stunts, reflect on the impact of the association and discuss awards recognition.
Bob, you are a charter member of the Stuntmen’s Association. Take us back to why you started the association?
Bob Herron: I started it because there wasn’t a network for the stuntmen to organize with each other; we were all separate.
Founded in 1961 by Loren Janes, a stunt double for Steve McQueen, and Richard Geary, a double for Robert Vaughn, the idea was to professionalize the world of stunts.
Janes and Geary wanted a space for stunt performers to speak with a single voice and share ideas and concerns. Soon, 50 stuntmen gathered and the Stuntmen’s Association was born.
Bob Herron, one of the charter members with over 342 credits to his name, joined Alex Daniels, president of the Stuntmen’s Association, Terry Leonard and Conrad Palmisano to celebrate 60 years of stunts, reflect on the impact of the association and discuss awards recognition.
Bob, you are a charter member of the Stuntmen’s Association. Take us back to why you started the association?
Bob Herron: I started it because there wasn’t a network for the stuntmen to organize with each other; we were all separate.
- 2/27/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Cannon Films knocks one out of the park: Jon Voight and Eric Roberts escape from prison only to end up on a huge, speeding, out of control juggernaut of a freight train plowing through the Alaskan wilderness. It's both an action bruise-fest and an existential statement, and it's still a wild thrill ride. Runaway Train Blu-ray Twilight Time 1985 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date October 11, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95 Starring Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay, Kyle T. Heffner, John P. Ryan T.K. Carter, Kenneth McMillan, Edward Bunker, Hank Worden, Danny Trejo, Tommy Lister, Don MacLaughlin, Loren James, Dick Durock, Dennis Franz. Cinematography Alan Hume Original Music Trevor Jones Written by Djordje Milecevic, Paul Zindel, Edward Bunker based on a screenplay by Akira Kurosawa. Produced by Yoram Globus, Menachem Golan Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When I stumbled into The Cannon Group on...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When I stumbled into The Cannon Group on...
- 11/15/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The survival knife Sylvester Stallone used in a 'Rambo' flick couldn't survive a raging wildfire that engulfed a famous stuntman's house. Loren Janes was the stunt coordinator on "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and his stepson tells us Loren was gifted the knife after they wrapped filming. Unfortunately, Loren's place in Santa Clarita, CA went up in flames last week, and the prized knife was inside. We're told a bunch of other memorabilia was burned up,...
- 8/2/2016
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
It's nice to see an "Ultimate" edition DVD with a focus on the movie rather than the features. With How the West Was Won Warner Home Video has kept it simple, offering up the film in its original Cinerama, 3-Panel, 2.89:1 aspect ratio along with a feature length documentary on the history of Cinerama. The presentation and quality of the film and its restoration were priority one here and only the best extras were chosen to accompany it. I had never seen How the West Was Won, which is a winner of three Oscars, nominated for four more including Best Picture and was the first feature film to be made and shown in the three-camera Cinerama process, which involves three separate film panels that must be merged and shown simultaneously and can only be shown in a proper perspective on a massive Cinerama screen... At least, until now. Made up...
- 9/8/2008
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
McQueen's Widow To Take Part In McQueen Days Festival
Steve McQueen's widow Barbara and his longtime stunt double have been announced as the special guests at the second annual Steve McQueen Days festival in Slater, Missouri.
Devotees of the movie icon will gather in the actor's boyhood hometown on 28 and 29 March to celebrate McQueen's life and work.
Steve McQueen Days is timed around the actor's birthday; the late The Great Escape star would have been 78 on 24 March.
As well as Barbara McQueen and stuntman Loren Janes, fans will be able to meet and greet the actor's longtime friend Richard Martin, who has just produced a documentary on McQueen's life, titled An American Rebel.
The film is based on the book Steve McQueen: Portrait Of An American Rebel by noted biographer Marshall Terrill, who will also be a key speaker during the festivities in Slater.
Highlights of the festival will include a Steve McQueen Lookalike Contest and a Classic Car and Motorcycle Show.
Devotees of the movie icon will gather in the actor's boyhood hometown on 28 and 29 March to celebrate McQueen's life and work.
Steve McQueen Days is timed around the actor's birthday; the late The Great Escape star would have been 78 on 24 March.
As well as Barbara McQueen and stuntman Loren Janes, fans will be able to meet and greet the actor's longtime friend Richard Martin, who has just produced a documentary on McQueen's life, titled An American Rebel.
The film is based on the book Steve McQueen: Portrait Of An American Rebel by noted biographer Marshall Terrill, who will also be a key speaker during the festivities in Slater.
Highlights of the festival will include a Steve McQueen Lookalike Contest and a Classic Car and Motorcycle Show.
- 3/12/2008
- WENN
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