I didn't want to use a stunt man, because I wanted to use a telephoto lens and zoom in slowly all the way to my face so you could see it was really me. I put on a little disguise and slipped into a sneak preview of the film to see how people liked it. When I was hanging up there in the air, the woman in front of me said to her friend, 'Gee, I wonder how they did that?' and her friend said, 'Special effects.'
What do
Charlie Chaplin,
Buster Keaton,
Harold Lloyd, and
Jackie Chan all have in common?
Answer: They performed all their own stunts.
This is a trivia page
There are a few flavours to this.
1) The actor
is a stuntperson
in his or her own right--in other words, they've got the training and the skill. Quite common in
Silent Films, when stunt doubles were almost unknown and
No OSHA Compliance was a
Real Life fact.
2) Some actors insist on doing their own stunts--then they get injured and realize that yes, a professional stunt person really is necessary. In other words, they grow up. This tends to happen more to men than women.
3) The actor only claims to do their own stunts.
4) Virtually exclusive to
In Universe instances (often action series), where the hero will be hired or persuaded to protect an actor who does their own stunts. If the actor only claims to do their own stunts, the protagonist's job is to keep the truth from coming out.
Examples
Silent Films
Sound Films
- Clint Eastwood did his own stunts.
- Jackie Chan, although this has faded as he's gotten older.
- Tom Cruise is also known for doing his own stunts (for example, in the recent Mission Impossible movie).
- Michelle Yeoh always does her own stunts, which is why she is considered the Distaff Counterpart to Jackie Chan.
- Taylor Lautner does this a lot in his movies.
- Viggo Mortensen: Broke his toe, lost a tooth, and nearly drowned while filming Lord Of The Rings, did many of his own stunts, was described by legendary swordmaster Bob Anderson as "the best swordsman I've ever trained" (which is saying something in a 50-year career), and kept his sword with him at all times for the duration of the filming. Oh, and slept in the stables in order to bond with his horse. Stabbed himself in the leg while shooting Alatriste, and kept filming.
- Basil Rathbone was one of the finest on-screen fencers of his day and didn't use stunt doubles - except in The Court Jester, where Danny Kaye was Flynning faster than Rathbone could keep up with.
- Christopher Lee is considered one of the finest swordsmen in film history, and has always done his own swordwork--even in the Star Wars prequels (though a stunt double was used for the jumping and running scenes). He also served as an uncredited stunt driver on The Man With The Golden Gun.
- Bethany Hamilton in Soul Surfer. It is convenient to have a one-armed surfer playing the part of a one-armed surfer.
Live Action TV
- Jeffery Donovan
- in The Wild Wild West, Robert Conrad did almost all his own stunts. One stunt went horribly wrong, almost killing him and shutting down production of the series for 3 months. After Conrad recovered they picked up where they left off, and used the botched stunt in the final cut of the episode in question.
- David Boreanaz
- Lou Ferrigno did his own stunts in The Incredible Hulk, mostly because they couldn't find a stuntman who looked anything like him.
- In The Brady Bunch Hawaii episodes, the actor that played Greg did his own surfing scene, and scraped his feet on the sharp coral.
- Maggie Q of CW's Nikita always does her stunts.
Newspaper Comics
- In one Archie Comic, Archie and Reggie were movie stars--Archie was a stuntman, but had to cover up the fact Reggie didn't do his own stunts.
Web Animation
Webcomics
- In Nip And Tuck, Nip does all his own stunts--he trained as a stuntman.
Western Animation
- In 101 Dalmations II: Patch's London Adventure, Thunderbolt is a stunt dog--though he needs everything scripted.
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