Hal Needham - The Man

A True Hollywood Legend

Hal Needham is a twenty-year veteran of the stunt business and prior to his directorial debut with "Smokey and the Bandit", he was the highest paid stuntman in Hollywood. The great-grandson of a Black foot Indian, he is 5'10" tall and weighs 175 pounds.

Needham was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but moved to St. Louis soon after and grew up in Missouri and Arkansas. He left high school to become a "tree topper" , then joined the U.S. Army as a parachute tester and made extra money jumping at aerial thrill shows In total: he made over 300 jumps, and in the process, developed much of the equipment now used by skydivers.

After the service. he returned to lumbering as a tree topper, but soon left when lie heard Warner Brothers was looking for parachutists and wing-walkers for the movie "Spirit of St. Louis". With his, participation in this film. Needham found his niche, but the real kick-of for his career came when he served for five and half years as Richard Boone "double" in the television series "Have Gun Will Travel". Ruggedly handsome, lie was also the billboard man for Viceroy cigarettes for four years.

In addition to acting, producing, and directing, Needham is also an acclaimed innovator and inventor. His most recent business venture was the formation of Camera Platforms International, Inc., a company that manufactured and leased production equipment to the motion picture and television industries. The company leased or sold Shotmaker "camera cars" and Shotmaker dollies and cranes to clients around the world.

"Camera cars" are vehicles that cameras can be mounted on and are used to do chase scenes with horses, cars, bicycles, or anything traveling. "Camera cars" are also used for high angle crane shots. Whilst directing "Smokey and the Bandit", Needham realized the need for a more sophisticated "camera car" to shoot action scenes than was available. At that time, "camera cars" were all gasoline powered. Needham personally invested two and a half million dollars to create a vehicle that was self leveling, rode on air (no springs or shocks), made 300 corrections per second, and could travel thirty miles an hour silently. He named the car "The Shotmaker". The electric driven silent vehicle allows the recording of the dialogue soundtrack without having a gasoline engine noise to contend with. Today, these cars are used worldwide. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science and the television industry both honored Needham's achievement with their most prestigious awards, the Academy Award and the Emmy Award.

 
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