Hal Needham -
The Stuntman
As a stuntman, Needham never turned down a stunt.
He reigned supreme at riding, horse falls, saddle-falls,
stage coach and wagon wrecks, truck, car.
motorcycle anti boat stunts. He was also a fight
and fire man.
In his 20 years, Needham broke 56 bones,
including his back twice. However, he only spent
12 days in the hospital during his entire
stuntman career. Like a football player, he had
to work while hurt many times.
One of his toughest stunts was jumping a rocket-powered
truck across a 11 2-foot wide drainage canal. The
truck was completely stock and had no roll cage
The only protection he had was a seat belt and
harness. The truck landed 128 feet from launch
point and reached a height of 23 feet off the
ground at the apex of its ascent. Needham
suffered a compression back fracture for his
effort. Twenty-five fellow stuntmen came to watch
him make the jump, he considers that the greatest
salute to his skills,
Another of his favorite stunts was done for the
original "You Asked for It" television
show. A viewer asked to see someone jump from an
airplane and knock a man off" a horse.
Needham did it flying at a speed of 57 mph, 18
feet off the ground while the horse was clocked
at about 35 mph. The first time Needham did the
stunt, he wasn't in the camera range, so he had
to do it over again. The second time, the camera
caught the action.
The most expensive stunt Needham ever performed
was also one of the most dangerous. He was
selected to be the first human being to test the
effectiveness of the automobile airbag. For
riding head-on into a concrete wall at the speed
of 25 mph wearing nothing more than a standard
seat belt for protection, the Eaton Corporation
paid Needham $25,000, An equipment failure would
have meant certain death. but Needham proceeded
with the test unwaveringly.
Luck often plays almost as large a part in a
stunt as skill. In "White Lightning",
Needham doubling for Burt Reynolds was filming a
chase scene that called for him to jump his car
onto a sand barge as it was pulling away from the
dock. Needham changed his timing slightly so that
he jumped the car 80 feet over the water and
landed half on and half off the rear, The scene
ended with the impaled car teetering on the sand
barge as it moved across the river.
At other times, Needham has made a "tried
and true" stunt even more impressive by
adding personal ingenuity. In the movie "Stage
Coach" starring John Wayne, the stunt double
jumped from the stage coach to the tongue between
the horses and repeated the feat two more times
to reach the lead team of horses. In "Little
Big Man", Needham added a twist that people
are still talking about. Dressed as an Indian, he
jumped from his horse to the team of horses
closest to the coach. Then, however, in a
standing broad jump of 14 feet, he leaped over
the head of the horse to the back of the next
team and then again, another 14 foot broad jump
to reach the lead team of horses.
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