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STUNTS, STARS & LEGENDS - December 2013

Stunts Stars and Legends: Ted White
Artwork and articles by John Hagner (Artist of the Stars)

Ted WhiteStunt-extraordinaire, Ted White, played football for the University of Oklahoma, afterwards he pursued a career in acting. His first film was a John Wayne WWII movie starring John Wayne ...

Sands of Iwo Jima in 1949. He was in the Marine Corps and they needed extras. Ted met Wayne then and began doubling him in 1952. He had a role in Starman, and has also acted in several western films and on television in Daniel Boone, Hunter, Magnum, P.I. and The Rockford Files, mostly in tough-guy roles, such as hired bad guys or police officers. He appeared in Gone in 60 Seconds, Silverado, Major League and Tron.

In 1984, White played a scary character role as a hockey psychotic, deformed serial killer Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th : The Final Chapter, when the director needed a large guy for the role. White accepted only because he needed the money. He was later credited for the archive footage of him as Jason that was used in the seventh “Friday” film. He got into the spirit of things by keeping his distance from the actors playing his victims, as he didn’t want them to get too friendly with him since that might have changed their performances, as they would know who he was. White was offered the role of Jason for Friday the 13th: A New Beginning and Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, but turned them down. The roles went to stuntman Tom Morga and C.J. Graham. Here are some of Ted White’s film credits: Double Take, X-Files (2000-2001), Downtown (1990), The Spawning 2 (1985), Romancing the Stone (1984), Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974), and Point Blank (1967).

The portrait drawing of Ted White was done by the Artist of the Stars, John Hagner, Founder of the Hollywood Stuntmen’s Hall of Fame.


 

Movies Made in Moab

City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold
Billy CrystalA year after the events of the first film, Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal) is a much happier and livelier person, since he moved out of the city and become station manager at the New York radio station where he works. One night, he has a nightmare about his deceased friend from Clay Stone’s cattle drive, Curly (Jack Palance), coming back to life. He begins seeing Curly while awake, his eyes obviously playing tricks on him.

Mitch has kept Curly’s cowboy hat. He finds an old map with a missing corner inside it, supposedly leading to a long-lost gold bullion. With help from his best friend, Phil Berquist (Daniel Stern) and his estranged and strange brother, Glenn (Jon Levitz), he eventually discovers that Curly’s father, Lincoln Washburn, stole a shipment of gold from the Western Pacific Railroad back in 1908, then hid it in the canyons so that one day his son could find it.

With an impending trip to Las Vegas for a convention, Mitch decides to use the opportunity to try and find the gold, with Phil and Glenn joining him. They buy supplies from two local cowboys, Bud and Matt, and set off on their journey. Mishaps happen, such as Glenn accidentally setting the map on fire and Phil mistakenly believing that he was bitten by a rattlesnake, but they press on, following the map’s trail.

They are ambushed by Bud and Matt, who Phil had recklessly told about the gold. They want the map for themselves. Mitch gives them a fake one. Bud and Matt are poised to kill them when an aging cowboy with a familiar face rides to their rescue. To Mitch’s surprise, Curly does seem to be alive. But he’s not. He turns out to be Curly’s twin brother, Duke (Jack Palance). Duke explains that when he and Curly were kids, their father robbed the Western Pacific, but got caught. Before going to prison, Lincoln Washburn made a map for his sons to follow one day. Their mother sent the map to Curly before she died. Curly kept the map in his hat, but he died on the cattle drive.

Jack PalanceDuke learned from Cookie the cattle-cook that Mitch had some of Curly’s clothes, which was why Duke did go to New York to spy on Mitch from a safe distance. Duke is now prepared to leave Mitch and friends behind to find the gold for himself. Mitch persuades him to continue together. Curly being a good person who would not have approved otherwise. Duke relents.

Mitch inadvertently starts a stampede which results in the map and most of the supplies getting lost. Though initially prepared to return home, Glenn insists that he remembers the map in complete detail. Although he’s been no help up to now, Glenn’s photographic memory does enable them to find the cave where the gold is hidden.

Just as they celebrate finding the gold itself, two robbers, Bud and Matt again, get the drop on them. A fight starts in which Glenn is shot. Mitch is horrified until a perplexed Duke discovers the bullets to be paint-filled pellets.

Clay Stone (Noble Willingham), the coordinator of the cattle drive, suddenly appears along with several of the city slickers’ old friends. To their surprise, Clay reveals that he now runs a business taking vacationers on a “real” Wild West treasure hunt; the gold is actually painted lead, and the two robbers are actually his sons, who pretend to be robbers in order to “scare” the tourists.

Mitch, Phil and Glenn return to Las Vegas, empty-handed but satisfied with their adventure, Duke remains behind, convinced that there has to be real gold out there somewhere.

Mitch is in his hotel room in Las Vegas, packing to leave, when Duke abruptly returns. Duke confesses that he first planned to cheat Mitch and the others out of the real gold once they had found it, but later could not bring himself to do so. Mitch expresses his skepticism, whereupon Duke reveals that while Curly had the map, he had the missing corner. That included the true location of the gold. He proceeds to present Mitch with a genuine bar of gold as a gift.


Movie Action from Out of the Past:

The CBS television show, Two on the Town, visited the Hollywood Stuntmen’s Hall of Fame, at Mojave Airport, Friday, November 14, 1980, and spent the entire day filming the Hall of Fame, the Museum and a stunt drama, especially written and produced for the TV show.

John Hagner, Founder of the Hall of Fame, and a professional stuntman since 1960, wrote the script and directed the action. He also performed in the drama. Before filming of the show, co-host, Steve Edwards was shown some of the methods used in training for the stunt profession by members of the Stunts Galore Academy, a division of the Hall of Fame. John Hagner, as instructor taught Steve how a fight routine is choreographed and done for the cameras.

If interested in learning more about the Hall of Fame, please contact John Hagner (Founder) at 435 260-2160.
email: johnhagner@hotmail.com
Hall of Fame website: www.stuntmen.org

John Hagner (Founder) is also the Artist of the Stars.
His Celebrity Portrait Drawings are available at telephone 435-259-7000,
Mailing address: 50 W. 400 N, Moab, Utah 84532.
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