Buddy Joe Hooker

Buddy Joe Hooker
Born	(1942-05-30) May 30, 1942 (age 83) Vallejo, California
Occupations	Actor second unit director stunt man stunt coordinator
Children	2 [1]
Website	buddyjoehooker.com

Buddy Joe Hooker (born May 30, 1942) is an American actor, second unit director, stunt man, and stunt coordinator. He is known for his expertise in designing and performing vehicle stunts for movies and television.

Career

Hooker began as a young child actor on the television series The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin . Under the stage name, Buddy Hart, his acting career continued in shows such as Gunsmoke , Father Knows Best and Twilight Zone . He also starred in the family feature that his stunt performer father, Hugh Hooker, produced called The Littlest Hobo . That role led to a part on Leave It to Beaver as one of Wally Cleaver’s best friends, Chester, from 1957 to 1960. ^[1] He was also one of the bachelors on The Dating Game in 1969, as "Joey Hooker", ^[2] where he was chosen by the bachelorette Farrah Fawcett. ^[2]

Hooker pursued the stunt profession in Rock Hudson’s Tobruk and Shirley MacLaine’s Sweet Charity . Throughout the years, his reputation as an all around stuntman led to his regular employment as Disney’s premiere stunt coordinator for 8 years.

Hooker’s reputation as the go-to coordinator for car chases grew with movies such as To Live and Die in L.A. , Jade , and Death Proof . ^[3] He was coordinator for Harold And Maude , The Outsiders , Godfather III , Close Encounters of the Third Kind , Meet Joe Black , and 40 Year Old Virgin .

In the 1977 film about the stunt business, Hooper , Hooker broke industry records with a rocket powered car jump and many other stunts doubling Jan Michael Vincent’s character Ski. ^[4]

His career continued with the first motorcycle jump over a helicopter as it landed, and rolling a truck 17 times down a sand embankment in the 1971 action feature Clay Pigeon .

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences inducted Hooker into its membership during the first year it began a limited initiation of motion picture stunt coordinators.^{[ citation needed ]} He is an original member of the stunt talent organization Stunts Unlimited and has served five terms as its president. ^[4]

Hooker was presented with the "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the 2014 World Stunt Awards. ^[5]

Filmography

Year	Title	Stunts	Second unit director	Director	Source
1971	The Omega Man	Yes	No	Boris Sagal	[6]
	Clay Pigeon	Yes	No	Lane Slate and Tom Stern
1973	The No Mercy Man	Yes	Yes	Daniel Vance
1974	Blazing Saddles	Yes	No	Mel Brooks
	The Conversation	Yes	No	Francis Ford Coppola
1975	The Strongest Man in the World	Yes	No	Vincent McEveety
	White Line Fever	Yes	Yes	Jonathan Kaplan
1976	Shadow of the Hawk	Yes	No	George McCowan
	Vigilante Force	Yes	No	George Armitage
	Bound for Glory	Yes	Yes	Hal Ashby
1977	Close Encounters of the Third Kind	Yes	No	Steven Spielberg
1978	Corvette Summer	No	Yes	Matthew Robbins
	Paradise Alley	Yes	No	Sylvester Stallone
1979	Search and Destroy	Yes	Yes	William Fruet
	The Odd Angry Shot	Yes	Yes	Tom Jeffrey
1980	Herbie Goes Bananas	Yes	No	Vincent McEveety
1981	King of the Mountain	Yes	Yes	Noel Nosseck
	The Hand	Yes	No	Oliver Stone
1982	Battletruck	Yes	Yes	Harley Cokliss
1983	The Outsiders	Yes	No	Francis Ford Coppola
	Rumble Fish	Yes	No
	Scarface	Yes	No	Brian De Palma
1985	The Zoo Gang	Yes	Yes	Pen Densham and John Watson
	To Live and Die in L.A.	Yes	No	William Friedkin
1987	Mannequin	Yes	Yes	Michael Gottlieb
	Gardens of Stone	Yes	No	Francis Ford Coppola
	Nowhere to Hide	Yes	Yes	Mario Azzopardi
1988	Tucker: The Man and His Dream	Yes	Yes	Francis Ford Coppola
	Gunmen	Yes	Yes	Kirk Wong
1989	Gleaming the Cube	Yes	Yes	Graeme Clifford
	Road House	Yes	No	Rowdy Herrington
	Lethal Weapon 2	Yes	No	Richard Donner
1990	The Guardian	Yes	No	William Friedkin
	Hard to Kill	Yes	No	Bruce Malnuth
	Days of Thunder	Yes	No	Tony Scott
	The Godfather Part III	Yes	No	Francis Ford Coppola
1991	Thelma & Louise	Yes	No	Ridley Scott
	For the Boys	Yes	No	Mark Rydell
1992	School Ties	Yes	Yes	Robert Mandel
	Cool World	Yes	No	Ralph Bakshi
	Lethal Weapon 3	Yes	No	Richard Donner
1993	Gunmen	Yes	Yes	Deran Sarafian
	Last Action Hero	Yes	No	John McTiernan
	Demolition Man	Yes	No	Marco Brambilla
	Carlito's Way	Yes	No	Brian De Palma
1994	Pentathlon	Yes	Yes	Bruce Malmuth
	Terminal Velocity	Yes	Yes	Deran Sarafian
1995	The Hunted	Yes	Yes	J. F. Lawton
	Jade	Yes	No	William Friedkin
	The Scarlet Letter	Yes	Yes	Roland Joffe
1996	From Dusk Till Dawn	Yes	No	Robert Rodriguez
	The Arrival	Yes	No	David Twohy
	Executive Decision	Yes	No	Stuart Baird
	Mulholland Falls	Yes	No	Lee Tamahori
	The Sunchaser	Yes	No	Michael Cimino
1997	Money Talks	Yes	Yes	Brett Ratner
	Batman & Robin	Yes	No	Joel Schumacher
	The Jackal	No	Yes	Michael Caton-Jones
	Red Corner	Yes	No	Jon Avnet
1998	Lethal Weapon 4	Yes	No	Richard Donner
	Meet Joe Black	Yes	No	Martin Brest
	The Siege	Yes	No	Edward Zwick
	Jack Frost	Yes	No	Troy Miller
1999	Man on the Moon	Yes	No	Miloš Forman
2000	Rules of Engagement	Yes	No	William Friedkin
	The In Crowd	No	Yes	Mary Lambert
	Gone in 60 Seconds	Yes	No	Dominic Sena
2001	Spy Kids	Yes	No	Robert Rodriguez
	Heartbreakers	Yes	No	David Mirkin
	Vanilla Sky	New York unit	Yes	Cameron Crowe
2003	The Hunted	Yes	No	William Friedkin
2004	Suspect Zero	Yes	Yes	E. Elias Merhige
2005	The Skeleton Key	Yes	No	Iain Softley
	The 40 Year Old Virgin	Yes	No	Judd Apatow
2006	Déjà Vu	Yes	No	Tony Scott
2007	Grindhouse	Yes	No	Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino
	Planet Terror	Yes	No	Robert Rodriguez
	Death Proof	Yes	No	Quentin Tarantino
	The Invasion	Yes	No	Oliver Hirschbiegel and James McTeigue
2008	The Day the Earth Stood Still	Yes	No	Scott Derrickson
2009	The Final Destination	Yes	No	David R. Ellis
2011	I Am Number Four	Yes	No	D.J. Caruso
2012	Django Unchained	Yes	No	Quentin Tarantino
2014	The Barber	Yes	No	Basel Owles
2015	Rock the Kasbah	Yes	No	Barry Levinson
2016	The Magnificent Seven	Yes	No	Antoine Fuqua
2017	The Fate of the Furious	Yes	No	F. Gary Gray
2019	Jexi	Yes	No	Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
2024	Megalopolis	Yes	No	Francis Ford Coppola

Personal life

Hooker and his wife Gayle, who is also a stunt performer, have twin sons who worked as stunt performers in the film Spy Kids . ^{[4] [1]}

Cultural references

The 1978 feature film Hooper , starring Burt Reynolds, is based on a fictionalized account of his life. In the film, Hooker actually performed stunts for both Reynolds and Jan-Michael Vincent. ^[1] He was also on The Dating Game in 1969 with Farrah Fawcett, which broke out into a staged fight. Hooker was the bachelor selected by Fawcett. ^{[7] [2]}

References

1. "Ask American Profile - American Profile". AmericanProfile.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-05.
2. Fawcett, Farrah. "Farrah Fawcett on the Dating Game". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-17. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
3. Mackie, Rob (14 January 2008). "Death Proof". The Guardian. A couple of the others have graduated from stunt-girl/stand-in status, which should give hope to Death Proof's actual stunt team, including one Buddy Joe Hooker, a name made for marquees.
4. "Buddy Joe Hooker". Stunts Unlimited.
5. "2014 Taurus World Stunt Awards Event". Taurus World Stunt Awards. May 11, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
6. Staff, Stunts Unlimited. "Buddy Joe Hooker". Welcome to Stunts Unlimited. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
7. Walters, Meg (22 June 2020). "The Untold Truth of Farrah Fawcett". TheList.com. Each move of the fight was choreographed, and the entire thing was staged.

External links

• Official website
• Buddy Joe Hooker at IMDb