Yakima Canutt - Writer

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Stuntman and Second Unit Director. Nationality: American. Born: Enos Edward Canutt in Colfax, Washington, 29 November 1895. Family: Sons: actors/stuntmen Tap and Joe Canutt. Career: Ranch hand, then joined wild west show at age 17: became rodeo "world champion"; 1919—first film appearance as actor/stuntman; 1927–35—second unit director for Mascot; 1935–48—head of Republic stunt unit. Award: Special Academy Award, 1966. Died: In Hollywood, California, 24 May 1986.

Films as Actor/Stuntman:

1919

Lighting Bryce (Hurst—serial)

1922

The Heart of a Texan (Hurst)

1923

The Forbidden Range (Hart)

1924

The Days of '49 (Jaccard and Marchand—serial; released as feature California in '49 , 1924); The Desert Hawk (De La Mothe); Ridin' Mad (Jaccard); Sell 'em Cowboy ( Alias Texas Pete Owens ) (Hayes); Branded a Bandit (Hurst); The Riddle Rider (Craft—serial)

1925

The Cactus Cure (Hayes); Romance and Rustlers (Wilson); Scar Hanan ( The Man with the Scar ) (Wilson, Linden, and Cunliff) (+ co-sc); Risin' Comet (Wilson); A Two-Fisted Sheriff (Wilson and Hayes); White Thunder ( The White Rider ) (Wilson); Wolves of the Road (Hayes); The Strange Rider (Hayes); The Human Tornado (Wilson)

1926

The Devil Horse (Jackman); The Fighting Stallion (Wilson); Desert Greed ( Greed of Gold ) (Jaccard); Hellhound of the Plains (Wilson)

1927

The Outline Breaker (Jaccard); Open Range (Smith)

1928

The Vanishing West (Thorpe—serial)

1929

The Three Outcasts (Smith) (+ co-sc as Enos Edwards); Bad Men's Money ( Mad Man's Money ) (McGowan); Captain Cowboy (McGowan); Riders of the Storm (McGowan); A Texan's Honor

1930

Firebrand Jordan (Neitz); Ridin' Law (Webb); Bar L Ranch (Webb); The Lonesome Trail (Mitchell); Canyon Hawks (Neitz); Westward Bound (Webb); The Texan ( The Big Race ) (Smith)

1931

Hurricane Horseman ( The Mexican ) (Schaefer); Pueblo Terror ( Paradise Valley ) (Neitz); Battling with Buffalo Bill (Taylor—serial); The Fighting Test (Horner); The Vanishing Legion (Eason—serial); The Lightning Warrior (Kline and Schaefer—serial)

1932

Cheyenne Cyclone ( Smashing Through ) (Schaefer); Two-Fisted Justice (Durlan); Wyoming Whirlwind (Schaefer); The Last Frontier (Bennet—serial; released as feature The Black Ghost , 1932); The Devil Horse (Brower—serial); The Shadow of the Eagle (Beebe—serial); Hurricane Express (Schaefer and McGowan—serial); The Last of the Mohicans (Eason and Beebe—serial); Raider of the Golden Gulch (Smith) (+ co-sc)

1933

The Telegraph Trail (Wright); Law and Lawless (Schaefer); The Three Musketeers (Schaefer and Clark—serial; released as feature Desert Command , 1948); Via Pony Express (Collins); Wolf Dog (Clark and Fraser—serial); Fighting Texans ( Randy Strikes Oil ) (Schaefer); Sagebrush Trail (Schaefer); Scarlet River (Brower); Battling Buckaroos ( His Last Adventure ) (Drake); Fighting with Kit Carson (Schaefer and Clark—serial); The Mystery Squadron (Clark and Howard—serial)

1934

The Lucky Texan (Bradbury); West of the Divide (Bradbury); Texas Tornado (Drake); Blue Steel (Bradbury); The Man from Utah (Bradbury); Randy Rides Alone (Fraser); The Star Packer (Bradbury); Man from Hell (Collins); Fighting Through (Fraser); 'Neath the Arizona Skies (Fraser); Carrying the Mail (Franum and Emmett—short); The Lost Jungle (Schaefer and Clark—serial); Monte Carlo Nights (Nigh); The Trail Beyond (Bradbury); Burn-'em-Up Barnes (Clark and Schaefer—serial); Law of the Wild (Schaefer and Eason—serial); Mystery Mountain (Brower and Eason—serial); Outlaw Rule (Luby); Blazing Guns (Heinz); The Desert Man (Emmett—short); Pals of the West (Emmett—short)

1935

The Lawless Frontier (Bradbury); Circle of Death (London); Paradise Canyon (Pierson); The Dawn Rider (Bradbury); Westward Ho (Bradbury); Lawless Range (Bradbury); Cyclone of the Saddle (Clifton); The Farmer Takes a Wife (Fleming); The Phantom Empire (Brower and Eason—serial); Rough Ridin' Rangers ( The Secret Stranger ) (Clifton); Dante's Inferno (Lachman); The Fighting Marine (Eason—serial)

1936

The Oregon Trail (Pembroke); King of the Pecos (Kane); The Lonely Trail (Kane); Winds of the Wasteland (Wright); The Vigilantes Are Coming ( The Mounties Are Coming ) (Wright and Taylor—serial); Wildcat Trooper ( Wild Cat ) (Clifton); Ghost Town Gold (Kane); The Clutching Hand (Herman—serial); The Black Coin (Herman—serial); Roarin' Lead (Wright and Newfield); Rose Marie (Van Dyke); Ten Laps to Go (Clifton); The Lawless Nineties (Kane); The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (Hathaway); San Francisco (Van Dyke); The Charge of the Light Brigade (Curtiz); The Big Show (Wright)

1937

The Bold Caballero ( The Bold Cavalier ) (Root); The Riders of the Whistling Skull ( The Golden Trail ) (Wright); Hit the Saddle (Wright); Trouble in Texas (Bradbury); Gunsmoke Ranch (Kane); Come on Cowboys (Kane); The Painted Stallion (Witney, James, and Taylor—serial); Range Defenders (Wright); Prairie Thunder (Eason); Riders of the Rockies (Bradbury); Riders of the Dawn (Bradbury); Zorro Rides Again (Witney and English—serial); The Mysterious Pilot (Bennet—serial); In Old Chicago (H. King); Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm ( Rhythm on the Range ) (Wright); S.O.S. Coastguard (Witney and James—serial); Ali Baba Goes to Town (Butler)

1938

The Secret of Treasure Island (Clifton—serial); The Lone Ranger (Witney and English—serial); Heart of the Rockies (Kane); Santa Fe Stampede (G. Sherman); The Girl of the Golden West (Leonard); Heroes of the Hills (G. Sherman); Pals of the Saddle (G. Sherman); Dick Tracy Returns (Witney and English—serial); Overland Stage Raiders (G. Sherman); Storm over Bengal (Salkow)

1939

Man of Conquest (Nicholls); Wyoming Outlaw (G. Sherman); The Kansas Terrors (G. Sherman); Cowboys from Texas (G. Sherman); Zorro's Fighting Legion (Witney and English—serial); Gone with the Wind (Fleming); Jesse James (H. King); The Lone Ranger Rides Again (Witney and English—serial); Dodge City (Curtiz); The Night Riders (G. Sherman); The Oregon Trail (Beebe—serial); Captain Fury (Roach); Daredevils of the Red Circle (Witney and English—serial); The Light That Failed (Wellman)

1940

Pioneers of the West (Orelbeck); Ghost Valley Raiders (G. Sherman); The Ranger and the Lady (Kane); Under Texas Skies (G. Sherman); Frontier Vengeance (Watt); Young Bill Hickok (Kane); Virginia City (Curtiz); One Million B.C. ( Man and His Mate ) (Roach and Roach Jr.); Shooting High (Green); Deadwood Dick (Horne—serial); Boom Town (Conway); Oklahoma Renegades (Watt); Prairie Schooners ( Through the Storm ) (Nelson)

1941

Prairie Pioneers (Orlebeck); The Great Train Robbery (Kane); Gauchos of Eldorado (Orlebeck); White Eagle (Horne—serial); Western Union (F. Lang); Jungle Girl (Witney and English—serial); Kansas Cyclone (G. Sherman); Bad Man of Deadwood (Kane); King of the Texas Rangers (Witney and English—serial)

1942

Shadows on the Sage (Orlebeck); Spy Smasher (Witney—serial)

1943

Pride of the Plains (Fox); King of the Cowboys (Kane); Santa Fe Scouts (Bretherton); Song of Texas (Kane); Calling Wild Bill Hickok (Bennet); For Whom the Bell Tolls (Wood)

1944

Hidden Valley Outlaws (Bretherton); Zorro's Black Whip (Grissell and Bennet—serial); The Tiger Woman ( Perils of the Darkest Jungle ) (Bennet and Grissell—serial)

1945

Sunset in El Dorado (McDonald)

1950

The Showdown (D. & S. McGowan); Rocky Mountain (Keighley)

Films as Stuntman and 2nd Unit Director:

1931

The Galloping Ghost (Schaefer and Eason—serial)

1939

Stagecoach (Ford)

1940

Dark Command (Walsh)

1941

They Died with Their Boots On (Walsh)

1943

In Old Oklahoma (Rogell)

1945

Flame of Barbary Coast (Kane); The Topeka Terror (Bretherton); Dakota (Kane); Manhunt of Mystery Island (+ co-d—serial); Sheriff of Cimarron (+ d); Federal Operator 99 (+ co-d—serial)

1946

Cyclone (Springsteen); Under Nevada Skies (McDonald); Angel and the Badman (Grant)

1947

Twilight on the Rio Grande (McDonald); That's My Man ( Will Tomorrow Ever Come? ) (Borzage); Northwest Out-post ( End of the Rainbow ) (Dwan); Wyoming (Kane)

1949

Red Stallion in the Rockies (Murphy); Hellfire (Springsteen); The Doolins of Oklahoma ( The Great Manhunt ) (Douglas)

1950

Devil's Doorway (A. Mann)

1952

Last of the Comanches ( The Sabre and the Arrow ) (De Toth); Ivanhoe (Thorpe); Hangman's Knot (Huggins)

1955

The Far Horizons (Mate)

1957

Old Yeller (Stevenson)

1958

In Love and War (Dunne)

1959

Ben-Hur (Wyler)

1960

Spartacus (Kubrick)

1961

El Cid (A. Mann)

1962

How the West Was Won (Hathaway, Ford, and Marshall)

1966

Khartoum (Dearden)

1969

Where Eagles Dare (Hutton)

1970

Rio Lobo (Hawks)

1975

Breakheart Pass (Gries)

1985

High on the Range

Other Films:

1947

G-Men Never Forget (co-d—serial)

1948

Dangers of the Canadian Mounted (co-d); Oklahoma Bad-lands (d); Carson City Raiders (d); Adventures of Frank and Jesse James (co-d—serial); Sons of Adventure (d)

1954

The Lawless Rider (d)

1977

Equus (Lumet) (technical consultant)

Publications

By CANUTT: book—

Stunt Man: The Autobiography of Yakima Canutt , New York, 1979.

On CANUTT: articles—

Classic Film Collector (Indiana, Pennsylvania), Summer 1967.

Filme Cultura (Rio de Janeiro), November-December 1969.

Ecran (Paris), May 1978.

Classic Images (Indiana, Pennsylvania), May 1984.

Classic Images (Indiana, Pennsylvania), October 1984.

Obituary in Variety (New York), 28 May 1986.

Cineforum , vol. 31, no. 304, May 1991.

Rhodes, S., "Hangin' On," in Filmfax (Evanston), February/March 1994.

Wyatt, E., "The Lost Films of Yakima Canutt," in Films of the Golden Age (Muscatine), Spring 1997.

* * *

In 1966, Yakima Canutt was given a special Academy Award "for creating the profession of stuntman as it exists today and for the development of many safety devices used by stuntmen everywhere." Canutt helped legitimize the stuntman, and though he had peers such as Harvey Parry, Gil Perkins, and Dave Sharpe, it was Canutt whose work was best known and most widely publicized, largely through his 40-year association with John Wayne. Canutt graduated from stuntman for the stars to second unit director, staging action scenes for the likes of John Ford ( Stagecoach ), William Wellman ( The Light That Failed ), Raoul Walsh ( Dark Command ), and Howard Hawks ( Rio Lobo ), as well as big-budget spectacles like Ben-Hur , Spartacus , and El Cid .

Canutt came from a rodeo background, and was a star on the Wild West Show circuits as a teenager. A newspaper labeled him "The Cowboy from Yakima (Washington)," and the nickname stuck. Canutt's rodeo speciality was bareback bronco riding, helping him win five world championship cowboy titles. He entered silents doing unbilled stunts, but quickly became a cowboy star in a series of silent westerns, performing his own daring stunts. His voice prevented him from succeeding in talking pictures, and he opted for full-time stunt work, with occasional bit parts, mostly as Indians or heavies.

Canutt doubled for many stars, including Clarke Gable, Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power, and Henry Fonda. He first worked with John Wayne in a 1932 Mascot serial, The Shadow of the Eagle , and through a series of B-westerns for Monogram, helped develop Wayne's physical persona, teaching him how to fake punches for the screen. He went to Republic in 1935 with Wayne, and through a score of westerns doubled Wayne while playing small roles in which he inevitably tangled in knockdown, drag out fisticuffs with the star.

When Wayne was boosted to the big time with Stagecoach , he recommended Canutt to director John Ford. Canutt was hired to direct second unit action on the film, as well as perform some of his most celebrated stunts. In addition to saddle-and-horse falls, Canutt did the famous transfer stunt (his personal favorite), shot on the flats at Victorville, California. Playing an Indian, Canutt jumps from his galloping horse onto the stagecoach team's lead horses then works his way over six charging team horses towards the carriage. Wayne shoots him, he falls between the horses, is dragged along the ground at full speed, then finally drops to the ground as stage and horses pass over him. As second unit director, Canutt staged the sequence of the stagecoach in the river crossing. Miraculously, Canutt emerged unhurt, although he did suffer injuries doubling for Gable on San Francisco (six broken ribs while saving a panicked stuntwoman) and Boom Town (a punctured lung when he was tossed from a wagon into a bass drum). Canutt also doubled for Gable as Rhett Butler in the burning of Atlanta sequence for Gone with the Wind , and played a bit as a renegade who terrorizes Vivien Leigh.

Canutt had staged action for directors as early as his starring role in The Devil Horse with Rex, King of the Wild Horses, and after Stagecoach , he concentrated in this area. He handled second unit for Raoul Walsh on the westerns Dark Command (featuring a spectacular cliff jump by Canutt and three other stuntmen) and They Died with Their Boots On (in which Canutt doubled Flynn for Custer's Last Stand and helped supervise the battle sequence). Republic hired him as a director in 1944 and assigned him B-westerns with Sunset Carson, Rocky Lane, and Clayton Moore. After four years of low budgets, Canutt signed as second unit director with MGM.

Canutt found his forte as a second unit action man, and in this capacity was responsible for some of the best action sequences of the 1950s and 1960s. He specialized in medieval epics (Richard Thorpe's Ivanhoe , Anthony Mann's El Cid ) and biblical spectacles (William Wyler's Ben-Hur , Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus ). His most memorable set pieces include the jousts in Ivanhoe and El Cid ; the sieges in El Cid and Basil Dearden's Khartoum ; the revolt of the slaves in Spartacus ; the attack on the Nazi fortress in Brian Hutton's Where Eagles Dare ; and especially the celebrated chariot race between Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd in Ben-Hur .

—John A. Gallagher