During the Hollywood era in the 60’s, African-Americans were not allowed to act as stunt doubles in the film industry. As black actors broke into the industry, white stuntmen were painted Black (known as paint-down) instead of seeking to employ black stuntmen. As the civil rights movement began to gain momentum in the 60’s, blacks and other minorities were featured more prominently in movies and television, the practice known as a “paintdown” became even more glaring. Consequently, in 1967 the Black Stuntmen’s Association (BSA), a not-for-profit organization, was established for the pursuit of equality for stunt people of all races and genders. Bill Cosby---was the first established actor to break the glass ceiling by hiring black stuntmen for black actors when he starred on the television series “I Spy”. This one act changed the common practice of using “paint down” forever changing the landscape of the motion picture and television industry. In 2008, the BSA held the first reunion of the original black stuntmen in Las Vegas, which was hosted by legendary actor, producer and trailblazer, Bill Cosby. Mr Cosby along with George Wallace presented lifetime achievement awards to these original stuntmen; it was the first time ever that these Stuntmen were ever honoured. Today, many of the original stuntmen and women are retired, deceased and or have been left permanently injured and poorly compensated due to unfair practices and lack of safety and resources at the time. However, these trailblazers opened the doors for many minority stuntmen that today enjoy increased opportunities, good pay and fair and equitable treatment. The BSA also produced some of the world’s most renowned stunt performers and 2nd unit directors, including the acclaimed Stuntmen Henry Kingi, Tony Brubaker, Richard Washington, Ernie Robinson, Bob Minor, Calvin Brown (stunt double for Bill Cosby) Jophrey Brown (stunt double Morgan Freeman) Greg Elam. Today, Greg’s sons are still in the Industry, performing stunts for Samuel L. Jackson, Will Smith, Don Cheadle, Brandon T.
Jackson among others. These exceptional craftsmen created an exemplary body of work on critically acclaimed and blockbuster projects. However, there were tragedies, veteran stunt performers Sonja Davis (killed while performing on the set of Vampire in Brooklyn); John Sherrod (killed driving home after a long shoot) and all the nameless stunt performers who risked everything to perform their talent--- died with nothing.
EDDIE SMITH 1924 - 2005
Co-Founder of BSA Renowned Stuntman Dennis McClellan | Times Staff Writer - Edward “Eddie” Smith, who cofounded the Black Stuntmen’s Assn. in 1967 and fought to generate jobs for African American stuntmen in Hollywood. Over the years, Smith worked as a stuntman or stunt coordinator on numerous television shows and films, including “MASH,” “Dirty Harry,” “Beneath the Planet of the Apes,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Earthquake,” “Scarface,” “The Nutty Professor” and the TV miniseries “Roots.” He also took pride in being the only African American stunt coordinator on the 1973 James Bond movie “Live and Let Die.” But it was in his little-recognized role in launching the Black Stuntmen’s Assn. and helping break through the colour barrier in the stunt business that Smith had the most effect. Although it was his idea to start the organization, he was never interested in being president or holding any other office in the group “He just wanted to be the fighter” for jobs, stuntman Henry Kingi, one of the association’s co-founders, told The Times. A native of St.Louis, Smith began working in Hollywood in 1955 as a film extra and freelance TV news cameraman covering breaking stories for local stations.
The seed for creating the Black Stuntman’s association was planted during the filming of the star-filled 1963 comedy “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” where he saw a white stuntman being made up to be the stunt double for black actor Eddie “Rochester”
Anderson. Known as a “paint-down,” it was a common practice for a white stuntman to be made up in the appropriate shade whenever an actor of colour needed to be doubled. But the practice became even more controversial in the 1960s, when an increasing number of African American and other minority actors began to gain roles in films and on television. The “paint-down” practice, Smith believed, was not only insulting but also prevented nonwhite from tapping a potentially lucrative source of income as stuntmen. “A white stunt guy would say, ‘I had a pretty good week. I guess I’ll go down to Palm Springs,’ “Smith recalled in a 2002 interview with The Times. “And I’d think, ‘I ain’t made enough money to take the Red Car to Watts.’ “Smith, who had various illnesses, died June 24th 2005 at a nursing home in Culver City, said his wife, Denise Shaw Smith.
Doing stunts in the movie, The Top of the Heap, resulted in an injured back and a broken right knee in 1972 resulting in major surgery, returning to work in 1974. Willie continued to work as a stuntman until 1977 when constant pain forced early retirement. Subsequently, Willie has endured through twenty-two knee procedures which included four knee replacements, one back surgery and six hand surgeries. Health issues never prevented Willie from continuing to help his stunt friends with Hollywood injustice and overcoming racism. Getting equal pay for Black Stuntmen through the Black Stuntmen’s
Association and being instrumental for inclusion of Black stuntmen in commercial advertisement are part of Willie’s legacy. Honda felt the commitment of Willie Harris through his organization of Black Motorcycle clubs to picket exclusion practices. His efforts expanded to Japan with ad placement fighting racism and followed to New York when he negotiated with CBS for use of black stuntmen. Barry Franks first attempted to ignore contact attempts, but soon realized Willie’s relentless dedication to promoting the cause of black stuntmen. Finally, Barry Frank did answer, and was then educated about the existence of black stuntmen and through Willie’s efforts agreed to use blacks on his show. Willie convinced Len Glascow to be the first black to enter the stuntmen’s competition. A battle with Fox over the filming of Patton which included only one black, James Edward was another skirmish Willie entered. Kemper Insurance as well came to know Willie when he forcefully suggested the use of blacks in a commercial about the Calvary. An interview with Ted Dawson of CBS in Los Angeles regarding a white stunt show, resulted in personal injury threats, but Willie never backed down or gave up his mission. Television shows like Adam 12, Gunsmoke and Disney Studios itself, came to know Willie and the Black Stuntmen’s Association and were forever changed due to his efforts. Hollywood and the Entertainment Industry and actually every commercial enterprise in the United States has experience racism. But African Americans and minorities in Hollywood, New York, and across the United States in the television, film and entertainment industry can attribute some of their financial and employability successes to Willie Harris and the Black Stuntmen’s Association. AT 67, the tenacity still exists, the efforts have not stopped and the journey continues with the commitment of Willie Harris. Willie Harris not wanting to lose another treasured member of the association without receiving some accolade decided to have a reunion, Willie contacted Alex Brown and shared the idea, Alex asked how and the answer was “I don’t know, but after Willie enlisted the help of State Senator Steve Horsford, Commissioner Lawrence Weekly and Councilman Rick Barlow to secure financing. Then Ricki Barlow introduced Willie to a contact at the Fitzgerald July-2007. I sent a letter to the Fitzgerald Casino and Hotel and a Bio on the BSA and was connected with Chareice White (Corporate Director of Community Relations). Chareice assisted me in organizing the reunion for the Black Stuntmen’s Association and the Reunion was held November 7, 2007 at the Fitzgerald Casino and hotel in Las Vegas. Next, I contacted Congress woman Shelley Berkley, Senator Harry Reid and they assisted me in getting The Black Stuntmen’s Association honoured before Congress and the Senate with Resolutions. Then I contacted Karen Bass (Speaker Emeritus) from the State Assembly of California who then honoured the Black Stuntmen’s Association along with the Governor (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Also the BSA was honoured by the State Assembly of Nevada. Next, I went to the NAACP to ask them to honour the BSA at the 43rd Annual Image Awards which aired on February 17, 2012 on NBC. Then I spoke with my good friend Bubba Knight who connected me with Divan Reece (Curator) of the Smithsonian Institute. She flew in from D.C. to Las Vegas, to meet with me and the Black Stuntmen’s Association and they plan to induct the BSA in the Smithsonian Institute as pioneers in the Motion Picture Industry. After meeting the First Lady (Michelle Obama) my ambition is the have the Black Stuntmen’s Association honoured at the White House.
Alex was raised in Jacksonville, Florida and is a product of the Duval County School System. He was a member of the FAMU Marching 100 Rattlers Band while attending Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University. Following a brief stay in the Big Apple, Mr Brown moved to Los Angeles, California in 1963. As the city regrouped from the upheaval of the 1965 Watts Riots, Alex found himself working as a “Movie Extra” from time to time. He was soon bitten by the “Movie Business Bug” and it became his life’s work. He joined a group of guys known as the “Buffalo Soldiers Parade Unit” that was being personally trained to be cowboys by the great Woody Strode and John Russell. The 10th Calvary Buffalo Soldiers appeared in the Tournament of Roses, Hollywood Santa Claus Lane and Watts Parades as well as the parade scene in the movie “Hello Dolly”. In 1967, Alex Brown became one of the original members of the Black Stuntmen Association (BSA) founded by Eddie Smith and served as the first Secretary of the group. The BSA was to the Movie Industry what the NAACP was to Integration. The early work of the Black Stuntmen afforded him an active career as an Actor-Stuntman for over 40 years. He has appeared in numerous movies, television shows and commercial advertisements. Other professional affiliations have included Screen Actors Guild, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Stunts Peer Group and the Tom Anthony and Rawn Hutchinson Stunt Driving Teams. Alex resides in Los Angeles with his wife of 44 years, Karen, and continues to work in the Business. He is enjoying his family, one son, two daughters and five grandsons.
Co-founder of Black Stuntmen's Association (BSA) His ancestry is Tsalagi (Cherokee), African American and European. Has two sons, Dorian Kingi (born 1982) and Alex Kingi (born 1986) from his former marriage to actress Lindsay Wagner. Another son from a previous union, Henry Kingi Jr., born in 1970, is also a stuntman. Starred in both of the "Predator" movies, along with Kevin Peter Hall, but played two different characters. Father of actor-stuntman Dorian Kingi from his marriage to actress Lindsay Wagner. Former son-in-law of Marilyn Ball.
Jophery Clifford Brown was born on January 22, 1945, in Grambling, Louisiana.[1] His parents, Sylvester and Ida Mae Brown (née Washington), got married at the ages of 18 and16, respectively. They had a family of eight, including four other boys and three girls. Jophery was the seventh child. Sylvester and Ida Mae came from Farmerville, about 25 miles northeast of Grambling, but they moved in 1938, about seven years before Jophery was born. Older brother Calvin Brown -- the pioneering black stuntman who paved the way for Jophery -- described their upbringing as “community raised,” meaning that everyone in Grambling was responsible for raising the children. He said, “You could do no wrong, somebody was going to get you.” As a youth, although Jophery played football and basketball too, he liked baseball best. He attended Alma Brown Elementary School and Grambling High School. In 1963, Brown entered Grambling College (it became a university in 1974). Brother Calvin had graduated from there in 1957. A dozen Grambling Tigers have made it to the majors over the years, and Brown played with three of them: John Jeter, Ralph Garr, and Matt Alexander. Their coach was Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, known to all as “Prez” because he was also the college president. Brown summed up this man with one simple and fitting word: “Great.” The Sporting News reported that during his career at Grambling (1964-66), Brown’s won-lost record was a spectacular 26-1.That appears to have been an exaggeration, according to the available school records but his marks were impressive nonetheless. The known totals are 12-2 with a 0.88 ERA, including a no-hitter against Texas Southern in 1966 and five one-hitters. One of his only defeats came against archival Southern University.
The Pittsburgh Pirates selected him in the 21st round of the June 1965 amateur draft, but he did not sign. As a result, he was eligible for the secondary phase of the following draft, in January 1966. The Boston Red Sox wanted him in the fourth round, but again he decided to stay in school. The offers were not attractive enough. He didn’t necessarily want to graduate first, Brown said in 2010. In 1964, Jophery got his first exposure to the world of show business, thanks to Calvin. He appeared (uncredited) as a policeman in an episode of the Ben Gazzara/Chuck Connors drama Arrest and Trial. Right then he was bitten by the show-biz bug. The following year, Bill Cosby became the first African-American to star in a television series. Before that, when black actors needed a stunt double, a white man put on blackface (“painting down,” as the practice was known). Cosby changed that on I Spy, insisting that Calvin Brown get the job. In 2009, Calvin’s friend and fellow stuntman Willie Harris said, “[Cosby] refused to let a white man double for him.” Jophery also did stunts, uncredited, in some episodes, while appearing onscreen as a reporter in one. Jophery followed Calvin -- who had helped to found the Black Stuntmen’s Association in 1968 -into the business. (He never did graduate from Grambling.) In November 1969, the Long Beach Press-Telegram mentioned the Browns as actors in Bill Cosby’s production company. The occasion was a celebrity basketball game; Cosby sponsored and played. On hand were NFL star turned actor Bernie Casey, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Sammy Davis Jr. In 2006, Jophery talked about his second career’s prerequisites. “You’re an athlete. You couldn’t be a stunt person without being an athlete. You’ve got to have a degree of insanity to do this. But you didn’t want crazy stunt people. They get you hurt.” He also described how he developed his craft. “‘The business is trial and error. A lot you learn on the job. We couldn’t practice a lot of stuff because it was too expensive.’ He remembers being banned by Hertz because he would practice his stuntdriving in a rental car, and then invariably return it ‘slightly banged up. ‘Brown got his first film work in 1973, the Pam Grier Blaxploitation flick Coffy. He also had an uncredited bit part as a party guest. That year he also worked on Papillon, starring Steve McQueen, and the James Bond movie Live and Let Die. An important professional breakthrough came thanks to a baseball movie, The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars (1976). Thanks to his diamond experience, Brown was named stunt coordinator, although another black stuntman named Eddie Smith was reportedly displeased that Jophery had been chosen for this reason. This was probably because Smith, another founder of the Black Stuntmen’s Association, had more experience in stunt work. Jophery also played third baseman Emory “Champ” Chambers. The appealing film featured three other real ballplayers, Leon “Daddy Wags” Wagner, Indianapolis Clowns funny man Sam “Birmingham” Brison, and Rico Dawson. Before computer-generated effects came to rule moviemaking, Brown often appeared in several films a year. Just a few of the stunt-laden action-adventures on his résumé include Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, and Speed (in which he drove a bus over a gap in a freeway, something he discussed in an HBO documentary about the filming). Other credits as stunt coordinator include Scarface (he staged the gun battles) and Action Jackson. Jophery also worked frequently in TV, including one of the great guilty pleasures, The ATeam. Along with doubling for Mr T, his driving skills were on display. The show had a
distinctly cartoonish quality -- in crash after crash, no one ever got hurt -- which tended to obscure the difficulty of the “gags.” One trademark was a spiral vehicle flip, which Brown did more than 30 times. In addition to his stunt work, Brown also continued to turn up frequently as a bit-part actor. One memorable moment came in Jurassic Park, when -as “Worker in Raptor Pen” -- a carnosaur killed him. (“Jophery, raise the gate.”) In 1990, Screen Actor magazine quoted Jophery, who emphasized the idea that led to the formation of the Black Stuntmen’s Association. “‘We get very few non-descript roles . . . I pride myself in being able to do all types of shows, not just black films. And I do try to extend a helping hand to other qualified performers of colour who are having a hard time of it.’ Brown feels that people of colour in power positions need to work with each other: ‘The black producers, directors and stars don’t always take care of their own by hiring black stunt coordinators. ‘Brown discussed the nature of his work in 2006. “You can’t separate them [stunts] into safe and dangerous categories. ‘All of them were dangerous. You could get hurt doing all of them.’ During the filming of the 1978 movie Convoy, he flipped an 18-wheeler. As it rolled, his seat belt came off. ‘I cracked three ribs, knocked my watch off and my shoes, too.’” He added, “Something hurts me every day.” Today Brown is semiretired; he doubles only for Morgan Freeman. (This brings to mind another former big-leaguer: Greg Goossen, who has been Gene Hackman’s stand-in for manyyears.) Other prominent African-American actors for whom Jophery has doubled are Sidney Poitier, James Earl Jones, Danny Glover, Gregory Hines, Yaphet Kotto, and Denzel Washington. In May 2010, Jophery Brown received the Taurus Lifetime Achievement Award for his body of work as a stuntman. He lives in Las Vegas with his wife Lois.
Born April 23, 1936 in Farmersville, LA Pioneering Hollywood stunt performer, who doubled for Bill Cosby in the network series “I Spy” Calvin Brown is the first African American stuntman recognized in Hollywood. He is also one of the original founders of the Black Stuntmen’s Association and the Sober Living House. Stunt Coordinator since 1963 Stunt actor since 1959.
National Treasure: Book of Secrets 2007, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 2006, Poseidon 2006, Bad Boys II 2003, Haitian Gang Actor Love at Large 1990, Tap 1989, Back to the Future Part II 1989, Off Limits 1988, The Cemetery Club 1993, The Color Purple 1985, A Soldier's Story 1984, Superman 3 1983, The Sword and the Sorcerer, 1982 Curse of the Starving, Class, See No Evil Hear No Evil.
L-R Henry Graddy, DeWitt Fondrew, Ernie Robinson and Joe Tilque
L-R Richard Washington, William Upton and Douglas Lawrence
L-R John T Mitchell, Evelyn Cuffee and Melvin Jones