“Be careful! You’re going too fast!” are words you might hear
a mother scream at a child skateboarding downhill. “Look, no
hands!” is a time-honoured quote from youngsters with no fear.
Put simply, there have always been and will always be
daredevils. When they get paid for it, it’s called being a stunt
person.
Evel Knievel was a legendary daredevil who jumped
motorcycles across cars and even attempted canyons. Urban
legend has Knievel, actually born Bobby Knievel, dying in an
assortment of tragic ways — his last jump, the one where he
didn’t make it. In truth, Knievel lived until 2007, when he died
of pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Florida at the age of 69.
What is it that makes stunts so mesmerizing to some and so
terrifying to others? And why do some stunt people become
famous to a mainstream audience, like Evel Knievel, and others
die with recognition only from their peers?
When actors do their own stunts, they’re practically heroes.
Brad Pitt tore his Achilles tendon while filming Troy.
Channing Tatum got a lot of attention when his man parts were
badly scalded on the set of The Eagle (ouch!). This is all very
accessible info, known to many. How many know the names of
the following stuntmen (and one woman), who actually faced
serious injury and sometimes death while performing on set?
Who were the stunt doubles for major actors that sustained the
most severe injuries — or worse — while filming? They’re
some of the bravest members of any Hollywood cast, and their
jobs are among the most challenging.

5. Scott McLean for Ed Helms: Hangover
2 (2011)
There’s nothing funny about this story, despite its having come
out of the wildly successful Hangover comedy series.
Experienced stuntman Scott McLean had done stunts in some
of the Star Wars movies, The Matrix and more. On the
Bangkok, Thailand set of Hangover 2, McLean was doubling
for Ed Helms during a high-speed stunt. According to McLean,
although the stunt required “precision and timing” that were
quite particular, during a take the second-unit stunt director
called for an increase in the vehicle’s speed to a pace which
was unsafe for the stunt. McLean stuck his head out the
window of the vehicle as scripted, but because of the speed
change, the timing was thrown off and his head, instead of
meeting air, slammed into an oncoming truck.
McLean has been left with permanent physical damage and
brain injuries, including long and severe seizures. He has to
remain on oxygen for the rest of his life so as to not incur any
more brain damage. His partner has had to stop working to care
for him, and according to both McLean and his partner Raelene
Chapman, as of 2013, two years after the accident, Warner
Brothers had settled quietly out of court but had not yet
covered the stunt actor’s medical bills.

4. David Holmes for Daniel Radcliffe:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
(2010)
Another calamity on a set belonging to Warner Brothers, this
accident involved explosives. David Holmes, then 25, had been
Daniel Radcliffe‘s stunt double for all prior Harry Potter films.
Formerly a competitive gymnast, he fit the bill in his colouring
and in terms of his physical skills. These skills, however, did
not prepare him during testing of a flying scene when a
planned explosion caught him literally off guard. The flying
scene was meant to involve the explosion, but the blast
occurred while Holmes was too close to it. He was slammed
into a wall before falling to the ground below.
Holmes recalls telling the people around him just after the fall
that he could not feel his legs. He learned shortly afterwards in
hospital that he had broken his neck and would be paralyzed
for life. Despite this fact, Holmes now drives a specially
modified car that travels up to 150 mph, and raises funds for
the hospital in which he was treated, as well as the spinal unit
there.

3. Yan Mei Bai for Dolph Lundgren:
Expendables 2 (2012)
One thing Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold
Schwarzenegger have in common is they are renowned for
their roles in action flicks, with their heyday having been in the
1980s and 90s. Willis has survived the original typecasting and
has continued on in more substantial action films since then.
The Expendables films are a sort of nostalgic throwback to
their 80s’ days; they even recycle some previously famous (or
infamous) lines. You might call this shtick.
In Expendables 2 as in several films these men have been in,
there was a serious stunt accident. This time, stunt actors Yan
Mei Bai and Kun Liu were casualties of the fact that these guys
prefer old school effects in favour of computer-generated.
With real explosions, filming was taking place at a dam in
Bulgaria when Yan Mei Bai, Dolph Lundgren’s stunt double,
had a piece of iron pierce his eye. His colleague and fellow
stuntman Kun Liu was less fortunate — he was killed.

2. Sonja Davis for Angela Bassett:
Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)
This film was big on many fronts. The last in Eddie Murphy’s
contract with Paramount that included the Beverly Hills Cop
films and had begun with 48 Hrs., Vampire in Brooklyn was
also co-written by Murphy. Wes Craven directed the horror
comedy, which did not do well. It received low ratings and
monetarily did marginally better than breaking even.
One thinks often of male stunt doubles, but not as often of
females in this field. In this movie, lead female Angela Bassett
portrayed Detective Rita Veder, and her stunt double was
Sonja Davis. In the stunt in question, Veder’s character was
supposed to fall backwards off a building. The actual height
has been reported at 42 and 45 feet. According to her mother
who was present, Davis’s last words were allegedly spoken to
the stunt coordinator and were: “Are you sure?” When she fell
the air bag did not work as designed, almost as though it had
too much air inside. Instead of cushioning her fall, Davis
bounced off the air bag, slamming into the building before
hitting the ground. She died in hospital 11 days later.

1. Harry L. O’Connor for Vin Diesel: Bleep
(2002)
Harry O’Connor was a retired Navy Seal who put his
knowledge to use in his second career as a stuntman. He and
his stunts were in the films Charlie’s Angels, The Perfect
Storm and K-Pax, all released in 2000 and 2001. His stuntman
career was short-lived, however: While filming director Rob
Cohen’s Triple X in Prague, Czech Republic, O’Connor, who
was doubling for Vin Diesel, was being pulled at a very high
speed while on a paraglider. He hit a pillar of the local Palacky
Bridge, and died almost immediately from severe injuries.
Director Rob Cohen felt the most respectful thing to do for the
actor and man who’d lost his life during filming would be to
have him in the film as planned. There are conflicting reports
about which take was used in the film — some say his last
moments shooting were used, but that the scene was cut before
he hit the pillar. Although it is clear that the actual moment of
death was not included, other reputable sources say he did two
takes and his first passed without incident, so they used that
one. If the latter is true, that begs the question: Why was there
a second take?

So sad. Didnt know lives were lost while doz films wer being shot o. Whites sacrificing their lives just to entertain. Na wa o

It's amazing they risk death and paralysis just for entertainment. We never start for Nollywood.

hmmmmmmm na wa oh!

transformers. Dark of the moon or so. One of the stunts had an accident while stuntg that left her blind in one eye. Brain damaged and paralysed.

Mukina2. Seun, Obinoscopy... This deserve front page please so that people can be enlightened.

I am not surprise though because Rambo part 1 where sylvester jumped and landed on a tree with sever cut on his arm was real.

Jacky Chan is master stunt legend. He had series of injuries while on set. Broken leg, ribs, cut on the face. If you watched armor of god, at the beginning, you will notice that his bulb hair was just around the ear but after he jumped and landen on a tree branch, he sustained a cut on his face. They had to a do another wig to cover the cut and thereby making it longer.

And they pay the stunt man how much exactly? If I'm to risk ma life like that then I'm drafting our deal or making arrangement. I'll sign from top to the bottom of the paper.