Cowboy Stuntman: From Olympic Gold to the Silver Screen

Dean Smith has intentionally fallen from galloping horses, had fistfights with Kirk Douglas and George C. Scott, worn a red wig and white tights to double Maureen O’Hara, and taught Goldie Hawn how to talk like a Texan. He’s dangled from a helicopter over the skyscrapers of Manhattan while clutching a damsel in distress; he’s hung upside down from a fake blimp 200 feet over the Orange Bowl; and he’s replicated one of the most famous scenes in movie history by climbing on a terrified team of horses to stop a runaway stagecoach.

Cowboy Stuntman chronicles the life and achievements of this colourful Texan and Olympic gold medal winner who spent a half century as a Hollywood stuntman and actor, appearing in 10 John Wayne movies and doubling for a long list of actors as diverse as Robert Culp, Michael Landon, Steve Martin, Struther Martin, Robert Redford, and Roy Rogers.