Stuntman Bob Herron, who worked as a stuntman on films such as “Diamonds Are Forever,” “L.A. Confidential” and “Batman Forever” has died on Sunday after suffering for complications from a fall, a family member confirmed to Variety. He was 97.
Herron was one of the founding members of the Stuntmen’s Association in 1961 and a past president.
Earlier this year, the Stuntmen’s Association celebrated 60 years. When asked why he had started the association, Herron said, he had wanted to bring stunt people together. “There wasn’t a network for the stuntmen to organize with each other; we were all separate.”
Herron’s love for stunts began as a young child. In an interview with Variety, the stuntman explained, “My stepfather rented horses to the studios and I started wrangling them for the actors and the stuntmen to ride, and it made more money. I thought, ‘That’s the way I want to go.’ I’d watch the actors ride them and realized that was for me. Alex [Daniels, President of the Stuntmen’s Association] gave me my last job, I was in my ‘90s and they wanted an older guy, so that worked out fine.”
Herron was born in Los Angeles, and raised in Honolulu and Lomita. His career began in the 1950s working on “Winchester ’73” and “The Flame and the Arrow.” He would work steadily over the years on across TV and film. One of his earliest film credits was as an actor was “Four Guns to the Border,” directed by Richard Carlson. In TV, he worked on hundreds of shows including “Charlie’s Angels,” “The Rockford Files,” “The A-Team” and Kojak.” In film, he also worked on “Pale Rider,” “The Goonies,” “Rocky” and “Earthquake.” With over 342 credits to his name including “Airwolf,” “The Green Hornet” and “Stagecoach,” much of his work went uncredited.
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In a statement to Variety, Daniels said, “Bob Herron was the quintessential stuntman that we all aspire to be. As a founding member of the Stuntmen’s Association of Motion Pictures, he showed us the way for many decades and continued to perform stunts to age 92. That was a great run Bobby. Can you do another take?…. cause we’re gonna miss you.”
He is survived by his wife Lynne and four children Michael, Danny, Matt and Melissa.
