Roy Alon

[A Pemberton]

Stuntman Roy Alon died today,one of the most famous of modern day cinema,I read today , apart from doing the big Bond ,Indiana Jones stand ins he once doubled for Sophia Loren. A true craftsman.

Rest in peace.

[theuofc]

(A Pemberton @ Feb 4 2006, 06:31 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'> Stuntman Roy Alon died today,one of the most famous of modern day cinema,I read today , apart from doing the big Bond ,Indiana Jones stand ins he once doubled for Sophia Loren. A true craftsman. Rest in peace. [/b]

Thanks for paying respect to Roy Alon and all stuntmen which used to include daring cameramen. Freddie Young tells some harrowing tales in his book 'Seventy Light Years' about the risks cameramen often took in remote locations or in filming explosions, etc. with the most dangerous being aerial photography. Young tells how two of his friends Johnny Jordan and Skeets Kelly were both killed on aerial assignments. Jordan was filming from a helicopter, leaning out to get the best angle when a gust dragged another helicopter toward his helicopter and the rotor blade sliced his leg. It had to be amputated later, but Jordan kept doing aerial work, and later on Catch 22, flying over the Gulf of Mexico, another plane came too close, the slipstream sucked him out and he fell 2,000 feet to his death.

The public doesn't always appreciate these unseen but important crew/tech members and their invaluable contribution to the making of films with memorable visual effects, be they dangerous stunts, camerawork, or the like.

Barbara

[Steve Crook]

Skeets Kelly had done some great aerial filming for things like Lawrence of Arabia, Those Magnificent Men, The Blue Max, The Battle of Britain and even Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He was working on Zeppelin when the helicopter he was in was hit by an aircraft, killing 4 people.

Skeets started off with his feet on the ground, working on films like The Edge of the World, Contraband, 49th Parallel and many others.

Steve