Jack Woody(1896-1969)
- Actor
- Stunts
Character actor and stuntman Jack Woody had a career that sounded like one of the movies he appeared in. He was born Frank Bryan Woody in Elkhorn, Kansas, a town that he left upon enlisting in the Marines to fight in World War I.
He started his career in film as a stuntman in the early 1930s and one day shocked the world when it was announced that he was marrying movie starlet Helen Twelvetrees. The stormy relationship lasted 5 years, as the two traveled the world together for their respective film careers. They had one child, Jack Bryan Woody Jr., before being divorced in 1936. Their marriage served as the basis for the plot of I'm Still Alive (1940).
In 1937, Woody returned to stunt work where he was frequently found doing the stunts for Humphrey Bogart and doubling for other actors in fight scenes. He had a knack for escaping serious injury and death. Woody was hit in the neck by a ricocheting bullet on the set of Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937). A year later he was shot in the face by a blank charge while doubling J. Carrol Naish wrestling over a gun on Hotel Imperial (1939). Both accidents barely interrupted his work.
During World War II, Woody re-enlisted in the Marines as a veteran sergeant and spent years in combat before returning to stunt work after the war's conclusion.
Like most stuntmen, Woody found steady work for numerous years until suffering an accident significant enough to end his career. Woody was severely injured in the movie Samson and Delilah (1949) when the temple demolition sequence went wrong, and Woody ended up breaking both kneecaps and his legs. It was after this injury that Woody decided it was time for a career change.
In the late 1940s, Woody shifted his focus to his side career as a hunting and fishing guide in the Lone Pine Hills of California's Sierra Nevada. The now-aged Woody grew a beard and looked like an old prospector. While Woody was on one of his regular guide trips, director Andre De Toth recognized Woody and he thought he would be perfect for a role in a Randolph Scott movie that De Toth was scouting for shooting locations. Woody gladly accepted De Toth's offer and he began an acting career that featured roles with some of the biggest stars of the western genre including Randolph Scott and Gary Cooper while also appearing in roles in dramas like House of Wax (1953).
He started his career in film as a stuntman in the early 1930s and one day shocked the world when it was announced that he was marrying movie starlet Helen Twelvetrees. The stormy relationship lasted 5 years, as the two traveled the world together for their respective film careers. They had one child, Jack Bryan Woody Jr., before being divorced in 1936. Their marriage served as the basis for the plot of I'm Still Alive (1940).
In 1937, Woody returned to stunt work where he was frequently found doing the stunts for Humphrey Bogart and doubling for other actors in fight scenes. He had a knack for escaping serious injury and death. Woody was hit in the neck by a ricocheting bullet on the set of Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937). A year later he was shot in the face by a blank charge while doubling J. Carrol Naish wrestling over a gun on Hotel Imperial (1939). Both accidents barely interrupted his work.
During World War II, Woody re-enlisted in the Marines as a veteran sergeant and spent years in combat before returning to stunt work after the war's conclusion.
Like most stuntmen, Woody found steady work for numerous years until suffering an accident significant enough to end his career. Woody was severely injured in the movie Samson and Delilah (1949) when the temple demolition sequence went wrong, and Woody ended up breaking both kneecaps and his legs. It was after this injury that Woody decided it was time for a career change.
In the late 1940s, Woody shifted his focus to his side career as a hunting and fishing guide in the Lone Pine Hills of California's Sierra Nevada. The now-aged Woody grew a beard and looked like an old prospector. While Woody was on one of his regular guide trips, director Andre De Toth recognized Woody and he thought he would be perfect for a role in a Randolph Scott movie that De Toth was scouting for shooting locations. Woody gladly accepted De Toth's offer and he began an acting career that featured roles with some of the biggest stars of the western genre including Randolph Scott and Gary Cooper while also appearing in roles in dramas like House of Wax (1953).
