Biography

The world's most prolific stuntman, according to The Guinness Book of World Records.

Was one of three stunt doubles for Harrison Ford on the Indiana Jones trilogy, even though Ford enjoyed doing his stunts himself. Armstrong looked so much like Ford that members of the cast and crew often mistook him for Ford. When Ford suffered a back injury making the second Indiana Jones film that required surgery, Armstrong filled in for him and filmed a good portion of Ford's stunts and fight scenes.

Directed the opening scene of Terminator 2 : Le Jugement dernier (1991).

Rode the horse that plunged off the castle wall into the ocean in Jamais plus jamais (1983).

Was George Lazenby's double and stuntman on Au service secret de Sa Majesté (1969), a period which he likes to refer to as 'The best days of my filming career'.

Being a stuntman isn't about being crazy. It's the exact opposite of that. Stunt work is control, calmness, rational thinking, good reflexes, athletic ability and good attitude. And a lot of hard work. [Belfast Newsletter, 19 October 2002]

[on doing the stunt in which a rider and his horse fall together:] "It's the hardest thing in the business. The poor old cowboys! It takes huge technical ability to time a horse fall. You've got to be on the right leg and on the right stride, so that when you give your horse the signal, he throws himself through the air. Then you've got to hold him all the way to the ground, for the safety of the animal as well, so he doesn't try to get out of it and break a leg. More often than not he turns over, and more often than not he's on top of you. [London Sunday Times, 20 October 2002]

[re a stunt in Superman II (1980) where he flies from a swimming pool up through the roof of Grand Central Station:] "We did this by building the set upside down with the ceiling over a pit in the studio floor and placed the camera upside down, and I dove from the roof of the studio through the ceiling piece into my catch rig. I only had three feet to turn from a vertical dive onto my back once I had gone through the ceiling piece before I hit the catch rig."

[on meeting Richard Todd:] Like owners do, he'd come down and look at the horses on a Sunday. I can still smell the aftershave. It's amazing. I didn't know what aftershave was then. I thought, 'Wow, how glamorous.' [London Sunday Times, 20 October 2002]

[on being hired by Jimmy Lodge to stunt in Arabesque (1966):] Jimmy doubled for Gregory Peck. I doubled for this other fellow, and we did this chase with helicopters following us and I thought, 'Wow, this is fantastic.' Twenty pounds a day! Phenomenal! [October 20, 2002; £20 equaled $56 in 1965]