Stuntman Dean Smith

[Paul Sylvain]

I think most of the folks attending this year's symposium Saturday in San Antonio would agree that one of the highlights was being introduced to stuntman and one-time Olympic gold medalist Dean Smith.

Not knowing much about Dean, I just had to check him out. One interesting read is at this link:

www.westernclippings.com/stuntmen/deansmith_stuntmen.shtml

Perhaps even more impressive was a lengthy list of film and TV credits. Just click on this link ( www.imdb.com/name/nm0807911/ ) and scroll down to "Filmography". A click on the listing for "The Alamo" will connect you with some great stuff on the actors and actresses and their roles in that film.

Enjoy.

Paul

[paul]

I met Dean at Alamo Village in 2005. A very nice guy. He had absolutely no use for the 2004 Alamo film, though.

A couple of Dean Smith stunt stories from John Wayne films:

In El Dorado, Dean is the guy James Caan throws a knife into. Dean enters the saloon with Robert Donner, Christopher George and one other guy. The four are sitting at a table when Caan comes in, walks around a bit, tells the "Johnny Dollar" tale, argues with Dean a bit, then throws the knife at him, knocking Smith out of his chair.

In McLintock, Dean, believe it or not, doubled Maureen O'Hara by donning her skivvies and a red wig so he could jump through the glass window while trying to escape Wayne.

She started toward the glass, but Dean did the jump, coming through and hitting the ground outside, whereupon O'Hara replaced him.

Dean apparently was the smallest, skinniest stuntman on the set, and thus could best double Maureen.

In The Alamo, Dean is one of the Mexican soldiers attacking Chill Wills atop the platform inside the main gate. Wills accidently belted Dean's head with a rifle -- rather than knocking off Dean's shako as planned -- and Dean took a literal fall.

[sloanrodgers]

FYI. An author friend of mine has written a biography with Dean Smith, which should be
out in early June. I don't know much about it otherwise.

[tracesoftexas]

Like Paul, I also met Dean Smith out at the Alamo Village, but in 2007. Nice guy and a true Texas character. Glad to know that he's still around and still kicking.