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Chuck Hayward

Chuck Hayward

Actor · 1920 – 1998 · Alliance, Nebraska, U.S.A.

Charles Bert Hayward (January 20, 1920 – February 23, 1998) was an American motion picture stuntman and actor. He was associated particularly with the films of John Wayne. He doubled for most of the great Western and action stars of the 1950s-1980s. His parents, Bert and Hazel Hayward, were cattle ranchers on a farm near Hyannis, Nebraska, about sixty miles east of Hayward's birthplace in Alliance. He spent his early youth working cattle, then, at 16, left home to join the rodeo circuit as a bronc rider and horse trainer. In 1947, he arrived in Los Angeles and sought work as a wrangler on motion pictures. He began doing stunts in 1949 on The Fighting Kentuckian, doubling for John Wayne. The two became pals and Hayward subsequently stunted and doubled for Wayne on nearly two dozen of the latter's films. Excelling at all sorts of horseback stunts, Hayward doubled most stars of the period who found themselves in Westerns or otherwise astride a horse, including Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Gregory Peck. He was prominent in The Big Country, co-produced by Peck. He was known as "Good Chuck" in contrast to "Bad Chuck", in reference to Chuck Roberson, another of Wayne's stunt doubles. He graduated into stunt coordination, arranging the stunts in films such as The Deadly Companions and the TV series The Rat Patrol. He played small roles in numerous films and TV shows, and his appearance often served as an accurate predictor of an upcoming fight scene. He retired from stunt work in 1981, and from acting in 1989. Hayward was a member of the unofficial John Ford Stock Company, a lifetime member of the Stuntmen's Association of Motion Pictures, and an inductee into the Stuntmen's Hall of Fame. He died from Hodgkin's Disease at his home in North Hollywood, California, in 1998. He was married three times, to Ellen Powell, by whom he had a daughter, and to Carol Lynn Shepherd. He had two children with Carol Lynn Shepherd. They were divorced in 1982. He then married Sally Pape Callaghan on October 30, 1982. Before his Hollywood stuntman career, Hayward also worked as a medic in the United States Merchant Marine and he stated that he served on liberty ships. His two boys, along with his wife Carol's best friend who was trying to save them, perished in a forest fire in the early 1980s.

Movies24

  • Movie7.5

    Spartacus

    1960 · 2.5K votes

  • Movie7.7

    High Noon

    1952 · 1.6K votes

  • Movie7.7

    The Searchers

    1956 · 1.6K votes

  • Movie6.6

    The Lord of the Rings

    1978 · 1.1K votes

  • Movie7.8
  • Movie7.2

    Blazing Saddles

    1974 · 2.2K votes

  • Movie7.3

    True Grit

    1969 · 885 votes

  • Movie6.7

    The Longest Yard

    1974 · 338 votes

  • Movie7.6

    The Big Country

    1958 · 429 votes

  • Movie7.1

    The Alamo

    1960 · 411 votes

  • Movie6.9

    The Horse Soldiers

    1959 · 291 votes

  • Movie7.1

    The Great Race

    1965 · 390 votes

  • Movie6.5

    Rio Lobo

    1970 · 297 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Cheyenne Autumn

    1964 · 151 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Joe Kidd

    1972 · 425 votes

  • Movie5.6

    Airport '77

    1977 · 342 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Rooster Cogburn

    1975 · 231 votes

  • Movie6.2

    The Rare Breed

    1966 · 82 votes

  • Movie6.3

    5 Card Stud

    1968 · 94 votes

  • Movie6.8

    The War Wagon

    1967 · 232 votes

  • Movie5.0

    The Swarm

    1978 · 209 votes

  • Movie4.4

    Night of the Lepus

    1972 · 119 votes

  • Movie5.6

    Son of Ali Baba

    1952 · 15 votes

  • Movie4.9

Series15

  • TV8.0
  • TV7.0

    Maverick

    1957 · 43 votes

  • TV6.6

    Wagon Train

    1957 · 31 votes

  • TV7.3

    Have Gun, Will Travel

    1957 · 44 votes

  • TV6.2
  • TV6.3

    Burke's Law

    1963 · 12 votes

  • TV6.2

    Yancy Derringer

    1958 · 11 votes

  • TV7.1

    Wanted: Dead or Alive

    1958 · 38 votes

  • TV6.7

    Gunsmoke

    1955 · 119 votes

  • TV6.9

    The Rookies

    1972 · 22 votes

  • TV6.4

    Bat Masterson

    1958 · 16 votes

  • TV6.2

    Black Saddle

    1959 · 5 votes

  • TV6.8

    CHiPs

    1977 · 154 votes

  • TV5.9

    Johnny Ringo

    1959 · 8 votes

  • TV4.9

    Wichita Town

    1959 · 4 votes