Posts from Paula in thread „Dean Smith“

Forgot to post this youtube link!

Dean Smith knew James Garner when he (Garner) was a young wannabe actor and still going by the name Jim Bumgarner. When Smith decided the time had come to get into the movie business, he approached Bumgarner -- now just Garner -- and Garner gave him the names of a studio person to contact and helped him get his SAG card. I mention this briefly in my piece -- Smith goes into this in much more detail in the book.

He did some stunts and doubling for Garner in the 1994 Maverick movie but I don't think he worked on the original series.

I recently finished Dean Smith's memoir Cowboy Stuntman: From Olympic Gold to the Silver Screen, and it was a great read, with lots of stories from his days making movies with John Wayne. He devotes a whole chapter to The Alamo, which he considers one of the highlights of his long career.

I did a write-up about Dean and his memoir at my Ben Johnson page, as he and Ben were good friends. Dean participated in Ben's pro-celebrity rodeos benefiting various children's charities, and Ben is mentioned several times in the book. There is also plenty of stories about the Duke and "The John Wayne Stock Company"! Also quite a bit about John Ford.

If you'd like to take a look at my little write-up, here's the link: benjohnsonfanpage.shutterfly.com

Dean Smith is one of the legendary stuntmen. He was chosen to double Ben Johnson in Cheyenne Autumn -- Ben had broken his foot and couldn't do the leap onto the back of the horse Harry Carey, Jr. was riding (Dobe was not doubled). So that's Dean Smith running up to the horse and leaping onto it.