Background
Enos Edward Canutt was born on the 29th of November 1895 in Colfax, Washington, United States.
(Rodeo legend, actor and stuntman Yakima Canutt blazed a t...)
Rodeo legend, actor and stuntman Yakima Canutt blazed a trail as a champion bronco buster and rode to fame as a collaborator with John Wayne, who claimed to borrow his on-screen persona from Canutt's real one. This memoir, as told to John Crawford, relates Canutt's years on the rodeo circuit, his roles in silent westerns, and his craftsmanship in movie stunts on such epics as Stagecoach and Ben-Hur, as well as his family life and friendships.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786443898/?tag=2022091-20
Actor director stuntman rodeo rider
Enos Edward Canutt was born on the 29th of November 1895 in Colfax, Washington, United States.
Yakima Canutt was a pioneer among stunt men. He began his career on the professional rodeo circuit, and in the years between 1917 and 1923 was world champion in that field. At some point during that period Canutt began starring in silent films with western themes—he was popular with motion picture makers because he could do his own stunts. In the 1920s Canutt left rodeo completely for film; but as talking movies became the standard he concentrated more on doing film stunts and being a stunt double for famous actors, including John Wayne and Clark Gable. He also occasionally took bit parts in the same films in which he performed as a stunt double. One of his most famous stunts took place in the 1939 John Wayne vehicle Stagecoach; in addition for standing in for Wayne, Canutt portrayed an attacking Indian. As a writer for the Chicago Tribune recalled, as this Indian, “Canutt leaped at full gallop from his own horse to the six-horse team pulling the coach. He then fell between the team and was dragged along the ground, finally lying motionless as the horse and coach sped over him.” Canutt also stood in for Gable in that actor’s best-known film role—the character of Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind. In the scene where Butler is helping Scarlett O’Hara escape from a burning Atlanta, it is Canutt who actually throws a shawl over the head of the frightened horse pulling their buggy and leads him past a particularly dangerous spot. Canutt also had a bit part as Scarlett’s attacker in Shantytown.
As Canutt’s reputation as a skillful stunt handler grew, and after sustaining several injuries during the filming of Boom Town in 1940, he began to work increasingly as a second unit director, directing the filming of action sequences. Among the most memorable of the scenes directed by Canutt is the chariot race in Ben Hur. Canutt also received credit as a full- fledged director on some films, including Oklahoma Badlands and Sons of Adventure.
(Rodeo legend, actor and stuntman Yakima Canutt blazed a t...)
Enos was married to Catherine "Kitty" Wilks and they got divorced in 1922, then he married again to Minnie Audrea Yeager Rice and he had children: Tap and Joe.
