Vic Armstrong

Vic Armstrong
Born (1946-10-05) 5 October 1946 (age 77)
Occupation(s)Stunt double, film director

Victor Monroe Armstrong (born 5 October 1946) is a British film director, stunt coordinator, second unit director, and stunt double—the world's most prolific, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

Career

The 6-foot (1.8 m) Armstrong doubled for 6-foot-1-inch (1.85 m) Harrison Ford in the first three Indiana Jones films, 6-foot-2-inch (1.88 m) Timothy Dalton for Flash Gordon, George Lazenby for the Swiss Alps skiing scenes in the Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m) Christopher Reeve in Superman and Superman II. Reportedly, Armstrong looked so much like Harrison Ford that the crewmembers on the films were constantly mistaking him for Ford. This proved useful when Ford injured his back and had to sit out for filming crucial action sequences in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Armstrong filled in for him. The stunt where he jumps from a horse onto a German tank in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was voted one of the Top Ten film stunts of all time by a panel of experts and Sky Movies viewers in the UK in 2002. On a private photograph taken on the film set, Ford wrote to Armstrong, "If you learn to talk I'm in deep trouble!" Armstrong was unable to work on the fourth Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, due to commitments to The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. However, he had discussed possible action sequences with Steven Spielberg during production of War of the Worlds.

Armstrong is a famed stunt coordinator and action unit director, notable for (amongst others) the action sequences of several James Bond films, War of the Worlds and I Am Legend. Armstrong was also the opening scene director on Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

In 1993, Armstrong's made his directorial debut with action film Joshua Tree (a.k.a. Army of One), starring Dolph Lundgren, George Segal, Kristian Alfonso and Ken Foree.

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2003 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at Pinewood Studios.[citation needed]

In 2012, Armstrong was Second Unit Director for The Amazing Spider-Man. In 2013, he signed on to direct Left Behind, a remake of the series that got released in 2014. His next directorial effort was the true story A Sunday Horse. He also worked on the 2022 Amazon Prime Video series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power as second unit director and action director.

Armstrong is a long-serving member of the British Stunt Register.

Awards

In 2001, he received a Technical Achievement Academy Award for "the Fan Descender for accurately and safely arresting the descent of stunt persons in high freefalls". In 2002, he received the BAFTA Michael Balcon Award.

Personal

Armstrong is the brother of Andy Armstrong and husband of stuntwoman Wendy Leech, who is the daughter of fellow James Bond stunt performer George Leech. He met her while filming Superman II (she doubled for Margot Kidder) and they have four children between them. Armstrong has two children from his first marriage, and Leech has a daughter from her first marriage. They have one daughter together. Vic is uncle to stuntman James Armstrong and film maker Jesse V Johnson[citation needed]

Bibliography

His memoir My Life as Indiana Jones, James Bond, Superman and Other Action Heroes: The True Adventures of the World's Greatest Stuntman was published by Titan Books in early 2011.

Filmography

Year Title Stunts Second unit director
1978 Superman Yes No
1979 Bear Island Yes Yes
1980 Superman II Yes No
Flash Gordon Yes No
1983 Superman III Yes No
1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Yes No
1985 Red Sonja Yes Yes
1987 Empire of the Sun Yes No
Million Dollar Mystery Yes Yes
1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Yes No
Henry V Yes Yes
1990 Total Recall Yes Yes
1992 Universal Soldier Yes Yes
1993 Last Action Hero Yes Yes
1994 Radioland Murders No Yes
Black Beauty Yes Yes
1996 The Phantom Yes Yes
1997 Tomorrow Never Dies Yes Yes
Shadow Conspiracy Yes Yes
Starship Troopers Yes Yes
1999 The World Is Not Enough Yes Yes
2000 Charlie's Angels Yes Yes
2002 Die Another Day Yes Yes
Gangs of New York Yes Action unit director
2003 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Yes Yes
2004 Blade: Trinity Yes Yes
2005 War of the Worlds Yes Yes
2006 I Am Legend Yes Yes
Mission Impossible III Yes Yes
2007 The Golden Compass Yes Yes
2008 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Yes Yes
2010 Shanghai Yes Action unit director
2011 Thor Yes Yes
The Green Hornet Yes Yes
2012 The Amazing Spider-Man Yes Yes
2022 The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Yes Yes

As stunt double

Year Title Actor
1978 Superman Christopher Reeve
1979 Bear Island Donald Sutherland
1980 Superman II Christopher Reeve
Flash Gordon Timothy Dalton
1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark Harrison Ford
1982 Blade Runner
1983 Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Never Say Never Again Sean Connery
1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Harrison Ford
1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1991 Regarding Henry
1992 Patriot Games

As director

Year Title
1993 Joshua Tree
2014 Left Behind
2016 A Sunday Horse

This page was last updated at 2024-02-29 01:59 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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