Albert John Bakunas, Jr, a.k.a. A.J. Bakunas (October 23, 1950 – September 22, 1978) was a

stunt performer A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

who died doubling for

George Kennedy George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" opposite Paul Newman in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), winning the Academ ...

in a fall from the Kincaid Towers in Lexington, Kentucky, for the film ''

Steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

'' (1979). Born in Fort Lee, New Jersey, Bakunas quit his job as a gym teacher at Tenafly (N.J.) High School in 1974 and set out to break into the film industry. He did his first stuntwork for the 1975 film '' Dog Day Afternoon.'' Bakunas became known for expertly performing

falls Falls may refer to: Places * Waterfalls or rapids * Falls, North Carolina, USA * Falls, West Virginia, USA Other uses * The ropes or wires, fed through davits, that are used to secure and lower a ship's lifeboats. * Falls (surname) * The sepa ...

from great heights. In 1978, Bakunas set a world record with a fall from a helicopter for the film '' Hooper'', which was broken that same year by Dar Robinson's fall for a non-movie-related publicity stunt. Bakunas, determined to retake the record, returned to Lexington to perform a jump from the 22nd floor of a construction site, where he had previously successfully fallen nine stories. On September 21, 1978, as his father and a crowd of about 1,000 watched, Bakunas performed the fall, reaching an estimated speed of . However, the

airbag An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system using a bag designed to inflate extremely quickly, then quickly deflate during a collision. It consists of the airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, an inflation module, and an impact sensor. Th ...

split on impact, and Bakunas died of his injuries the next day.

Filmography

References

*''Lexington Leader'', September 21, 1978

External links

* * American stunt performers 1950 births 1978 deaths Male actors from New Jersey Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in Kentucky Filmed deaths from falls Filmed deaths in the United States 20th-century American male actors {{US-film-actor-1950s-stub