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STUNTS, STARS & LEGENDS - June 2013

Stunts Stars And Legends: John Hagner
Artwork and articles by John Hagner (Artist of the Stars)

John HagnerMany articles have been written about John Hagner over the past 65 years ... from the time he was 20 years old, when he performed on television on Channel 13, WBAL-TV in his hometown of Baltimore ... and when he moved his family to California in 1958, and learned to work as a stuntman performing live shows for the famous cowboy star, Ray “Crash” Corrigan at his movie ranch in Simi Valley, California ... and in 1960, when he was manager of the first trampoline center in Southern California ... then, when he got his first stunt assignment, performing a roller skating routine on stage at the Beverly Hills Hotel, for a fashion show, held as a fundraiser for the Jewish Relief Fund ... and again at the same hotel, when he became an established stuntman and one of the original members of the Stuntmen’s Association of Motion Pictures ... His first screen stunt was for 20th John HagnerCentury-Fox Studios, doubling for the Star of an adventure action series called, “Adventures In Paradise”. The Star was Gardner McKay. John doubled for McKay for the last year and a half, then on to stunting in “Batman” (Adam West) .. John played one of the henchmen for The Joker, Mr. Freeze and The Riddler. He also doubled for character actor, Walter Pidgeon in “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” (feature film), and shortly thereafter, he doubled for David Hedison in the TV series of the same name.Since he has been here in Moab, John has performed stunts in “”Sundown: Vampire In Retreat” doubling for John Ireland, and in “Geronimo: American Legend”, portraying one of the miners, who is shot, and falls down a steep hill, crashing into a huge boulder.

Meanwhile, John Hagner is kept busy with activities for the Hollywood Stuntmen’s Hall of Fame, with hopes of reopening to the public. He still is available to do special commissions of portrait drawings. For more information about the Hall of Fame, contact him at 435 260-2160.


Movies Made in Moab

NIGHTMARE AT NOON (1987).
Starring: George Kennedy, Bo Hopkins, Wings Hauer and Kimberly Beck.

Location: Moab City, Courthouse Wash, Canyonlands Cafe, Grand Drive-In Theater, Center Street, Ken’s Lake, Colorado River, and Arches National Park.

Story: It mixes good old-fashioned Western elements with toxic warfare. Agents, who are unknown are presumedly from some foreign country, poison drinking water in the small town of Canyonlands (Moab). Residents, one-by-one go crazy, and bleed green liquid when wounded. The Sheriff and his daughter try to keep things normal, but the situation gets worse. A couple are stranded, while vacationing and a hitchhiker joins them. They unite with the Sheriff and his daughter to try and find out who or what is responsible, an ex-police officer, who quit his job after he killed somebody in the line of duty.

A longtime friend and supporter of the Hollywood Stuntmen’s Hall of Fame, Bob Ivy was one of the stunt performers in “Nightmare At Noon”. Bob is one of many who is slated to be honored in the Hall of Fame by induction and footprinting, when, and as soon as it is reopen here in Moab, where it was located from 1988 til 1995.
The Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to preserving the history of the Stunt Profession and to honoring stunt people the world over.

Sundown
Johnny Hagner doubling John Ireland with fellow stunts.

SUNDOWN: VAMPIRE IN RETREAT (1988).
Starring: David Carradine, John Ireland, Morgan Brittany and Maxwell Caulfield.

Locations: Moab, Thompson Springs, Spanish Valley, Hittle Bottom, Arches National Park.

Story: Purgatory, having a population of good and bad vampires. The good ones make their blood at a local technoplasma plant. The baddies want the real thing, and try to take over the town and return to their old ones. Unaware that they are in the midst of vampires, and caught up in all of this situation, is the Harrison family. Mr. Harrison has developed the artificial blood, comes to town to investigate the progress of the plasma factory, accompanied by his wife and two daughters.

I was hired by Bobby Bragg to double for David Carradine. Interestingly, when we went out on location at the old Moab Airport, South of town, It was 11:00 p.m. and we went to the make-up trailer for me to outfitted. While I was in the chair, in walks Carradine, who shouts to the make-up artist ...“What’s he being made up for?” Bobby told him ...“He’s gonna double you in the ‘big fight’”! Carradine replies, “Ah no ... nobody does my Kung Fu”! Bobby looks at me and tells me it’s ok ... you get changed to double John Ireland. So, that’s the way it was ...surprisingly though, they cut the big fight ... but, I did get to do a few gags for Mr. Ireland.

While they were all here, they visited the Hall of Fame and we footprint the following actors and stunt people in cement: David Carradine, John Ireland, Morgan Brittany, Maxwell Caulfield and his wife Juliet Mills, Jim Metzler, M. Emmet Walsh, Bruce Campbell, and Dabs Greer.

If interested in learning more about the Hall of Fame, please contact John Hagner (Founder) at 435 260-2160.
email: johnhagner@hotmail.com
Hall of Fame website: www.stuntmen.org

John Hagner (Founder) is also the Artist of the Stars.
His Celebrity Portrait Drawings are available at telephone 435-259-7000,
Mailing address: 50 W. 400 N, Moab, Utah 84532.
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