A Celebration Of The Brave Rick Sylvester

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2013-04-03

A birthday celebration of Rick Sylvester, one of 35 people that have acted as James Bond stunt doubles in the 50-year old franchise. Rick became internationally acknowledged for his ski/parachute base jump in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and later for his climbing/fall in For Your Eyes Only (1981).

"The Greatest Bond stunt in history!" - San Francisco Chronicle

"The Greatest stunt in the history of films!" - Newsweek

About Rick Sylvester:
The American Rick Sylvester was born on April 3, 1942 and started off as a talented and multi-skilled mountaineer.

His first ski parachute jump of El Capitan/Yosemite in 1971 got the attention for the production of a Canadian Club whiskey advertisement which was planned to be photographed on Baffin Island, Canada.

In 1976, Rick was contacted by James Bond film producer Albert R. Broccoli (or just "Cubby" to those who knew him) who asked if he would consider to do the most expensive stunt ever filmed, up until that time, for the opening sequence of TSWLM (his name featured in Maurice Binder's opening title sequence). Rick graciously accepted and completed the hugely successful stunt at an altitude of 3,000 feet from the high snow ledge of Mount Asgard in Canada and at the same time became the highest paid stunt man (although Rick doesn't claim to be a stunt man himself).

Rick's stunt for TSWLM came second in a recent poll by Radio Times in the UK regarding the Top-10 greatest James Bond stunts of all time.

In 1980, Sylvester returned to series when director John Glen hired him for FYEO to double Roger Moore as the secret agent. This time, he masterly executed the 150 foot climb/high fall off the rock cliffs in the Greek Meteora Mountains.

To say Rick's contribution to the 007 film series is two scenes in two different films is a huge understatement, this man is a legend and his performances are now well known amongst James Bond scholars. His name also became an internationally known in the world of alpine sports and he has appeared in many documentaries, lectured in front of big audiences and was frequently interviewed in articles for mountaineer, sport and movie entertainment.

Editor's note:
After his graduation from University of California in 1965, Rick Sylvester lived in Sweden for a few years during the 1960's (he wrestled for Spårvägens GoIF where he was coached by Malte Möller) and speaks a bit of Swedish. In 1986, he completed the famed "Vasaloppet", a 90 kilometer ski race from Sälen to Mora in the middle of Sweden. FSWL is currently doing an interview with him about his work on the Bonds, watch this space.

Watch the extraordinary pre-title sequence of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977):

Photo above:
Rick Sylvester falls from a cliff as James Bond in For Your Eyes Only. © 1981 Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation.

For more about Rick Sylvester, check out the Facebook page created especially for him:

www.facebook.com/RickSylvesterJamesBondStuntman

Tags:

#birthdays

Tag Cloud

A Celebration Of The Brave Rick Sylvester

Tag Cloud