Interview with Director and Stuntman Vic Armstrong

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2011-12-20

We caught up with Vic Armstrong (the world's most prolific stunt man) to talk about his involvement in the James Bond film series starting with You Only Live Twice (1967).

>READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH VIC ARMSTRONG HERE

About Vic Armstrong:
Vic was born in 1946 and is a British Academy Awarded (Science and Technology) film director and stunt legend - the world’s most prolific according to the Guinness Book of Records. Among Armstrong's many other prizes is an honorary BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

The 6-foot Armstrong doubled for 6'1" Harrison Ford in the first three Indiana Jones films, Timothy Dalton (6'2") in Flash Gordon, George Lazenby in the Swiss Alps skiing scenes in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again (1983), and the 6'4" Christopher Reeve in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980).

Reportedly, Armstrong looked so much like Harrison Ford that the crew members 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 (1984) 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 (1989) 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 (2008).

He is also a famed Stunt Coordinator and Action Unit director. As an example, Vic was the opening scene Director on Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).

In 1982, Vic was inducted into Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall Of Fame. (FSWL editor Anders Frejdh is on the Board of Advisors.)

Armstrong is the brother of Andy Armstrong and husband of stunt woman Wendy Leech (daughter of George Leech), whom he met while filming Superman I (she doubled for Margot Kidder). The couple has four children and they are all working within the film industry.

His autobiography, My Life as Indiana Jones, James Bond, Superman and other action heroes, was published by Titan Books in May, 2011.

Photo above:
Vic Armstrong, pictured here with our Swedish action star Dolph Lundgren, on the set of Joshua Tree (Vic's directorial debut) in 1993. Vic also worked with Dolph on Cover Up (1991), Universal Soldier (1992) and Johnny Mnemonic (1995). © Vic Armstrong. All rights reserved.

Visit Vic Armstrong's official website for more information about the great stunt man:
www.vicarmstrong.com

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