Chuck Roberson

Chuck Roberson
Roberson in McLintock! (1963)
Born
Charles Hugh Roberson

(1919-05-10)May 10, 1919
DiedJune 8, 1988(1988-06-08) (aged 69)
Bakersfield, California, U.S.
Resting place
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills
Other nameBad Chuck
Occupations
  • Actor
  • stuntman
Years active1946–1988

Charles Hugh Roberson (May 10, 1919 – June 8, 1988) was an American actor and stuntman.

Biography

Roberson grew up on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, and left school at 13 to become a cowhand and oilfield roughneck. He married and took his wife and daughter to California, where he joined the Culver City Police Department and guarded the gate at MGM studios. Following army service in World War II, he returned to the police force. During duty at Warner Bros. studios during a labor strike, he met stuntman Guy Teague, who alerted him to a stunt job at Republic Pictures. Teague had been John Wayne's stunt double for many years and was able to show him the ropes. Chuck also resembled John Carroll, whom Roberson doubled in his first picture, Wyoming (1947). He played small roles and performed stunts in other roles in the same film. He graduated to larger supporting roles in Westerns for Wayne and John Ford, and to a parallel career as a second-unit director.

His television appearances include The Lone Ranger, The Adventures of Kit Carson, Lawman, Death Valley Days, Have Gun – Will Travel, Laramie, Gunsmoke, The Virginian, Laredo, Bonanza, Daniel Boone, and The Big Valley. Roberson also appeared in Disney's television Westerns The Swamp Fox and Texas John Slaughter. They were part of The Wonderful World of Color. Prior to that, he portrayed a Confederate prison captain in The Great Locomotive Chase.

According to commentary for the 1963 film McLintock!, film critic Leonard Maltin and actress Maureen O'Hara stated that Roberson was known as "Bad Chuck" in contrast to "Good Chuck", referencing fellow stunt performer Chuck Hayward, due to Roberson's great successes with women.

In 1980, he published an autobiography, The Fall Guy: 30 Years as the Duke's Double (ISBN 088839036X).

Roberson died of cancer on June 8, 1988, in Bakersfield, California, and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Hollywood Hills, California, next to his brother, actor Lou Roberson.[citation needed]

Bob Dylan drew him as Long Tom in his Beaten Path series, the drawing is entitled Untitled 1 and is based on a frame from the film Winchester '73 (1950).

Roberson and Wayne Burson, another stuntman, were partners in breeding and training racehorses, with Roberson furnishing the horses from his Bakersfield, California, ranch and Burson training them.

Filmography (actor)

Television

Filmography (stuntman, all uncredited)

Second-unit director

References

  1. ↑ Free, Gene (April 4, 2014). Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910s-1970s: A Biographical Dictionary, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 1987. ISBN 9781476614700 – via Google Books.
  2. ↑ Hoggatt, John (April 22, 1964). "A Villain is Born". Valley Times. p. 35. Retrieved May 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ Matheson, Sue (December 2, 2019). The John Ford Encyclopedia. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 277. ISBN 978-1-5381-0382-1.
  4. ↑ Roberts, Randy (January 1, 1997). John Wayne: American. University of Nebraska Press. p. 720. ISBN 978-0-8032-8970-3. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  5. ↑ Ellenberger, Allan R. (May 1, 2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. McFarland. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-7864-0983-9. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  6. ↑ Dylan, Bob (November 5, 2016). "The Beaten Path page 322". Halcyon Gallery. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  7. ↑ Keeler, Guy (October 13, 1978). "Horse Breeders Are Glad They Don't Have To Bite Hollywood Dust Anymore". The Fresno Bee. p. 20. Retrieved May 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.