Whitey Hughes born Nov. 9, 1920, in Arkoma, Oklahoma, died Tuesday, July 7, 2009. Whitey Hughes is a name you may not remember. But you have seen his work. An actor and stuntman in the early years of the westerns we all grew up watching his talents without even knowing it was him. His resume is filled with the names of every major actor of the golden age of movies.
From 1948 through 1953 Whitey worked for Robert Gilbert Productions as a stuntman and double for such stars its Reno Browne and Lee "Lasses" White in "Red Rock Outlaw" ('50). Whitey was doing stunts on Johnny Carpenter's low budget westerns like "Badman's Gold" (‘51) and "Son of a Renegade" ('53). His first location job was in Lone Pine, doubling leading lady, Lynne Roberts in Tim Holt's "Dynamite Pass" ('50).
Whitey was often called upon to double for women in these early days and would eventually do stunts for such luminaries as Rita Hayworth, Stephanie Powers, Barbara Hershey, Anne Baxter, Lana Turner, Kathleen Crowley and Virginia Mayo ("Along the Great Divide", again on location in Lone Pine). Whitey's credits include work on "The Wild One" with Marlon Brando, "Sitting Bull" with Dale Robertson, "Darby O'Gill and the Little People", "Charge at Feather River" with Guy Madison, "Geronimo" with Chuck Connors and Ross Martin, and Sam Peckinpah's "Wild Bunch".
Whitey was Johnny Crawford's double for four years on TV's "Rifleman" as well as Bobby Diamond's double during the run of the "Fury" TV series. Whitey also worked on "U.S. Marshal", "Californians", "MacKenzie's Raiders", "Black Saddle", "Wyatt Earp", "Lassie", "Rawhide", "Bonanza", "Monroes", "Hondo", "Gunsmoke" ... and hundreds more including work for both Roy [Rogers] and Gene [Autry] on their respective series. To see the caliber of his terrific stunt work watch Whitey in action in almost every episode of "The Wild Wild West", which he coordinated for four seasons ('65-'68). Whitey and his stunt crew do some amazing action sequences.
Whitey spent '70 - '71 preparing his own production, Smoke In the Wind. In the '70s, Whitey worked on series and films such as "Omega Man", "Harper Valley P.T.A.", "Spiderman", "Wonder Woman", "B. J. and the Bear", "Buck Rogers", "Father Murphy", "Fall Guy", "Blue and the Gray", "Little House on the Prairie" and many others. Whitey worked as an active stuntman for over 50 years. He was even in the 1997, "Men in Black" at age 77.
Whitey Hughes, did his final "Take" last week but he will live on in a tremendous body of work forever.
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