Gary McLarty

Gary McLarty January 16 1941 October 11 2014 was an American stunt performer and stunt coordinator for film and television His abilities earned him the nickname Whiz Kid in Hollywood McLarty performed stunts in over 150 films between 1966 and 2004 among them The Wild Bunch Little Big Man The Longest Yard Blade Runner The Terminator Jurassic Park Heat and Collateral He was in the helicopter as a stunt coordinator when actor Vic Morrow and two children died in an accident on a Twilight Zone movie set In the subsequent trial McLarty testified that prior to the accident he had warned director John Landis that the stunt was too dangerous In 1991 McLarty shot and killed his roommate McLarty was cleared of all charges when the Deputy District Attorney determined that it was a clear case of justifiable homicide On the Friday before as part of a bizarre series of events another man had been fatally shot by Sheriffs deputies at McLartys Lake View Terrace ranch McLartys house also caught on fire and burned down during the same incident McLarty semiretired from stunt work in 2004 The following year he testified at the murder trial of actor Robert Blake testifying that Blake offered him 10000 to murder Blakes wife Bonnie Lee Bakley McLarty declined Bakley was fatally shot in Blakes car outside a restaurant in May 2001 Blake was thought by most to be the actual murderer but was acquitted in a 2005 criminal trial McLarty died on October 11 2014 when a pickup truck driven by fellow stuntman Bob Orrison making a Uturn was broadsided by a Jeep Cherokee in Rancho Cordova California USA Both stuntmen were killed instantly The two persons in the Jeep Cherokee were hospitalized with nonlife threatening injuries