Chuck Hayward

Charles Bert Hayward January 20 1920 February 23 1998 was an American motion picture stuntman and actor He was associated particularly with the films of John Wayne He doubled for most of the great Western and action stars of the 1950s1980s His parents Bert and Hazel Hayward were cattle ranchers on a farm near Hyannis Nebraska about sixty miles east of Haywards birthplace in Alliance He spent his early youth working cattle then at 16 left home to join the rodeo circuit as a bronc rider and horse trainer In 1947 he arrived in Los Angeles and sought work as a wrangler on motion pictures He began doing stunts in 1949 on The Fighting Kentuckian doubling for John Wayne The two became pals and Hayward subsequently stunted and doubled for Wayne on nearly two dozen of the latters films Excelling at all sorts of horseback stunts Hayward doubled most stars of the period who found themselves in Westerns or otherwise astride a horse including Marlon Brando Yul Brynner Steve McQueen and Gregory Peck He was prominent in The Big Country coproduced by Peck He was known as Good Chuck in contrast to Bad Chuck in reference to Chuck Roberson another of Waynes stunt doubles He graduated into stunt coordination arranging the stunts in films such as The Deadly Companions and the TV series The Rat Patrol He played small roles in numerous films and TV shows and his appearance often served as an accurate predictor of an upcoming fight scene He retired from stunt work in 1981 and from acting in 1989 Hayward was a member of the unofficial John Ford Stock Company a lifetime member of the Stuntmens Association of Motion Pictures and an inductee into the Stuntmens Hall of Fame He died from Hodgkins Disease at his home in North Hollywood California in 1998 He was married three times to Ellen Powell by whom he had a daughter and to Carol Lynn Shepherd He had two children with Carol Lynn Shepherd They were divorced in 1982 He then married Sally Pape Callaghan on October 30 1982 Before his Hollywood stuntman career Hayward also worked as a medic in the United States Merchant Marine and he stated that he served on liberty ships His two boys along with his wife Carols best friend who was trying to save them perished in a forest fire in the early 1980s