Chuck Hayward

Also Known As: Charles Bert Hayward

Biography: 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 1950s-1980s. His parents, Bert and Hazel Hayward, were cattle ranchers on a farm near Hyannis, Nebraska, about sixty miles east of Hayward's 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 latter's 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, co-produced by Peck. He was known as "Good Chuck" in contrast to "Bad Chuck", in reference to Chuck Roberson, another of Wayne's 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 Stuntmen's Association of Motion Pictures, and an inductee into the Stuntmen's Hall of Fame. He died from Hodgkin's 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 Carol's best friend who was trying to save them, perished in a forest fire in the early 1980s.

Department: Acting

Place of Birth: Alliance, Nebraska, U.S.A.

Adult: No

Birthday: January 20, 1920

Age: 105 years old

Gender: Male

Deathday: February 23, 1998

Popularity:

1.39%

Known For:

The Swarm
The Big Country
Merrill's Marauders
Night of the Lepus
The Horse Soldiers
Forty Guns
Fort Osage
Stark
Buffalo Bill in Tomahawk Territory
Hustle
Apache Drums
Wagon Master
Fair Wind to Java
The Unholy Wife
The Deadly Companions
The Alamo
Cheyenne Autumn
Arena
Desperadoes of the West
5 Card Stud
The Searchers
The World in His Arms
The Road to Denver
Kings of the Sun
San Antone
Gun for a Coward
Jubilee Trail
Taras Bulba
Lepke
Red Sundown
Showdown at Abilene
Nevada Smith
Gun Brothers
True Grit
Gone with the West
The Sun Shines Bright
Rio Lobo
Joe Kidd
The Longest Yard
The Legend of the Lone Ranger
Plunderers of Painted Flats
Escort West
Rooster Cogburn
Parts: The Clonus Horror
Sergeant Rutledge
Two Rode Together
Crystal Gazing
The Great Race
Blazing Saddles
Spartacus
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
High Noon
The Fargo Phantom
The War Wagon
Run of the Arrow
Tom Horn
The Lord of the Rings
Scream of the Wolf
Slaughter Trail
Pork Chop Hill
John Wayne's 'The Alamo'
Airport '77
The Rare Breed