Tell about yourself and your background! *
I grew up in Arizona. I lived a couple blocks from Spanky Spangler. As a kid I would ride my bike over to his house and help build sets and put together stunt cars. We filmed for That's Incredible and Games People Play . We did a lot of live stunt shows in the old days . I remember this Japanese group called one night . so we had to get a hot air balloon lined up and we had to build a stunt car and get it ready for a car jump the next morning . They were flying in . I enjoyed doing cowboy gun fights. The director of our group the Son of guns. Researched old gun fights , so we would reenact them . Gunfights, fist fights , quick draw , getting thrown onto tables , shot off the roof falling to the ground . At this same time. I worked with Iron rose improvisational theater company. I did comedy and gunfights some times on the same day. Traveling to the Astrodome every year in January to do the thrill show. That was always fun and lots of work. We did big stunts there. I remember talking with Lucky Lott before I had to go do my stunt , Lucky did stunts for the Hell drivers. Working with Motorhead doing the "Killed by death " video, was 40 hours in 2 days . We were shooting guns and racing cars around . We worked on a few videos when MTV first started. Doing live stunt shows all over the country was fun in those days. We traveled with a bag of quarters to make phone calls when we would stop for gas. Finding cars was always a chore. I did alot of body burns and car jumps for benefits , raise money for people. I did car jumps for breast cancer . I lost my mom to breast cancer , so would jump my car off a ramp at a race track crash onto a Cushing of cars. Then get out and give my talk . Working on some film and TV stuff as it came along . Doing live shows I was the clown alot. so instead of doing 1 stunt in a show I would do 4 or 5 . body burn , car crashes , roll overs and I always liked to do the decapitation . Driving a car ducking as the top gets torn off by an I beam . I was crash the clown or Tasmanian Daredevil . Went by a couple names back then . I never cared if people knew who I was , I just liked doing the stunts and putting them together. Putting together stunts is always interesting. Putting a car through the air and landing it in the right place at the right speeds is always a calculated risk . That's why we take so much time in the set up.
What inspired you to become a stunt performer?
Living so close to many stunt people . It just became a part of everyday life
What is your greatest skill as a stunt performer, is there a stunt behind it?
Doing full body Burns. You have to be very serious when working with fire or explosives . So we go over safety all the time.
What is the best part about being a stunt performer?
I'm proud to have worked with so many great stunt people .
Tell your all-time favorite stunt story!
One time for Biker Sunday. I did a car jump and a body burn within five minutes of each other.
What advice would you give other stunt performers?
Be serious in what you do .
Anything else you'd like to tell the community about?
Do your best everyday , life is short .
Please share your social media handles and how we can follow you!
Jumpinjames Jumpin jimmy
