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The Stunt Men and Women



(From Old Corral collection)
Dale Van Sickel

Full name: Dale Harris Van Sickel

1907 - 1977


Prolific Republic stuntman and stunt coordinator Dale Van Sickel was born November 29, 1907 in Eatonton, Georgia, but raised in Gainesville, Georgia.

Van Sickel was the first All American football player at the University of Florida and was the first University of Florida player inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame. At Florida, he played both offensive and defensive end during 1926 - 1929. He also lettered in varsity basketball and baseball.

While an undergrad student at Florida, Dale tied the knot with Iris Lena Epperson (1906 - 1997) on August 30, 1927 in Duval, Georgia.

Son William Harris Van Sickel was born June 7, 1938 and daughter Judy Ann on September 17, 1943. Wiliam passed away from kidney disease in 1964.

In the heyday of the cliffhanger and western, Van Sickel was one of the most frequently employed stuntman at Republic Pictures. He was good in fist fights and could handle a car, and often appeared in front of the camera as a heavy. After the B western and serials faded away, he continued working in TV and motion pictures, and can be seen in TV's SUPERMAN, WILD WILD WEST, lots more.

Was the founder - and first President - of the Stuntmen's Association of Motion Pictures.

Van Sickel passed away on January 25, 1977 in Newport Beach, California. From the AP syndicated newspaper death notice:

"... had been seriously ill since July 1975 when he was injured while filming an attempted stunt. The car he was driving, supposed to go off the end of a wharf, skidded into an abutment. Doctors said Van Sickel suffered brain damage. A lawsuit is pending."

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Dale Van Sickel: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0887975/

Death notices for Dale Van Sickel:
Large article and photo in the January 26, 1977 Tampa Bay, Florida Times: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121598921/death-notice-for-hollywood-stuntman/
Death notice in the January 27, 1977 Santa Ana, California Register: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121599016/death-notice-for-movie-stuntman-dale/

Find A Grave:
Dale Van Sickel is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7981233/dale-harris-van_sickel
Dale's wife Iris Epperson Van Sickel (1906 - 1997) is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/85537696/iris-van_sickel
Son William Harris Van Sickel (1938 - 1964) is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138006229/william-harris-van_sickel

Van Sickel attended the University of Florida in 1927 - 1929, and was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1975: https://footballfoundation.org/hof_search.aspx?hof=1408

Van Sickel is also enshrined in the Florida Sports Hall of Fame: https://flasportshof.org/fshofmember/dale-van-sickel/

Late 1920s photo of Dale Van Sickel in his football uniform at the University of Florida website: https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00034703/00001

Neil Summers has a profile on Van Sickel at Boyd Magers' Western Clippings website: http://www.westernclippings.com/stuntmen/dalevansickel_stuntmen.shtml



(From Old Corral collection)

Above - Clayton Moore battles Dale Van Sickel in the 12 chapter GHOST OF ZORRO (Republic, 1949).



Pop the KING OF THE ROCKETMEN (Republic, 1949) serial into your DVD player and you'll see Dale Van Sickel (as Martin), Tom Steele (as Knox) and Dave Sharpe (as Blears) portraying 'heavies' ... and then work the pause, rewind and play buttons to see if you can spot who's doing what stunts, and who's doublin' for Tris Coffin in the 'Rocketman' suit.



 

Tom Steele

Birth name: Thomas Blackstock Skeoch

1909 - 1990


Dave Sharpe was the stunt coordinator and boss ('ramrod') of the stunt organization at Republic from about 1939 until mid 1942 when he left for World War II service.

Assuming Sharpe's ramrod duties at Republic was Tom Steele. He was born Thomas Blackstock Skeoch in Scotland on June 12, 1909.

Steele was the only stuntman that Republic signed to a term contract(s), and that arrangement ran from June, 1943 through June, 1944 and included a 40 week pay commitment.  During that contract period, Steele was behind the mask doing hero work in THE MASKED MARVEL (Republic, 1943) serial.

My recollection is that Steele concentrated more of his time and energy on Republic's cliffhangers, and left the western stunts/doubling to guys like Joe Yrigoyen (who doubled Roy Rogers).

In westerns and serials, there were multiple stunt men handling the chores. For example, in KING OF THE TEXAS RANGERS (Republic, 1941), Tom Steele doubled football legend Slingin' Sammy Baugh. However, Dave Sharpe doubled Baugh in several of the more spectacular stunts such as a couple of flying leaps, the speedboat transfer, and the slide down that long wire from one of the derricks. Sharpe also subbed for Duncan Renaldo in the fights.

Steele's last stuntwork credit appears to be the John Belushi / Dan Ackroyd THE BLUES BROTHERS (1980).

Before signing on with Republic, Steele worked in a lot of films - for example, he was Jack Randall's double / stuntman in Randall's 1937 - 1940 westerns for Monogram Pictures.

He passed away October 30, 1990 in California. Did a check of the newspaper websites in early 2023 - still no luck finding an obituary or funeral notice on him.

More on Tom Steele:

  • Ancestry.com has about two dozen family trees for Thomas Blackstock Skeoch / Tom Steele.
  • Ancestry.com had his World War II draft registration dated October 16, 1940 - 31 year old Thomas Blackstock Skeoch was born June 12, 1909 in Scotland; he and wife Catherine St. Thomas Steele lived in Los Angeles; he was a U. S. Citizen; his employer was Universal Studios; and he was 6 feet, 1 inch in height and weighed 170 pounds.
  • California Death Index and Social Security Death Index (SSDI) have records for Thomas Blackstock Steele / Tom B. Steele, and he passed away on October 30, 1990 in the Los Angeles area.
  • Find A Grave reports that Steele was cremated and ashes were given to family or friend: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117952693/tom-steele

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Tom Steele: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0824685/

Neil Summers has a profile on Tom Steele at Boyd Magers' Western Clippings website: http://www.westernclippings.com/stuntmen/tomsteele_stuntmen.shtml


(From Old Corral collection)



(Courtesy of Bobby J. Copeland)

L-to-R are Tom Steele, Bobby Copeland and Walter Reed circa 1988.



(Courtesy of Les Adams)

L-to-R are Eleanor Hansen, Tom Steele, Johnny Mack Brown, Ed Cassidy, William Royle, Charles Stevens and James Blaine in a scene from the cliffhanger FLAMING FRONTIERS (Universal, 1938).



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