Harry Simon Woolman (April 10, 1909 - October 27, 1996) was a race-circuit, film, and TV stuntman, specializing in motorcycle jumps, car crashes, and pyrotechnics, from the 1930s through the early 1960s. From the 1960s until his retirement in the mid-1980s, he designed mechanical

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wo ...

for films and television. He also acted in bit parts over this span. Woolman was born and raised in rural

Elkton, Maryland Elkton is a town in and the county seat of Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,443 at the 2010 census. It was formerly called Head of Elk because it sits at the head of navigation on the Elk River, which flows into the n ...

, the "Marriage Capital" of the East Coast, where elopers would run from neighboring States for a no-wait wedding. An aspiring motorcycle daredevil, he would ride his cycle backwards or standing on his head, at the outskirts of town attracting the matrimony-bound to stop and ask for directions, when he would offer to guide them to one of the 24-hour chapels for tips. One of these clients was a Hollywood producer down from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

who invited Woolman look him up for a job if he was ever in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Woolman was a long-time Hollywood stuntman and special effects innovator, doubling for such notables as

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, Charles Laughton,

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, and

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. He also appeared in occasional roles such as the motorcycle police officer in the

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comedy, ''The Time of Their Lives''. Having gained practice handling cars running moonshine in rural Cecil County, Maryland, Woolman headlined as a thrill-rider on the racetrack circuit with Ed "Lucky" Teter & his Champion Hell Drivers. Woolman survived over 3,000 head-on collisions and was featured numerous times on the television program

You Asked for It ''You Asked for It'' is a human interest television show created and hosted by Art Baker. Initially titled ''The Art Baker Show'', the program originally aired on American television between 1950 and 1959. Later versions of the series were see ...

, doing everything from jumping a house with a car to being blown up in a paper coffin by 20 sticks of dynamite. In 1953, he was the point-leader in the International Stuntmen's Association and a gold star driver.Lodi News-Sentinel, 6 July 1953, p.7
/ref> During the 60s, 70s & into the early 80s, Woolman turned to special effects, particularly gunfights and explosions. Woolman considered his recreation of the

John F. Kennedy assassination John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle wi ...

in the film ''Executive Action'' (1973) his magnum opus. Despite a long career rife with hair-raising danger, Woolman died peacefully in his sleep in

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (loc ...

, on October 27, 1996, at the age of 87.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woolman, Harry 1909 births 1996 deaths People from Elkton, Maryland American stunt performers