Buddy Joe Hooker is a Hollywood actor, second unit director, stunt man and stunt coordinator

Stunt coordinator

A stunt coordinator, usually an experienced stunt performer, is hired by a TV, film or theatre director or production company to arrange the casting and performance of stunts for a film, television programme or a live audience...

. He is most famous for his expertise in designing and performing vehicle stunts for movies and television. But he might be remembered for starting out as "Chester" one of Wally Cleaver's friends in the original "Leave It To Beaver".

Career

His film credits show involvement in over 150 productions. Some of his projects include: Blazing Saddles

Blazing Saddles

Blazing Saddles is a 1974 satirical Western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft. The movie was nominated for three...

, Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey...

, Hooper

Hooper (film)

Hooper is a 1978 action-comedy motion picture starring Burt Reynolds, based loosely on the experiences of director Hal Needham, a one-time stuntman in his own right...

, Sharky's Machine, To Live and Die In L.A.

To Live and Die in L.A.

To Live and Die in L.A. is an American neo-noir thriller film directed by William Friedkin and based on the novel written by former Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich, who co-wrote the screenplay with Friedkin. The film features William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, and John Pankow, among others....

,Rambo: First Blood

First Blood

First Blood is a 1982 action thriller film directed by Ted Kotcheff. The film stars Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled and misunderstood Vietnam War veteran, with Sheriff Will Teasle as his nemesis and Colonel Samuel Trautman as his former commander and only ally...

, Octopussy

Octopussy

Octopussy is the thirteenth entry in the James Bond series, and the sixth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's title is taken from a short story in Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights...

, The Right Stuff, Scarface

Scarface (1983 film)

Scarface is a 1983 American epic crime drama movie directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone, produced by Martin Bregman and starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana...

, Against All Odds, Gardens of Stone

Gardens of Stone

Gardens of Stone is a 1987 film by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel of the same title by Nicholas Proffitt.A drama, it stars James Caan, Anjelica Huston, James Earl Jones and D. B. Sweeney.-Plot:...

, Lethal Weapon 2

Lethal Weapon 2

Lethal Weapon 2 is a 1989 action comedy film directed by Richard Donner, and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Patsy Kensit, Joe Pesci, Derrick O'Connor and Joss Ackland...

, Lethal Weapon 3

Lethal Weapon 3

Lethal Weapon 3 is a 1992 American action film directed by Richard Donner and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo and Stuart Wilson. It is a sequel to Lethal Weapon and Lethal Weapon 2, and it is part of the Lethal Weapon film series.The movie is set in 1992, six years after...

, Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr.. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong...

, Days of Thunder

Days of Thunder

Days of Thunder is a 1990 American auto racing film released by Paramount Pictures, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Tony Scott. The cast includes Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes and Michael Rooker. The film also features appearances...

, The 40-Year-Old Virgin

The 40-Year-Old Virgin

The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a 2005 American buddy comedy film about a middle-aged man's journey to finally have sex. The film was written and directed by Judd Apatow and co-written by its lead star, Steve Carell, though the film itself features a great deal of improvised dialogue...

, Grindhouse (Death Proof), Righteous Kill

Righteous Kill

Righteous Kill is a 2008 crime thriller film with elements of a buddy cop film directed by Jon Avnet, and starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Righteous Kill also features John Leguizamo, Carla Gugino, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy, and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson...

and many others. He is also a member of the Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall Of Fame.

Personal life

He is married to Gayle Sherman. They reside in Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

 with their twin sons, Kanan and Houston.

Cultural references

• A fictional account of his life is presented in the 1978 feature film Hooper
  Hooper (film)
  Hooper is a 1978 action-comedy motion picture starring Burt Reynolds, based loosely on the experiences of director Hal Needham, a one-time stuntman in his own right...
  
  , starring Burt Reynolds
  Burt Reynolds
  Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
  
  . In the film, Hooker actually performed stunts for both Reynolds and Jan-Michael Vincent
  Jan-Michael Vincent
  Jan-Michael Vincent is an American actor best known for his role as helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke on the 1980s U.S. television series Airwolf .-Early life:...
  
  .

External links