Chuck Hayward

Acting • Born 1920-01-20 – Died 1998-02-23

Acting1Alliance, Nebraska, U.S.A.

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.

Filmography

91 credits

The Swarm

Movie • 1978

Standby Engineer

The Big Country

Movie • 1958

Rafe Hannassey

Merrill's Marauders

Movie • 1962

Officer

Night of the Lepus

Movie • 1972

Jud

The Horse Soldiers

Movie • 1959

Union Captain

Forty Guns

Movie • 1957

Charlie Savage

Fort Osage

Movie • 1952

Henchman (uncredited)

Stark

Movie • 1985

Scurvy

Buffalo Bill in Tomahawk Territory

Movie • 1952

Henchman (uncredited)

Hustle

Movie • 1975

Morgue Attendant

Wagon Master

Movie • 1950

Jackson (uncredited)

Fair Wind to Java

Movie • 1953

Sailor

The Unholy Wife

Movie • 1957

Hazer (uncredited)

The Deadly Companions

Movie • 1961

Card Sharp (uncredited)

The Alamo

Movie • 1960

Tennessean (uncredited)

Cheyenne Autumn

Movie • 1964

Trooper (uncredited)

Arena

Movie • 1953

Cowboy

Desperadoes of the West

Movie • 1950

Al (uncredited)

5 Card Stud

Movie • 1968

O'Hara (uncredited)

The Searchers

Movie • 1956

Man at Wedding (uncredited)

The World in His Arms

Movie • 1952

Guest (uncredited)

The Road to Denver

Movie • 1955

Randy (uncredited)

Kings of the Sun

Movie • 1963

Indian Warrior Friend to Black Eagle (uncredited)

San Antone

Movie • 1953

Willie

Gun for a Coward

Movie • 1956

Nester (uncredited)

Jubilee Trail

Movie • 1954

Velasco Rider (uncredited)

Taras Bulba

Movie • 1962

Dolotov (uncredited)

Lepke

Movie • 1975

Doorman

Red Sundown

Movie • 1956

Cowpuncher

Showdown at Abilene

Movie • 1956

Roughneck (uncredited)

Nevada Smith

Movie • 1966

Fitch Man (uncredited)

Gun Brothers

Movie • 1956

Lookout (uncredited)

True Grit

Movie • 1969

Card Player / Raft Man (uncredited)

Gone with the West

Movie • 1975

Mimmo's Men

The Sun Shines Bright

Movie • 1953

Deputy (uncredited)

Rio Lobo

Movie • 1970

(uncredited)

Joe Kidd

Movie • 1972

Eljay

The Longest Yard

Movie • 1974

Trooper I

The Legend of the Lone Ranger

Movie • 1981

Wald (Cavendish gang)

Plunderers of Painted Flats

Movie • 1959

Stage Driver (uncredited)

Escort West

Movie • 1959

Indian

Rooster Cogburn

Movie • 1975

Jerry (uncredited)

Parts: The Clonus Horror

Movie • 1979

Walker Man

Sergeant Rutledge

Movie • 1960

Capt. Dickinson (uncredited)

Two Rode Together

Movie • 1961

Trooper (uncredited)

Crystal Gazing

Movie • 1982

Band Member (as Charles Hayward)

The Great Race

Movie • 1965

Soldier (uncredited)

Blazing Saddles

Movie • 1974

Outlaw (uncredited)

Spartacus

Movie • 1960

Soldier (uncredited)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Movie • 1962

Henchman (uncredited)

High Noon

Movie • 1952

Townsman (uncredited)

The Fargo Phantom

Movie • 1950

Barnes

The War Wagon

Movie • 1967

Blacksmith (uncredited)

Run of the Arrow

Movie • 1957

Corporal

Tom Horn

Movie • 1980

Deputy Proctor

The Lord of the Rings

Movie • 1978

Character Actor (voice)

Scream of the Wolf

Movie • 1974

Slaughter Trail

Movie • 1951

Wounded Indian (uncredited)

Pork Chop Hill

Movie • 1959

Chalmers

John Wayne's 'The Alamo'

Movie • 1992

Self

Airport '77

Movie • 1977

Passenger

The Rare Breed

Movie • 1966

Wrangler (uncredited)

Apache Drums

Movie • 1951

Townsman (uncredited)

Lepke

Movie • 1975

The Western: A Lost TV Special

Movie • 1958

Self

Dogface

Movie • 1959

Son of Ali Baba

Movie • 1952

Villager (uncredited)

CHiPs

TV • 1977

Burke's Law

TV • 1963

Deputy

The Rookies

TV • 1972

Little House on the Prairie

TV • 1974

Gunsmoke

TV • 1955

Jake

Have Gun, Will Travel

TV • 1957

Yancy Derringer

TV • 1958

Mine Heavy (uncredited)

Black Saddle

TV • 1959

Needham

Wanted: Dead or Alive

TV • 1958

A Rider

Bat Masterson

TV • 1958

Fugitive in Plaid Shirt

Wichita Town

TV • 1959

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

TV • 1956

Posse Man (uncredited)

Johnny Ringo

TV • 1959

Curly Ivers

Maverick

TV • 1957