Template:Realworld Lightning Bear (7 October 1947 – 11 June 2011; age 63) was a Native American stuntman, stunt coordinator and special effects artist. He performed stunts on Star Trek: The Original Series, as well as Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. [1] He did not receive on-screen credit for his work.
Lightning Bear did stunt work on several other television programs, including The Green Hornet, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Bonanza. He is perhaps most noted for his stunt work on the three original Star Wars films (A New Hope, 1977; The Empire Strikes Back, 1980; Return of the Jedi, 1983). Among the many other feature film productions he worked on were Planet of the Apes (1968), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Saturday Night Fever (1977), Ragtime (1981), Conan the Barbarian (1982), and Rocky IV (1985).
Born in Houston, Texas, Lightning Bear's first experience in film-making came while working with a production company in Mexico. He began working in Hollywood in 1965 and continued doing so after returning from Vietnam in the 1970s. In 1989, he took an extended break from Hollywood to teach Native American customs in other countries and moved to Germany in 1997. [2] He died in Hanau, Germany on 11 June 2011, at the age of 63. [3]
External links
- LightningBear.co.uk - official site
- Template:IMDb-link