Chuck Courtney

Charles "Chuck" T. Courtney, Jr. was a stuntman, stunt actor, and stunt coordinator, who appeared as Davod in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode. Almost twenty years later, Courtney served as stunt coordinator for the Star Trek: The Next Generation first season episode. He was among the group of stunt coordinators who were hired, prior to Dennis Madalones employment on the series. As a close friend and "father figure", Courtney assisted Madalone in the stunt coordination of several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He received no credit for this work.

Courtney was born in Los Angeles, California. He was the son of Hollywood costumer Elizabeth Courtney, father of stuntman Dustin Courtney and step father of stuntman Lincoln Simonds. Courtney received a Golden Boot Award in 1994 for his memorable work in western films and television series.

Courtney made his first steps into the stunt business in the 1950s and appeared as a background actor and stunt actor in productions such as The Asphalt Jungle (1950, with Marc Lawrence and Anthony Caruso), Back at the Front (1952), Two Guns and a Badge (1954), Away All Boats (1956, with Keith Andes and directed by Joseph Pevney), The Lineup (1958), and Spartacus (1960, with Jean Simmons). He landed the role of Dan Reid, the nephew of the Lone Ranger in the television series The Lone Ranger, in which he appeared in fourteen episodes between 1950 and 1955. These appearances were followed by parts in television series, including Tales of the Texas Rangers (1956), Broken Arrow (1957), Dragnet (1958), The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1958), 77 Sunset Strip (1958), and Zane Grey Theater (1959).

In the 1960s he performed and doubled in the television series Laramie (1962-1963), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964, with Jim Goodwin, Ronald R. Rondell and Arch Whiting), Wagon Train (1964, alongside John Hoyt), Laredo (1965-1966), Mission: Impossible (1966, with Jack Donner and Eddie Paskey), The Wild Wild West (1968-1969, featuring Michael Dunn), The Virginian (1964-1969), and Adam-12 (1969-1970). He was also featured in films such as Swiss Family Robinson (1960), Red Line 7000 (1965, with George Takei and Marianna Hill), El Dorado (1966, with Paul Fix), and The Green Berets (1968, also with George Takei and with Irene Tsu).

Courtney continued in the 1970s and coordinated several feature films, including Santee (1973), and the television movies The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979) and More Wild Wild West (1980), both featured Rene Auberjonois. He performed in the films Rio Lobo (1970), The Omega Man (1971, with Anthony Zerbe and Brian Tochi), The Cowboys (1972), and Sudden Death (1977), and served as producer for the comedy Muroh the Surf (1975) and as associate producer for The Great Monkey Rip-Off (1979).

In the 1980s he was hired as stunt coordinator for the television series Bring 'Em Back Alive (1982-1983, starring Clyde Kusatsu) and The Wizard (1986-1987, starring the late David Rappaport). He was also involved in Porky's Revenge (1985, with Wyatt Knight and Nancy Parsons), Beverly Hills Brats (1989, with Whoopi Goldberg), and Blind Fury (1989, starring Terry O'Quinn). Courtney played Bill Baterman in Stephen King's horror film Pet Sematary (1989), in which Denise Crosby, Brad Greenquist, Kavi Raz, Donna Garrett, and Robert Herron also appeared.

Among the last productions he appeared in, are Clint Eastwood's thriller The Rookie (1990, with Marco Rodriguez and Tony Plana), the sequel Alligator II: The Mutation (1991, with Richard Lynch and Brock Peters), and the comedy Mom and Dad Save the World (1992, with Teri Garr, Wallace Shawn, Chuck Borden, George Colucci, B.J. Davis, Christopher Doyle, Gene LeBell, Tom Morga, Dennis Madalone, and Lincoln Simonds).

Courtney committed suicide, after suffering a series of strokes, in North Hollywood, California, on 19 January 2000 at the age of 69. He was survived by his wife, Geraldine Courtney, his children Dustin and Elizabeth, his step children Kim and Lincoln, and his sister Connie.