Bob Rose

Biography

Stuntman and actor Robert Theodore Rose was born on February 4, 1901 in Jones County, Tennessee. Bob was a horse jockey prior to beginning his career as a stuntman in silent Westerns for producer Thomas H. Ince after he was discovered at a racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico by silent movie stars Francis Ford and Eddie Polo. Among the notable actors and actresses that Rose doubled for are Harry Houdini, Buster Keaton, Chico Marx, Mary Pickford, Jean Harlow, Buck Jones, Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Attenborough, Eddie Cantor, Tom Mix, Fay Wray, and Maureen O'Sullivan. Moreover, Bob was quite versatile in the stunt profession: He was a licensed pilot, a car crasher, a wing walker, a high diver, a parachutist, a trick rider, and a barnstorming pilot. In addition, Rose helped found both the Pilots Union and the Stuntmen's Association of Motion Pictures. Bob survived two harrowing mishaps during his career as a stuntman: He was one of only two stuntmen who avoided drowning in the icy Copper River rapids during the filming of The Trail of '98 (1928) and suffered a broken shoulder and cracked skull after an airplane stunt for The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) went disastrously awry. Following his retirement from the film business Rose settled down on his ranch in Corey, Colorado. Bob died at age 92 on March 8, 1993 at a nursing home in Montrose, Colorado.