Harvey Parry

Biography

Stuntman and actor Harvey Parry was born on April 23, 1900 in San Francisco, California. Parry worked as a circus aerialist in his youth and was working as a property man at the studios prior to discovering that his talents as both a boxer and high diver -- he had been an AAU champion in both sports -- made him ideally suited for stunt work. Harvey subsequently joined the Mack Sennett studios in 1919 and embarked on a remarkably long and eventful career as a stuntman that encompassed over sixty years (Harvey was still performing stunts in his 80's). Among the notable actors that Parry doubled for are John Wayne, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Harold Lloyd, George Raft, Peter Lorre, Clark Gable, and Monty Banks. Moreover, since Harvey was only 5'6" he was also able to double such actresses as Shirley Temple, Mary Pickford, and Carole Lombard. Parry was only seriously injured twice in his career as a stuntman: He broke his back doubling Clark Gable in Call of the Wild (1935) and broke twenty bones in one of his feet after a water tower fell the wrong way during the shooting of How the West Was Won (1962). He also played mostly small parts in a large assortment of films and TV shows. In addition, Harvey kept himself in shape throughout the years with a daily regimen of push-ups, sit-ups, and leg lifts followed by a two-mile brisk walk. Parry died at age 85 of a heart attack on September 18, 1985.