Jack Williams (April 15, 1921 in Butte, Montana – April 10, 2007 in Sylmar, California) was an American stunt performer and actor specialising in horse stunts and Western films and television shows.

Biography Williams's father, George Williams, was a Montana cowboy. His mother, Paris Williams, was a world-champion trick rider on the rodeo circuit and a movie stuntwoman. The Williams family moved to Burbank, California during Jack's childhood years. He performed his first motion picture stunt on a horse at age 4, being tossed from one rider to another in The Flaming Forest a 1926 silent film. Attending the University of Southern California, Williams was a polo player and returned to motion picture stuntwork in 1936 for Daniel Boone and The Charge of the Light Brigade.Peeples, Stephen K. "Stunt Double Enjoys Newfound Tranquility", The Santa Clarita Signal, April 25, 2005.

World War II interrupted his Hollywood career when he served as an officer in the United States Coast Guard that included service as a navigator on a Landing Ship, Tank in the Invasion of Okinawa.McLellan, Dennis. "Jack Williams, 85; stuntman known for horse-riding skills", Los Angeles Times obituary, April 16, 2007.

Williams returned to Hollywood after the war where for six decades he doubled for or worked with many actors. Among the films he provided stunts for were The Last Outpost, Bugles in the Afternoon, Bend of the River, The Far Country, Yellowstone Kelly, Rio Bravo, The Alamo, The Magnificent Seven, Merrill's Marauders, How the West Was Won, Cheyenne Autumn, Major Dundee, Cat Ballou, The Professionals, Alvarez Kelly, The Sons of Katie Elder, The War Wagon and many more up to the 1999 film Wild Wild West. On television Williams worked on The Roy Rogers Show, Maverick, Rawhide, Bonanza, Daniel Boone, Laredo and The High Chaparral.

Horse training Williams was inspired by his father, George Williams, a Montana cowboy who could train a horse to fall on cue. Jack recalled, "There was probably no feat I could have imagined that was as fascinating as that. So I took the technique and perfected it."Peeples, Stephen K. "Stunt Double Enjoys Newfound Tranquility", Santa Clarita Signal, April 25, 2005.

"He was the top falling-horse stuntman in the business," said stuntman Bob Hoy, who first worked with Williams in 1950. "He had a great horse called Coco, and they were inseparable. The horse had an instinct. A lot of horses will fight you when you get to the spot where they'll make the fall and won't go there. But Coco went there. She was just so great."

Said stuntman Joe Canutt: "You can get great falls a lot of times out of horses, but when you're attacking the Alamo, for example, and you've got bombs and cannons going off ... some of them don't work at all. That mare [Coco] consistently got spectacular falls." But beyond doing the falling-horse stunt, Hoy said, "Jack drove stagecoaches, he wrecked wagons, he could transfer from the horse to the train -- he could do anything pertaining to horse work." Coco died at age 33 and was buried on Williams' California ranch.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1945 Give Me the Stars Syd 1952 Talk About a Stranger Truck Driver Voice, Uncredited1952 The Lion and the Horse Steve Collier 1953 Safari Drums Native Uncredited1954 The Far Country Shep Uncredited1955 Strange Lady in Town Rebstock Uncredited1956 Backlash Castro Uncredited1956 The Burning Hills Farrell Uncredited1957 Band of Angels Runaway Uncredited1958 Man of the West Alcutt Uncredited1959 Westbound Henchman Uncredited1960 Spartacus Soldier Uncredited1960 The Alamo Bowie's Man Uncredited1961 Gold of the Seven Saints Ames 1962 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Henchman Uncredited1962 Hatari! Man Uncredited1964 Cheyenne Autumn Trooper Uncredited1965 The Sons of Katie Elder Andy Sharp Uncredited1966 Billy the Kid Versus Dracula Duffy 1966 Smoky Cowboy 1966 Daniel Boone: Frontier Trail Rider Larson 1968 The Scalphunters Scalphunter 1969 The Wild Bunch Phil Uncredited1969 Paint Your Wagon Miner Uncredited2004 Big Chuck, Little Chuck Himself (final film role)

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