In addition to a string of silent starring roles, Canutt had the lead in one sound film, the ultra cheap and forgettable CANYON HAWKS (John R. Freuler/Big 4, 1930). With the arrival of talking pictures, Canutt's time as a Hollywood cowboy hero was over as influenza had damaged his vocal chords. He described his voice problem in Stunt Man, The Autobiography of Yakima Canutt:
"By 1928 all the pictures were talkies. I realized that I was in trouble. I had had the flu in 1918, while in the Navy, and my vocal chords were permanently damaged. My voice lacked resonance, a quality needed for good recording. When I heard it for the first time on a sound track, I thought they were kidding me."
Yak's early sound era stunt work included serials for Nat Levine at Mascot, John Wayne oaters at Warners and the Lone Star series at Monogram, RKO westerns starring Tom Keene, more. It was during this period that he honed his skills and gained his reputation as a premier stuntman and stunt coordinator.
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![]() (Courtesy of Donn & Nancy Moyer) Above - taking a break during the filming of the unbelievable chariot race in BEN HUR (MGM, 1959). From L-to-R are famous horse trainer Glenn Randall, Yak in the chariot, and Charlton Heston on the far right. Yak's son Joe was Heston's double in the chariot race (and drove the quartet of white horses). Canutt's autobiography notes that stuntman Joe Yrigoyen was handling the reins of the four black horses (doubling actor Stephen Boyd). Sharing second unit director credit with Yakima Canutt was Andrew Marton. All the horse and chariot action znc stunts were Canutt's and Randall's. Andrew Marton was in charge of the camera work. |
Around Christmas, 2001, I received an e-mail from Ray Nielsen, who was involved with the Memphis Film Festival for many years. Ray writes:
"I first met Yakima Canutt at a festival in St. Louis. Believe it was in 1979. The following year I was on Naval Reserve duty in California and had a free weekend. I drove up to North Hollywood at Yak's invitation. I stayed at his home on Riverside Drive that night. I noticed a couple of things in his home that have always stuck with me. One was a photo of him with Teddy Roosevelt. Think it was taken about 1916. Yak had won some rodeo event up in Oregon and Roosevelt was there to present Yak with an award. The other thing was a small statue on Yak's mantle. It had a horses' head on a pedastal. There was an inscription below that read as follows: "To Yak, from Chuck. Thanks for turning a horses' ass into a half-assed horseman." Chuck was Charlton Heston. He gave Yak the trophy for teaching him how to handle a chariot during the filming of BEN HUR."
Question: Yak, why don't you tell us how you got your name. Above excerpt from that Yakima Canutt videotape interview is the property of, and copyright ©2003, by Les Adams |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | For those of you who want to read more about Yakima Canutt, stuntwork and Hollywood history, see if you can find Stunt Man, The Autobiography of Yakima Canutt at your local library or from a used book outlet. This was co-authored by Oliver Drake, who wrote screenplays as well as directing and producing B westerns. It was first published in 1979 by Walker and Company, New York, ISBN: 0-8027-0613-4. Was also issued in paperback by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma and London, ISBN: 0-8061-2927-1, and first paperback printing was 1997. Both are out of print. Search for either the hardbound or paperback versions at one of the used book services - you'll find a page on the Old Corral with links to many used book sources. |
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Yakima Canutt: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0134831/ Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has a "people working together" search - Canutt worked with John Wayne in about 50 films: https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?role=nm0134831,nm0000078&sort=release_date,asc Family Search, Western States Marriage Index, California Death Index, and Social Security Death Index (SSDI) have census information, a copy of Canutt's World War I and World War II draft registrations, his July, 1917 marriage license to Kitty Wilks, more:
Find A Grave:
Canutt death notices ... and both have errors in listing survivors as "a brother, Tap, and a sister, Honey Dittman.". Those were his children, and son Joe isn't even listed: In 1975, Yakima Canutt was inducted into the Rodeo Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/awards-halls-of-fame/rodeo-hall-of-fame-inductees/ Yakima Canutt received a Golden Boot award at the 1984 awards program, and son Joe Canutt was given the award in 1996. To view a complete listing of all Golden Boot award winners, go back to the Old Corral homepage, and then to the Golden Boot Award menu item. Canutt has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: https://walkoffame.com/yakima-canutt/
The University of Oregon Libraries - Special Collections and University Archives has photos of Yak and Kitty Canutt at the Pendleton Roundup in Pendleton, Oregon: There's several photos of Kitty Canutt at the Portal to Texas History website: https://texashistory.unt.edu/search/?q=%22kitty+canutt%22&t=fulltext&sort=
Canutt videos on YouTube: Canutt did star in some silent oaters. He also had the lead in ONE sound film, the ultra low-budget CANYON HAWKS (Big 4, 1930). The SCVTv website has that film: https://scvtv.com/2014/04/11/episode-40-canyon-hawks/ Grapevine Video has a DVD-R double feature of Canutt starring in silents BRANDED A BANDIT (Ben Wilson Productions/Arrow, 1924) and IRON RIDER (Goodwill, 1926): http://www.grapevinevideo.com/yakima_canutt_df.html Alpha Video / Oldies.com has a DVD-R set with seven of Canutt's silent starring oaters for producer Ben Wilson. Films are BRANDED A BANDIT (1924), WILD HORSE CANYON (1925), HELLHOUNDS OF THE PLAINS (1926), DESERT GREED (1926), THE OUTLAW BREAKER (1926), THE IRON RIDER (1926) and BAD MEN'S MONEY (1929): https://www.oldies.com/product-view/9790D.html Article "Cowboy Stuntman Yakima Canutt" by Deborah Lightfoot Sizemore: https://djlightfoot.ag-sites.net/cowboy_stuntman_yakima_canutt_15304.htm |