Yakima Canutt

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.

Canutt is credited with the development of the choreographed screen brawl (where, in earlier films, the hero and baddie threw unrealistic punches at each other and wrestled/flailed around).

The Canutt screen fight involved the positioning of the camera at angles to the participants (rather than straight on), and the camera would often face one of the participants. That camera angle gave the perception of bone-crushin' punches landing on the jaw. Many writers and fans also note that Canutt did much of this development during his many appearances with John Wayne in Wayne's oaters for Paul Malvern's Lone Star productions of the 1930s. Wayne and Canutt would remain friends for life.

For those of you who study Wayne, recall the way he often twirls/spins his six-shooter when he draws the weapon. Canutt did the same and Wayne may have copied that mannerism when he and Yak were working on those Lone Star westerns. Billy Alford sent me an e-mail reminder that this is seen in RANDY RIDES ALONE (Lone Star / Monogram, 1934). Wayne and Canutt take shots at a wanted poster. Yak draws, twirls, and shoots. Wayne then draws, does the same twirl as Yak, and fires.

In addition to stuntwork and doubling, Canutt remained busy on the screen - usually portraying a baddie in mostly westerns and chapterplays. He was working two jobs during this period - and getting paychecks as a freelance actor and more dollars for stunting and doubling.

One of his more interesting screen roles was portraying 'Snake', the assistant to George Chesebro in CYCLONE OF THE SADDLE (Weiss/Superior, 1935), which starred Rex Lease. Canutt's weaponry is memorable - a pair of bullwhips. And he kills people by attaching a knife blade to the end of the whip and snapping it at his foe. Ouch!

When Republic Pictures was formed in the mid 1930s, Canutt was there, playing supporting roles and doing stunts. But he was not tied exclusively to Republic. Other jobs were numerous - examples: he doubled Clark Gable and drove the buckboard while Atlanta burned in GONE WITH THE WIND (MGM, 1939), and doubled Gable again - and was severely injured - in BOOM TOWN (MGM, 1940).

Many recall Canutt performing a stunt during the Indian attack in John Ford's STAGECOACH (UA, 1939) - portraying one of the galloping warriors, he transfers from his horse to the six-horse team, is shot, and falls underneath the fast moving team and stage. That "Yak underneath the stage / wagon" gag became part of Hollywood's stock footage library and was used in many other westerns - examples: Tom Keene's SCARLET RIVER (RKO, 1933), John Wayne's RIDERS OF DESTINY (Lone Star / Monogram, 1933), Johnny Mack Brown's FIGHTING WITH KIT CARSON (Mascot, 1933) and BRANDED A COWARD (Supreme, 1935), chapter 8 of THE PAINTED STALLION (Republic, 1937) serial, Chapter 7 of ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION (Republic, 1939), and the Charles Starrett / Durango Kid adventure LARAMIE (Columbia, 1949). The earliest example that I've seen occurs in the serial THE LIGHTNING WARRIOR (Mascot, 1931), and there's some screen captures on a subsequent webpage. In the opening minutes of Chapter 4 of WARRIOR, unconscious Frankie Darro is on a runaway wagon. Leading man George Brent (Canutt doubling) transfers to the six-horse team, falls under, makes his way to the wagon through the galloping horses, climbs up, jumps onto the horses, and brings the team to a halt. A few folks mentioned that Canutt may have done that stunt for the first time in a 1920s Fred Thomson silent.

In the 1940s, a variety of injuries and age caused Canutt to reduce stunt work and move to stunt coordination and second-unit directing. And during the mid to late 1940s, he wound up directing / co-directing about twenty Republic westerns and serials. He remained busy in the 1950s and 1960s handling second unit / stunt coordinator jobs on films such as SPARTACUS, KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, IVANHOE, CAT BALLOU, WHERE EAGLES DARE, more. And we can't forget the chariot race in BEN HUR (MGM, 1959).

Was he busy ... and making money? According to the Census Bureau, the average family income in 1940 was $1,368.00 and median income for a man in 1940 was $956.00. For the 1940 census, Canutt reported his 1939 income as $5000.00+ and he was employed 45 weeks during that year.

Canutt's total silent and sound film work, as actor, stunt man, stunt coordinator, second unit director, director, et al, amounts to about 500 films. His work at Republic Pictures is about a hundred films scattered over the years 1935 - 1950.

At the 39th Academy Awards ceremony held April 10, 1967, Charlton Heston presented Canutt with an Honorary Oscar "For achievements as a stunt man and for developing safety devices to protect stunt men everywhere."

Yak married Minnie Audrea Yeager in 1931, and that happy pairing continued for more than 50 years, ending with his passing in 1986. Yak and Audrea had three children: daughter Audrea Elaine "Honey" Canutt (born 1940) and two sons, Edward Clay "Tap" Canutt (born 1932) and Harry Joe Canutt (born 1937). Both boys followed their dad into the stunt profession. In a 2006 e-mail, "Honey" Canutt mentioned that her Mother Audrea passed away on February 12, 2006 at the age of 98.

91 year old Yakima Canutt passed away on May 24, 1986 at the North Hollywood Medical Center.

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."

Les Adams did a videotape interview of Canutt in July, 1979:

Question: Yak, why don't you tell us how you got your name.

Yakima Canutt: Well Enos Edward is the name. Yakima is a nickname and it's an Indian name. A lot of people think I'm Indian but that's false. I'm actually Scotch, Irish, Dutch and German. But I got the name in rather a funny way. I ran around with a couple of fellows from Yakima in 1914 and we were at the Pendleton Roundup and they were trying out a bunch of bucking horses. And ... so, we had been drinking a little bit ... and one of the fellows said, "Bring me out a bronc and I'll show you how the Yakima men can ride." They brought out a horse, he saddled it up, got on ... and got bucked off. We all laughed and the other fellow said, "Bring me one and I'll show you what they (the Yakima men) can do." And he got bucked off. So, I'm with them --- I'm not from Yakima --- but I'm with them and wanted to build them up a little bit, so I said, "Bring me over one of your top broncs and I'll show you what the Yakima fellas can really do." So they brought out a little horse called "Miss Wiggs" as I remember. I saddled up, got on --- and I didn't realize I had been drinking so much --- and the horse started bucking and she hit a couple of "heads-down" in front of me ... and really going ... and the first thing I knew, I could see a couple of boots and the blue sky above ... and I hit the ground ... and the ride was over. So, everybody got a good laugh out of it and said these Yakima fellows are really great riders. So a fellow (newspaper photographer) that took a picture of it got a pretty good shot of me going off, so he just captioned it "Yakima Canutt leaving the deck of Miss Wiggs". Of course, they picked it up during the show then, and the announcer announced me as Yakima Canutt ... and the name stuck. It's mostly been cut down to Yak, but it's been a good show name.

Above excerpt from that Yakima Canutt videotape interview
is the property of, and copyright ©2003, by Les Adams

Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Yakima Canutt's film appearances, the Oscar for his stuntwork, as well as info on his sons, "Tap" and Joe:

Yakima Canutt: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0134831/
Academy Award to Yakima Canutt: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0134831/awards?ref_=nm_awd
Joe Canutt (1937 - 2018): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0134829/
Edward "Tap" Canutt (1932 - 2014): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0134830/

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:

1900 census - 33 year old John L. Canutt (born Oregon; occupation "laborer"), 24 year old wife Nettie E. Canutt (born Washington), 8 year old son Alexander, 6 year old daughter Sallie T., 5 year old son Enos E. and 1 year old son J. Maceo were residing in Colfax, Whitman County, Washington. All 4 children were born in Washington: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MM5S-344
World War I draft registration at Colfax, Whitman County, Washington for 21 year old Enos Edward Canutt. He was born November 29, 1895 in Penawawa, Washington. He was single; home address was RFD1, Penawawa, Washington; occupation was "farmer" working for Alex Canutt in Penawawa, Washington (Alex/Alexander was Yak's older brother): https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-26300-8223-73?cc=1968530
Canutt's July 20, 1917 marriage license to Kitty Wilks in Kalispell, Flathead County, Montana. He was single, age 21, born in Colfax, Washington, and parents were Nettie Ella Ross and John Leneral Canutt (I believe the middle name of Yak's father's was Lemuel, not Leneral). Kitty's name was spelled Katherine Wilkes - she was born in New York City, was 23 years old, and divorced. Her birth name was Katherine Derre and parents were D. E. Derre and Maryann Kam. Witnesses were actor/stuntman Benny Corbett and his wife: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11667-53046-87?cc=1609797
The Western States Marriage Index at BYU-Idaho Special Collections has Kitty's first marriage - James Martin Wilkes and Katherine E. Karn [sic] were married on December 9, 1912 in Sheridan, Wyoming. Note that she used her mother's maiden name of Kam: https://abish.byui.edu/specialCollections/westernStates/westernStatesRecordDetail.cfm?recordID=559892
1930 census - 34 year old Enos E. Canutt (born Washington; widowed) was among several individuals and families renting at 1818 North Whitley Avenue, Los Angeles, California. His occupation was "Actor - Motion Pict", and he was a World War I veteran. (Canutt married Minnie Audrea Yeager in 1931): https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XCV9-LBH
1940 census - 44 year old Enos (Yakima) Canutt (born Washington), 32 year old wife M. Andrea [sic] (born Oklahoma), 7 year old son Edward Canutt (born California), 3 year old son Harry Jo [sic] Canutt (born California), and a housekeeper resided in Los Angeles. The Canutts owned their home at 11808 Riverside, Los Angeles, and Canutt's occupation was "Stunt man - Motion Pictures", and in 1939, he worked 45 weeks and earned $5000.00+. Difficult to read the name of Yak's wife on the worksheet - it could be Audrea, Andrea, Audria, Andria: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K9H2-XJT
1942 World War II draft registration for Enos Edward Canutt, born November 29, 1895 in Colfax, Washington. He lived at 11808 Riverside Drive in North Hollywood, and occupation was "Free lance stunt man". His contact is Nettie Canutt, Colfax, Washington (his mother): https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16373-5259-16?cc=1861144&wc=MMRW-1VF:n1717972550
State of Washington World War 1 veteran's compensation fund application records for Enos Edward Canutt - he served June 21, 1918 to February 10, 1919 in the Navy and last rank was First Class Seaman:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RPX-9ZW1?cc=1878898
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RPX-9Z4S?i=117&cc=1878898
Veterans Administration Master Index 1917 - 1940 has Enos Edward Canutt, US Navy, with a birth date of November 29, 1896: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPZY-PPN9
1950 census - and Canutt's last name was indexed as "Canute". Living at 11808 Riverside, Los Angeles were 54 year old Enos (Yakima) Canutt (born Washington; occupation "Director - Motion Picture"), his 42 year old wife Audrea (born Oklahoma), 17 year old son Edward C. (born California), 13 year old son Harry (born California), and 9 year old daughter Audrea (born California): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XGW-FLFM
California Death Index and Social Security Death Index (SSDI) - 91 year old Enos Edward Canutt was born November 29, 1895, mother's maiden name of Stevens, and passed away May 24, 1986 in the Los Angeles area:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VG11-2ZK
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V9TK-X6V

Find A Grave:

Yakima Canutt is interred at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park, North Hollywood, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6268/yakima-canutt
Katherine E. Derre Long / Kitty Wilks (1899 - 1988) is interred at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, Aline, Alfalfa County, Oklahoma: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111846970/kathleen-e.-long
No interment location listed for his wife, Minnie Audrea Canutt (1907 - 2006): https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/231187271/minnie_audrea_canutt
No interment location listed for son Edward Clay 'Tap' Canutt (1932- 2014): https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/152877128/edward_clay_canutt
No interment location listed for son Harry Joe Canutt (1937 - 2018): https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/231187007/harry_joe_canutt

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:
Los Angeles Times: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-05-26-me-7756-story.html
UPI Syndicated: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/05/26/Legendary-stunt-man-Yakima-Canutt-dead-at-89/1708517464000/

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/

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 as an Indian and falling under the stagecoach and horses in STAGECOACH (UA, 1939): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjALrrP6m4E
Al Rogell talks about Canutt and early stunting for Fred Thomson, others: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io8ZoqYG2ps
Charlton Heston presents Canutt with his Honorary Oscar at the 1967 Academy Awards ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpO9dB0aHsI

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