For 2 Black Stuntmen Breaking Into Hollywood, 'You Were Subject To Get Hurt'
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| Willie Harris and Alex Brown, photographed in Stockton, Calif. |
For some African-Americans who have been in Hollywood for decades, though, this is a familiar story. Willie Harris and Alex Brown, two black stuntmen who first tried to break into the movie business in the 1960s, quickly realized that studios wouldn't hire black stuntmen.
"When we were starting, anytime they had a stunt to do with a black actor in them, they would paint these white guys in blackface," Brown recalls, on a recent visit to StoryCorps with Harris.
"We wanted to prove that black guys can do stunts," Harris says. "But we couldn't get anyone to train us."
So they trained themselves. After their day jobs, they set about perfecting their craft in public parks. On Wednesday nights, they'd practice falling onto donated mattresses and throwing punches while Los Angeles police watched from a parked car nearby.
http://www.npr.org/2016/02/26/468157462/for-2-black-stuntmen-breaking-into-hollywood-you-were-subject-to-get-hurt
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