Hal Needham

Acting

Hal Needham

Born March 6, 1931 · Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Died October 25, 2013 · aged 82

Hal Brett Needham (March 6, 1931 – October 25, 2013) was an American stuntman, film director, actor and writer. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with actor Burt Reynolds, usually in films involving fast cars, such as Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Hooper (1978), The Cannonball Run (1981) and Stroker Ace (1983). In his later years, Needham moved out of stunt work, and focused his en…

Known For

French Connection IIFrench Connection II · 1975
French Connection II
★ 6.81975
MovieActionCrime
"Popeye" Doyle travels to Marseilles to find Alain Charnier, the drug smuggler that eluded him in New York.
Cannonball Run IICannonball Run II · 1984
Cannonball Run II
★ 5.41984
MovieActionComedy
When a wealthy sheikh puts up $1 million in prize money for a cross-country car race, there is one person crazy enough to hit the road hard with wheels spinning fast. Legendary driver J.J. McClure enters the competition along with his friend Victor and together they set off across the American landscape in a madcap action-adventure destined to test their wits and automobile skills.
White LightningWhite Lightning · 1973
White Lightning
★ 6.21973
MovieDramaAction
An ex-con teams up with federal agents to help them with breaking up a moonshine ring.
ChinatownChinatown · 1974
Chinatown
★ 7.91974
MovieCrimeMystery
Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.
Blazing SaddlesBlazing Saddles · 1974
Blazing Saddles
★ 7.21974
MovieWesternComedy
Crafty railroad worker Bart becomes the first Black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new railroad. Initially, the citizens of Rock Ridge harbor a racial bias toward their new protector. However, they warm to him after realizing that Bart and his perpetually drunk gunfighter friend Jim are their only defense against a wave of thugs sent to rid the town of its population.
The Bridge at RemagenThe Bridge at Remagen · 1969
The Bridge at Remagen
★ 6.71969
MovieWarAction
In March of 1945, as the War in Europe is coming to a close, fighting erupts between German and American troops at the last remaining bridgehead across the Rhine.
Rio LoboRio Lobo · 1970
Rio Lobo
★ 6.51970
MovieWestern
After the Civil War, a former Union colonel searches for the two traitors whose perfidy led to the loss of a close friend.
How the West Was WonHow the West Was Won · 1962
How the West Was Won
★ 7.01962
MovieWestern
The epic tale of the development of the American West from the 1830s through the Civil War to the end of the century, as seen through the eyes of one pioneer family.

Filmography

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Wagon TrainWagon Train · 1957
Wagon Train
★ 6.61957
SeriesWesternDrama
The series initially starred veteran movie supporting actor Ward Bond as the wagon master, later replaced upon his death by John McIntire, and Robert Horton as the scout, subsequently replaced by lookalike Robert Fuller a year after Horton had decided to leave the series. The series was inspired by the 1950 film Wagon Master directed by John Ford and starring Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr. and Ward Bond, and harkens back to the early widescreen wagon train epic The Big Trail starring John Wayne and featuring Bond in his first major screen appearance playing a supporting role. Horton's buckskin outfit as the scout in the first season of the television series resembles Wayne's, who also played the wagon train's scout in the earlier film.

Saloon Tough (uncredited)

Have Gun, Will TravelHave Gun, Will Travel · 1957
Have Gun, Will Travel
★ 7.31957
SeriesWesternAction & Adventure
Have Gun – Will Travel is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons. It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958. The television show is presently shown on the Encore-Western channel. Have Gun – Will Travel was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and produced by Frank Pierson, Don Ingalls, Robert Sparks, and Julian Claman. There were 225 episodes of the TV series, 24 written by Gene Roddenberry. Other contributors included Bruce Geller, Harry Julian Fink, Don Brinkley and Irving Wallace. Andrew McLaglen directed 101 episodes and 19 were directed by series star Richard Boone.

Stunt Double

Cimarron StripCimarron Strip · 1967
Cimarron Strip
★ 5.81967
SeriesWestern
Cimarron Strip is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from September 1967 to March 1968. Starring Stuart Whitman as Marshal Jim Crown, the series was produced by the creators of Gunsmoke. Reruns of the original show were aired in the summer of 1971. Cimarron Strip was one of only three 90-minute weekly Western series that aired during the 1960s, and the only 90-minute series of any kind to be centered primarily around one lead character. Cimarron Strip was set in the Oklahoma Panhandle, which comprises, east to west, Beaver, Texas, and Cimarron counties in Oklahoma. The show is set in 1888, just as the continuous frontier of the West, which once ran from the Canadian to the Mexican border, was closing. In less than five years there would no longer be that "continuous frontier," only pockets of undeveloped land. This was the late "Wild West" that Marshall Jim Crown was called to defend.