Gary Kent, a well-known stunt performer, actor, and director who has worked in B-movies and with directors like Monte Hellman, Richard Rush, and Peter Bogdanovich, has passed away at the age of 89. Brad Pitt’s character in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was based on Kent’s portrayal of an actual stuntman.
According to Kent’s son Chris Kent, who was quoted in The Hollywood Reporter, Gary passed away unexpectedly on Thursday night at an assisted living facility in Austin, Texas.
Kent suffered numerous injuries over his career as a stunt performer while working on Richard Rush movies.
In the 1967 film Hells Angels on Wheels, he suffered a terrible arm injury from flying glass during a bar fight, and in the 1968 film The Savage Seven, in which he costarred with Penny Marshall, he was accidentally run over by a motorcycle.
During the 2002 filming of Bubba Ho-Tep, Kent injured his leg after tumbling over a hill, ending his five-decade-long career as a stuntman. Nevertheless, he continued to coordinate stunts; his most recent job was Sex Terrorists on Wheels in 2019.
In addition to doing stunts, Kent played significant roles in films directed by Peter Bogdanovich and Richard Rush. He handled special effects for Bogdanovich’s career-launching film Targets (1968), performed fire stunts and played a thug in Rush’s Psych-Out (1968), played a hitman in Hell’s Bloody Devils (1970), a motorcyclist in The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971), and a rapist in Angels’ Wild Women (1971).
As Kent worked on the script for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino allegedly spoke with him, according to Joe O’Connell, the director of the documentary Danger God. Brad Pitt received an Academy Award for his captivating performance as Cliff Booth, Leonardo DiCaprio’s charming stunt double who played Rick Dalton in the film.
Gary Kent Death
How did Gary Kent die? The family of Gary Kent is yet to make an official statement about the circumstances of his death. Our condolences go to the loved ones and the family.