Hal Needham, a veteran Hollywood stuntman who later embarked on a less risky career as a director of action movies including “Smokey and the Bandit” and “The Cannonball Run,” both of which starred his friend Burt Reynolds, died on Friday in Los Angeles. He was 82. The death was confirmed by his manager, Laura Lizer, who declined further comment. During the course of his career, Mr. Needham said in a speech at the Academy Awards in 2012, he broke 56 bones, including his back twice. He punctured a lung, had a shoulder replaced and knocked out several teeth. He invented several new stunt methods and devices — among them the introduction of air bags for breaking falls, prompted by watching pole-vaulters — as “a way to save myself some trips to the hospital,” he said. “Hal Needham was a great stunt coordinator, director, and an icon,” Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote on Twitter on Friday. “I’m still grateful he took a chance with me in ‘The Villain,’ ” he said, of the 1979 film that Mr. Needham directed. “I’ll miss him.” Read more http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/m...-and-director-of-action-films-dies-at-82.html
