[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]
Victor ‘Vic’ Monroe Armstrong was born in Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, England on October 5, 1946. His father was head farrier to the British Olympic equestrian team and a racehorse trainer and Vic wanted to become a steeple race jockey, but his 6-foot height prevented that. He started racing horses at 14. One day in 1966 stuntman Jimmy Lodge came to the stable and Vic loaned him a horse for a film they were making called “Arabesque”. Lodge told Vic they needed someone to ride it. Vic volunteered and fell in love with filmmaking that very day. He loved playing ‘Cowboys & Indians’ as a child and now was his chance to get paid for doing it.
He became a BAFTA winning British film director, stunt coordinator, second unit director, actor and stunt double - the world's most prolific according to the Guinness Book of Records. He doubled Harrison Ford in the first 3 Indiana Jones films, Timothy Dalton for “Flash Gordon”, George Lazenby for the Swiss Alps skiing scenes in the Bond film “On Her Majesty's Secret Service” and Christopher Reeve in “Superman” and “Superman II”.
In 1993, Armstrong's made his directorial debut with action film “Joshua Tree” (a.k.a. “Army of One”), starring Dolph Lundgren, George Segal, Kristian Alfonso and Ken Foree.
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2003 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at Pinewood Studios.
In 2012, Armstrong was Second Unit Director for “The Amazing Spider-Man”. In 2013, he signed on to direct “Left Behind”, a remake of the series that got released in 2014. His next directorial effort was the true story “A Sunday Horse”. He also worked on the 2022 Amazon Prime Video series ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ as second unit director and action director.
Vic’s received several awards for his work including in 2001, he received a Technical Achievement Academy Award for "the Fan Descender for accurately and safely arresting the descent of stunt persons in high freefalls". In 2002, he received the BAFTA Michael Balcon Award.
ARMSTRONG, Vic (aka Munro Armstrong, Victor Armstrong,
Victor M. Armstrong) (Victor Monroe Armstrong) [10/5/1946,
Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, England, U.K. - ] – director, assistant director, stunt
coordinator, stuntman, SFX, film, TV actor, brother of producer, production
manager, director, assistant director, writer, stuntman, actor Andy Armstrong
[1953- ], married to stuntwoman,
actress Wendy Leech [1949- ]
(19??- ) father of stuntwoman, actress
Nina Armstrong [1980- ], stuntman, SFX
Bruce Armstrong, stuntman, SFX Scott Armstrong, stuntwoman, actress Georgina
Armstrong, uncle of stuntman James Armstrong and film maker Jesse V Johnson[
awarded BAFTA Michael Balcon Award (for Lifetime Achievement Award for
Outstanding British Contributions to Cinema) [2002], World Stunt Award (Lifetime
Achievement Award), Hollywood Stuntman's Hall of Fame.
Billy Two Hats – 1973 (Harry Sweets Bradley) [stunts,
horse master]
In that picture from the Western movie, "Billy Two Hats", Vic Armstrong's character of Sweets Bradley is killed after a bank robbery with Billy Two Hats and Arch and is propped up against a plywood slab holding a Winchester rifle like a guitar. Arch and Billy Two Hats have already gotten away at this point while Sweets was killed trying to hold off the posse. I've seen the film before and I think that's what happens.
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