Bob Orrison

He died on October 11, 2014 when a pickup truck he was driving made a U-turn and was broadsided by a Jeep Cherokee in Rancho Cordova, California, USA. Both Orrison and fellow retired stuntman Gary McLarty, a passenger in the truck, were killed instantly. The two persons in the Jeep Cherokee were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. Bob Orrison and Gary McLarty, his best friend, were both Hollywood Hall of Fame stuntmen.

In 2011 Bob Orrison participated in a reenactment of a 1969 Dodge replica of the General Lee making one of his patented leaps he made famous from 1979 to 1985. An excited crowd waited breathlessly as Orrison raced toward the ramp and began the leap. It did not go well. The landing caused the vehicle to flip end over end, landing on all four wheels headed in the opposite direction. There are no records of Orrison attempting any other post-retirement reenactments.

He is known for his stunt work on Rambo III (1988) and Die Hard 2 (1990).

The first Stuntman Awards were presented in Hollywood in 1985. A winner in the Best Vehicular Stunt category was Bob Orrison for his work for the television pilot for "Hunter.".

Orrison also served productions as a stunt coordinator, most notably Deadly Game (1977-1978).

His stunt work was also done on a regular basis for eleven episodes of Harry O (1974-1975); 144 episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard where he was the stunt driver for the General Lee car (1979-1985); and 72 episodes of the A-Team where he doubled for George Peppard in performing stunts (1983-1986).

On many occasions film stunt doubles were not credited or even listed as cast members. One such film was the 1971 release of "The Organization" starring Sidney Poitier. The stunt coordinator was credited, Hal Needham. Despite not being identified in the film credits, Bob Orrison was shown in a nationally distributed promotional photo for that film as he attacked Poitier (Detective Virgil Tibbs). He was identified in the photo caption as Bob Orrison, narcotics dealer in some newspapers, as a gun-wielding thug in others.

As a stuntman he worked on 41 movies from 1968 to 2005. Bob was the stunt double for Audie Murphy and did stunt work in John Wayne movies.

He also had seventeen bit actor roles in films and television between the years of 1967 and 2005.

Bob was best known for his "background acting" on the original series of Star Trek (1967-1968) He was married to Peggy J. Wyatt and Titiana Orrison.

At the first annual Grand Prix Rodeo, held at Westgate Park in Cerritos, California, USA in October 1965 a Hollywood stunt man named Bob Orrison set a new record in the steer wrestling event. Orrison wrestled his steer to the ground in 5.6 seconds, besting the previous record by 1.1 seconds.

The second annual Sacramento Rodeo and Days of '49 Celebration was a Lions Club benefit held in May 1955 at Hughes Stadium. In the May 21, 1955 rodeo curtain raising bareback bronc riding event, the first horse, Don Dodge, fell and suffered a fracture of its right leg. The rider from Bakersfield, Bob Orrison, escaped injury.

Bob Orrison was born on July 28, 1928 in Bakersfield, California, USA as Robert P. Orrison.