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Monthly All-Breed Horse Magazine • Since 1993 |
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Copyright 2011 Rocky Mountain Rider. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of any editorial material, artwork and photos is strictly forbidden without express written permission of the publisher. For information about reprint rights, please contact the editor; editor@rockymountainrider.com.
“My aunt kept saying that we were related to Yakima Canutt, the famous
rodeo cowboy and Hollywood stuntman,” says Bob Hickman, of Hickman Saddlery,
now in Post Falls, Idaho, “and so, in 1998, I started putting together a
Yakima Canutt Museum in our first store in Colfax, Washington.”
At that time, Hickman approached the Canutt family to obtain nearly 400
duplicates of photos, and correspondence from such famous people as John Wayne,
Ronald Reagan and Gene Autry, and World Champion Cowboy certificates that make
up the bulk of the memorabilia — spanning Yakima Canutt’s lifetime and
achievements as a multiple grand champion cowboy, actor, The Yakima Canutt Museum, dedicated to Hickman’s distant cousin, takes up about a quarter of the 5,000 square foot Hickman Saddlery store space, now located in Post Falls, Idaho.
Canutt
with some of his rodeo trophies, circa late 1920s. Hickman was recently featured in an episode of the PBS series, “History Detectives,” which had an antique saddle with the name “Yak Canutt” carved into the back of the cantle. The saddle’s owner wished to know if he had actually bought a saddle that had been owned by Yakima Canutt, the most accomplished rodeo cowboy and stuntman in Washington State history.
Left: From an old movie “card” form the 1930s — John Wayne on left, Canutt on right. Right: Canutt jumping between teams as the stuntman for John Wayne in the movie “Stage Coach” (1939).
Hickman was, in fact, acquainted with the saddle and knew that it had
belonged to his distant cousin, Canutt. “Yes,” recalls Hickman, “I had
seen that saddle before. In 1998, a man in the
Wes Cowan, one of the investigators on “History Detectives” tracked down
the maker of the saddle (Hamley’s in Pendleton, Oregon), found that it was
made in May of 1917 and had been used by Canutt in the September 1917 Pendleton
Roundup to win the Bronc Riding Championship.
Enos Edward “
In 1923 Canutt began acting in silent movies, and was soon teaching
riding tricks to famous actors such as Douglas Fairbanks. When talkies arrived
in 1928, Canutt, whose voice had been damaged by flu while in the Navy during
WWI, began focusing on stunts.
In 1932 Canutt met John Wayne. He taught the actor how to fall off a
horse. The two also perfected choreographed on-screen fighting techniques still
in use. Canutt performed as stand-in and stuntman in many of
Canutt, in chariot, with Charleton Heston, on the set of Ben-Hur (1959). At right, Canutt rears Ben-Hur’s (Charlton Heston’s) chariot team.
Among many other famous actors and movies, Canutt played stunt doubles
for Clark Gable in “Gone with the Wind” and for Charleton Heston in “Ben-Hur.”
He spent five months training the horses for the chariot race and was the Second
Unit Director in Ben-Hur. Not one horse was reported to be hurt in the filming
of that furious race.
Canutt is the only stuntman to have earned an Academy Award and a star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was also inducted into the National
Cowboy & Western
Yakima Canutt died at the age of 90 in 1986 in North Hollywood
.
Visit the
Hickman Saddlery will be soon opening a second store in Claresholm, south
of
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Mountain Rider Magazine • Montana Owned & Operated |
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