Jack Lilley, whose showbiz profession spanned greater than seven a long time as an actor, stuntman, animal coordinator and different roles and included Little Home on the Prairie, Blazing Saddles, John Ford movies and TV Westerns, has died. He was 91. His household posted the information on Instagram however didn’t present a date or reason for loss of life.
“The person who began all of it. Figuratively and actually,” the social submit reads partially. “The cardboard shark, the horse dealer, the wrangler, the person with a narrative for the whole lot, he at all times knew somebody who might assist if he couldn’t, identified to many as buddy, storyteller, joker, and a heck of a horseman.”
Little Home star Melissa Gilbert additionally paid tribute to Lilley on IG, calling him “one in every of my favourite folks on the planet” and including, “I’m so fortunate that he was my buddy.” See her full submit under.
Born on August 15, 1931, in Santa Clarita, simply north of Los Angeles, Lilley began his profession within the late Forties, following his horse-wrangler father into the leisure trade. The youthful Lilley was a educated horseman and started touchdown stunt, animal-coordinating and background actor work in such early-TV Westerns as Wagon Practice, Dying Valley Days and practically three dozen episodes of Zorro. He additionally labored on plenty of big-screen Westerns of the period.
In a 2017 interview for SCVTV, Lilly mentioned he received his begin “in 1947, ’48, they had been all scrambling to make little Westerns — one thing to promote to TV.”
Lilley would go on to work on dozens of reveals together with Maverick with James Garner, Clint Eastwood’s Rawhide, the record-setting Gunsmoke and 4 seasons on The Excessive Chaparral as a background actor and stand-in for its star Leif Erickson. He additionally labored with four-time Oscar-winning director Ford on How the West Was Gained (1962) and The Man who Shot Liberty Valence (1962), starring James Stewart and John Wayne. He additionally was a part of Wayne’s ultimate movie, The Shootist (1976).
Lilley labored on greater than three dozens episodes of Little Home on the Prairie throughout its Emmy-winning 1974-1983 run on NBC. He appeared onscreen, often uncredited, as a stage or wagon driver, townsman and different bit roles. He additionally served as a stunt performer and coordinator and stand-in on the beloved sequence led by Michael Landon and several other follow-up TV films. He later reteamed with Landon on Freeway to Heaven.
Lilley additionally was a part of the gang put collectively by Harvey Korman’s Hedy Lamarr — oops, that’s Hedley — in Mel Brooks’ NSFW Western comedy traditional Blazing Saddles. And as a stuntman on the 1974 movie, he pulled off one in every of its wildest gags: When the rowdy “pack of murderers and thieves” first descends on the poor denizens of Rock Ridge, Lilley is driving a horse that seems to slide on a picket boardwalk and falls right into a waterhole.
“It was a freak deal,” Lilley advised SCVTV. “They took a firehose and washed the facet of that avenue at Warner Bros. Effectively, when that water hits that previous wooden, it goes like cleaning soap. It received slick. Should you have a look at it, I are available in on that black horse … this horse weighed 1,200 kilos, and he wasn’t a ‘falling’ horse … however he received to scrambling. I can’t look to see if I’m close to a glass window or not, so I simply snatched him and fell him. I received up, and Mel Brooks went, ‘Holy sh*t — what was that? I ain’t by no means seen nothing like that in my life!’”
Lilley additionally talked about doing a “scrapped” scene when Mongo (Alex Karras) rode that bull into the church the place the townspeople had been gathered and filming the well-known scene when Sheriff Bart (Cleavon Little) occurs upon Depend Basie and his orchestra within the wilds of what seems to be Palmdale.
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Lilley continued to work in a number of capacities as a stuntman, stand-in and/or background actor all through the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s on such widespread fare as Used Vehicles, Sudden Affect — once more with Eastwood — Pink Cadillac, Military of Darkness, Texas Rangers, Three Amigos! and A Stroll within the Clouds. His later TV credit embrace Dallas, Fantasy Island and Bonanza: The Subsequent Era.
Right here is Gilbert’s Instagram submit about Lilley:
